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Kirk
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Joined: 24 Aug 2006
Posts: 43
Location: San Francisco, California
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 Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 7:46 am Post subject: |
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| Deborah wrote: | | Kirk wrote: | | Deborah wrote: |
In the view of the palm tree with the bay in the background, you can see why SF has such clean air -- all the pollution blows across to the East Bay. |
EDIT: incidentally when I originally quoted this I accidentally edited it, so Deborah you may want to post the link to your album again. Sorry! |
Eventually I'll get around to doing that; meanwhile, here's the picture referred to above:
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Great pic! :D
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Deborah
Connoisseur
Joined: 22 Aug 2006
Posts: 1946
Location: San Francisco, Noord-Kalifornië, Noord-Amerika
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| Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 8:32 am Post subject: |
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| Kirk wrote: | | Great pic! :D |
It is nice, isn't it? Why stop at showing it twice? I think it merits an appearance in 3 posts! |
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Kirk
Site Admin
Joined: 24 Aug 2006
Posts: 43
Location: San Francisco, California
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| Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 10:14 am Post subject: |
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| Deborah wrote: | | It is nice, isn't it? Why stop at showing it twice? I think it merits an appearance in 3 posts! |
Definitely!
I love San Franciscos' vistas out onto the Bay from atop its hills. The views going up the California St. cable car when I head home never cease to amaze now matter how often I do it. A couple highlights:
1) Looking east and seeing one of the towers of the Bay Bridge perfectly framed by the highrises which flank either side of California St.
This is especially striking at night when the Bay Bridge's lights are on.
This is about a 2 min. walk from my apartment. This is the cable car on California, which goes one block from my place so it's a convenient way of getting around. The cathedral is Grace Cathedral, an Episcopalian cathedral.
2) Looking north as the cable car rises high up the hill and catching a glimpse of the North Bay:
(actually the Cable Car on Hyde but from the one on California, where the two lines cross, you can still see the North Bay)
That's about a 15-20 min. walk from my apartment. That stucco and red-tiled building is the Norwegian Sjømann's Church, which is in a beautiful building which seems like an old mansion and it has a café (where you kan dricka kaffe och äta våfflor) and a reading room with magazines in Scandinavian languages. I went there last week and had some coffee and waffles and enjoyed reading up-to-date magazines and newspapers på svenska. It effectively functions as an expat center there for Scandinavians (religious or not).
Deborah, you used to live around the Polk Gulch area, right? I love the view from street level at Polk and about Washington where you can see down the hill to the north Bay. Also, the view from higher Lafayette Park is even better. Several weeks ago on a very warm and very sunny weekend day I walked up to the peak of Lafayette Park and was stunned at the incredible view of the sparking Bay below and the semi-distant-yet-still-visible small towns on the Bay in Marin County. On that day there must've been dozens of sailboats in the Bay taking advantage of the weather. I felt like I was in a painting.
There's a panoramic view of just the place I was talking about here.
There are so many more pictures I could post of this beautiful city but I guess I'll end with a requisite view of the Golden Gate:
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fab
Langcaffeine Addict
Joined: 06 Oct 2006
Posts: 961
Location: N48°49, E2°19
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| Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 10:18 am Post subject: |
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| I think If I had to live in the states I would choose San Francisco. |
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greg in noord-frankrijk
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Joined: 23 Aug 2006
Posts: 858
Location: Parijs in Noord-Frankrijk
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| Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 10:30 am Post subject: |
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| fab wrote: | | I think If I had to live in the states I would choose San Francisco. |
Me too. Or else New York, Chicago and New Orleans — all three being "closer" to Good Old Europe.  |
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Loic
Super Moderator
Joined: 01 Sep 2006
Posts: 1264
Location: Republik Singapura
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| Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 11:16 am Post subject: |
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After reading Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampie series, I have found New Orleans appealingly romantic.
After seeing the photos of Kirk, San Francisco seems like a breath of fresh air. In Rice's books, New Orleans strike me as being a rather drowsy and languorous settlement. San Francisco seems so bright and spacious and full of life.
A picture really paints a thousand words.
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Deborah
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Joined: 22 Aug 2006
Posts: 1946
Location: San Francisco, Noord-Kalifornië, Noord-Amerika
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| Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 11:24 am Post subject: |
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I've adored that view of the North Bay from the cable car since I was a little kid.
I must post some of my pictures of and from Lafayette Park someday soon. When I lived in Polk Gulch -- or lower Nob Hill, however you want to think about it -- I knew only the southeast corner of it, where all the sunbathers went. This year I finally entered it from the opposite corner, not even realizing it was the same park, and discovered those beautiful views. |
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Porthos
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Joined: 30 Sep 2006
Posts: 1780
Location: Californië, Verenigde Staten
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| Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 5:25 pm Post subject: |
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San Francisco has this cold, crisp air about it, along with sunny skies and a coastal view. The combination makes for an excellent environment.
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Kirk
Site Admin
Joined: 24 Aug 2006
Posts: 43
Location: San Francisco, California
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| Posted: Fri Dec 01, 2006 11:59 pm Post subject: |
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| loic wrote: | After reading Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampie series, I have found New Orleans appealingly romantic.
After seeing the photos of Kirk, San Francisco seems like a breath of fresh air. In Rice's books, New Orleans strike me as being a rather drowsy and languorous settlement. San Francisco seems so bright and spacious and full of life. |
It is very much all of those things--and it is literally a breath of fresh air; the air here is fantastic.
| loic wrote: | | A picture really paints a thousand words. |
It does! And I've enjoyed looking thru some of the other pictures on this thread :)
| greg in noord-frankrijk wrote: | | fab wrote: | | I think If I had to live in the states I would choose San Francisco. |
Me too. Or else New York, Chicago and New Orleans — all three being "closer" to Good Old Europe. |
And you'd both be in good company--SF and the Bay Area in general is home to a sizable number of European expats. I'm reminded of this on the streets and buses/metro cars where I often hear European (amongst other) languages being spoken. Even good old Swedish! :D
| Deborah wrote: | | I've adored that view of the North Bay from the cable car since I was a little kid. |
I never get tired of it :) And it's not the same every day--the water can be different colors depending on the sun, sky, and clouds. Sometimes it's two-tone with deeper parts being clearly darker than shallower areas. And it's not just sunny days when I like it--on stormy days it can be a stunning sea-green or gray (or maybe both--I am colorblind after all and I mix up green and gray in some shades). One of my favorite times seeing the water under such conditions was on a chilly, rainy and very windy day I went with some friends to the Ferry Building and had coffee at that very Peet's where we met, and the violence of the choppy gray-green water just outside the cozy warmness of the window from inside where we were drinking our tea and coffee was a sight to behold.
| Deborah wrote: | | I must post some of my pictures of and from Lafayette Park someday soon. When I lived in Polk Gulch -- or lower Nob Hill, however you want to think about it -- I knew only the southeast corner of it, where all the sunbathers went. This year I finally entered it from the opposite corner, not even realizing it was the same park, and discovered those beautiful views. |
Yeah, the lower part of the park seems like a different park, almost. It's sunbather and dog-running territory but if you hike up to the top under the trees the people there are more of the picnic-lounging type enjoying the view. The day I was there there were a lot of couples with blankets at the top sipping on wine and munching on crackers and cheese and the like and taking in the scenery.
You should show us some of your pictures! |
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Deborah
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Joined: 22 Aug 2006
Posts: 1946
Location: San Francisco, Noord-Kalifornië, Noord-Amerika
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| Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2006 5:32 am Post subject: |
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| Kirk wrote: | | And it's not the same every day--the water can be different colors depending on the sun, sky, and clouds. Sometimes it's two-tone with deeper parts being clearly darker than shallower areas. |
Recently, since the weather's been so cold, the bay has been a very dark, almost foreboding blue. After extended periods of heavy rain, if you're up high enough you can where the silt gets carried into the bay from the rivers -- there'll be a wide brown stripe in the middle of the blue.
| Quote: | | And it's not just sunny days when I like it--on stormy days it can be a stunning sea-green or gray (or maybe both--I am colorblind after all and I mix up green and gray in some shades). |
You're right, it's green and gray. When I had an earlier version of MS Office at work that let you get very detailed in customizing your onscreen color schemes, I made up a couple of dozen schemes. One of my favorites was inspired by the bay during storms. |
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Kirk
Site Admin
Joined: 24 Aug 2006
Posts: 43
Location: San Francisco, California
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| Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2006 11:24 am Post subject: |
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| Deborah wrote: | | Kirk wrote: | | And it's not the same every day--the water can be different colors depending on the sun, sky, and clouds. Sometimes it's two-tone with deeper parts being clearly darker than shallower areas. |
Recently, since the weather's been so cold, the bay has been a very dark, almost foreboding blue. After extended periods of heavy rain, if you're up high enough you can where the silt gets carried into the bay from the rivers -- there'll be a wide brown stripe in the middle of the blue. |
I'll have to look for that!
| Deborah wrote: | | Quote: | | And it's not just sunny days when I like it--on stormy days it can be a stunning sea-green or gray (or maybe both--I am colorblind after all and I mix up green and gray in some shades). |
You're right, it's green and gray. When I had an earlier version of MS Office at work that let you get very detailed in customizing your onscreen color schemes, I made up a couple of dozen schemes. One of my favorites was inspired by the bay during storms. |
Glad to know my colors were right :) I am usually bewildered by the color choices available on MS office applications. Light green is one that always gets me (we use it to highlight certain things at work so I don't get to choose) and I always have to use the drag-down color bar and mouse over the colors to get the name to pop up. I can see all the colors, of course, but I can't always tell what is what. But by now I'm starting to at least memorize where light green sits on the list. |
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Deborah
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Joined: 22 Aug 2006
Posts: 1946
Location: San Francisco, Noord-Kalifornië, Noord-Amerika
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| Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2006 1:00 pm Post subject: |
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| Kirk wrote: | | Deborah wrote: | | After extended periods of heavy rain, if you're up high enough you can where the silt gets carried into the bay from the rivers -- there'll be a wide brown stripe in the middle of the blue. |
I'll have to look for that! |
Don't wish for it, though -- if there's that much rain, it usually means there's flooding somewhere. |
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Uriel
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Joined: 04 Sep 2006
Posts: 1497
Location: New Mexico
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| Posted: Sun Dec 03, 2006 5:19 am Post subject: |
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| greg in noord-frankrijk wrote: | | fab wrote: | | I think If I had to live in the states I would choose San Francisco. |
Me too. Or else New York, Chicago and New Orleans — all three being "closer" to Good Old Europe. |
Now why would you want to travel thousands of kilometers to surround yourself with the same old crap you had back home? Defeats the point of moving to a new place!  |
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Walker
Moderator
Joined: 24 Aug 2006
Posts: 756
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| Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 4:04 pm Post subject: |
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| Uriel wrote: | | greg in noord-frankrijk wrote: | | fab wrote: | | I think If I had to live in the states I would choose San Francisco. |
Me too. Or else New York, Chicago and New Orleans — all three being "closer" to Good Old Europe. |
Now why would you want to travel thousands of kilometers to surround yourself with the same old crap you had back home? Defeats the point of moving to a new place! |
The same old crap? I would think the differences are pretty big. At least for me they would be. |
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Irrintzi
Expert
Joined: 27 Dec 2006
Posts: 168
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| Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 1:16 pm Post subject: |
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Hendaye, ma ville:
Centre ville/Hiriburu
Port de Sokoburu:
"New city" (building during the 90's), Sokoburu:
Eglise Ste Anne de la Plage
The beach:
France-Spain border, l'ancienne douane française:
Other villages and location:
Reducto blindado de Endarlaza
Ainhoa:
St Jean Pied-de-Port/Donibane Garazi:
Holtzarte:
Biriatou:
Sokoa:
La Rhune:
Pottok de la montagne (race basque autochtone)
Pierres tombales basques basées sur la mythologie locale (200 ans d'age minimum):
Biarritz:
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Deborah
Connoisseur
Joined: 22 Aug 2006
Posts: 1946
Location: San Francisco, Noord-Kalifornië, Noord-Amerika
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| Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 8:22 pm Post subject: |
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| Beautiful, Irrintzi! I especially loved the photo of the old town with the bridge over the river. |
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Irrintzi
Expert
Joined: 27 Dec 2006
Posts: 168
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| Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 12:14 pm Post subject: |
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| Deborah wrote: | | Beautiful, Irrintzi! I especially loved the photo of the old town with the bridge over the river. |
Ah, Donibane Garazi. It's an old town, formerly strategic city of Navarre kingdom, it's a "bastide" (occitan Bastida), as Carcassonne or La-Bastide-de-Clairence, a medieval city, a grid layout of intersecting streets, with wide thoroughfares that divide the town plan into insulae, or blocks, through which a narrow lane often runs, and a central market square surrounded by arcades (couverts) through which the axes of thoroughfares pass, with a covered weighing and measuring area.
That is very common of Occitania.
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Wanderin
Expert
Joined: 27 Feb 2007
Posts: 69
Location: auf der Reise
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| Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2007 8:39 pm Post subject: |
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My city looks like this:
and finally....
You know it I hope 
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Liz
Langcaffeine Addict
Joined: 11 May 2007
Posts: 594
Location: Hongarije
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| Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2007 8:42 pm Post subject: |
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So you are from Moscow, Wanderin, aren't you?
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Loic
Super Moderator
Joined: 01 Sep 2006
Posts: 1264
Location: Republik Singapura
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| Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2007 8:51 pm Post subject: |
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Irrintz:
Et ta ville natale, c'est loin de Paris?
Wanderin:
I recognise those onion-shaped domes. Are they the Kremlin?
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Hillary Clinton is an acquired taste which I have clearly yet to acquire. |
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