nature

In the background the Bay Bridge can be seen with the lights of Oakland and the dark patch of the Yerba Buena Island.People are gazing the Tree of Hope and listening the jazz tunes. The floor made out of Tennessee pink marble, the walls are made of Colorado limestone.Western gulls.Castilleja latifoliaLooking southeast from Weston Beach in the morning.The central rotunda, surrounded by the lagoon.The Pavo cristatusYou should reserve tickets *early morning*, but you can access the connecting bridge only.At the bottom of the Filbert Steps.Mayor Jim Rolph was the visionary who insisted that the City of San Francisco build this magnificent structure.The Ceremonial Rotunda, where the wedding of Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio was performed.Christmas spirit with a small jazz band… in San Francisco style.Black-tailed Mule DeerBlack-tailed Mule DeerThe smart black-and-white head makes them easy to identify. They hop across the ground and through low foliage in brushy habitats. Alaskan white-crowned sparrows migrate about 2,600 miles to winter in Southern California.The orange, velvety stuff on the tree is green algae. Its orange color comes from carotene, a pigment which also occurs in carrots. The plant does not harm the trees.A.M. Allan and his wife were the owners of Point Lobos whose foresight and decades-long work led to its protection and in 1933 it became part of the new state park system.Western gull.A smile and a wink for the tourists.Castilleja latifoliaIn fact, the gray stringy thing which hangs from the tree is not a Halloween decoration; it is called Lace Lichen and grows where the climate is cool and humid and where there is little sun. Lace Lichen does not harm the trees; it is found on the branches that have already died from lack of sunlight. A lichen is combination of a fungus and a green alga. Deer like to eat this lichen, and birds carry it off for nesting materials.Is our piano there? :)On the left, beneath the southern side of the bridge Fort Point can be seen. First, Spain built a The red arch was built on a hinged building surface. Once the blocks were correctly positioned over an outline of the arch, we lifted the wooden platform to bring the blocks to a vertical position. Then we lowered the backboard, leaving the arch free-standing. The shape the arch takes is called a catenary. The catenary is the curve that an idealized hanging cable or chain with very short links assumes under its own weight when supported only at its ends.The Palace of Fine Arts is a grandiose building wich was originally constructed for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition. This is the only structure of the few surviving ones which is still situated on its original site. The Palace intended to stand only for the duration of the Exhibition. Although it hadn't been built of durable materials, it was so beloved that it was saved from demolition. After years of various uses, in 1964 the building was reconstructed in permanent materials. Still in that decade it became home to the Exploratorium (an interactive museum) and the Palace of Fine Arts Theater.Around the rotunda rows of Corinthian columns frame the walkway.This steep, one-block section of the Lombard Street consists of eight tight hairpin turns, wich make it one of the crookedest streets in the world.Near PF Chang's China BistroBubulcus IbisIsmene festalisPavo cristatusBubulcus ibisMacaca fascicularisStruthio camelusBuilt by Miklós Esterházy the 2ndThe Yerba Buena Island lays in the San Francisco Bay between San Francisco and Oakland. The eastern and western spans of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge are connected through the island's tunnel. The island was named after the aromatic herb, yerba buena (means is an artificial island in the San Francisco Bay, connected to Yerba Buean Island. It was created for the Golden Gate International Exposition (1939), and it is named after the novel Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson, who lived in San Francisco from 1879 to 1880.Statue of Plenty Part of the Pioneer Monument with a disrespectful gullThey are pretty noisy. Adult males can attain a length over 8 feet and weigh up to 800 pounds.Black-tailed Mule DeerBlack-tailed Mule DeersBlack-tailed Mule DeerBlack-tailed Mule DeersIt is also the earlier Spanish name of Point Lobos, which translates to Those little spots at the top of the cliff are California Sea Lions.With the Sea Lion Point in the background.Harbor Seals are smaller than sea lions and look like swollen cigars. Unlike sea lions, their ears are not visible, and the short rear flippers, which point away from the body, are unsuited for moving about on land. They are usually silent, and love to bask on rocks just above the water.Slatebacked western gulls.As seen from Point Lobos.As seen from Cannery PointSea otters eat and sleep in this position and seldom come ashore.These cypresses, which formerly extended over a much wider range, withdrew to these fog-shrouded headlands as the climate changed with the close of the Pleistocene epoch 15,000 years ago. The trees mirror the forces of nature and time; they survive the salt spray and wind, with their roots seeking nourishment in cracks and crevices.Looking south from Weston Beach in the morning.Rosa EglanteriaThe Golden Gate Bridge's paint color is orange vermillion, also called international orange (CYMK 0%, 69%, 100%, 6%). Architect Irving Morrow selected the distinctive orange color because it blends well with the span's natural setting and it also provides enhanced visibility for passing ships. The term Golden Gate refers to the Golden Gate Strait which is the entrance to the San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean, and not related with the color of the bridge.As seen from Fort Point. On the picture one can find the dome of the Palace of Fine Arts, the pinnacle of the Transamerica Pyramid, the Coit Tower and the pillars of the Bay Bridge.The Golden Gate Bridge was the longest span in the world from its completion in 1937 until 1964. Today, it still has the ninth-longest suspension span in the world.Balclutha is a three-masted, steel-hulled, square-rigged ship built to carry a variety of cargo all over the world. It was launched in 1886.There are a lot of various street artists around the Fisherman's Wharf.This cable car turntable is at the Hyde St - Beach St intersection. The long queue of people consists of tourists who want to ride the cable car. The two Powell Street lines (Powell-Hyde & Powell-Mason) use cable cars that are operable from only one end. They thus require turntables to reverse direction at the ends of the line. Mrs. Friedel Klussmann, the Cable Car Lady, led the campaign that saved the San Francisco cable cars in the late 1940's.Atop the colonnade there are weeping women in every corner.The switchback's design was born out of necessity in order to reduce the hill's natural 27% grade, which was too steep for most vehicles to climb. The speed limit in this section is 5 mph (8 km/h).The well is designed by Ottó Szenczi… but tiresome on hot daysEspecially on a hot summer day.-tailed macaque on the fence Macaca fascicularis #hu Hosszúfarkú makákó a kerítésen Macaca fascicularisBuceros rhinocerosMycteria cinereaCygnus atratusMight be the flower of the banana, but not sure.Egretta ThulaMycteria ... and Eudocimus ruberEphippiorhynchus asiaticusMycteria ibisBubulcus ibisBubulcus ibisCodiaeum variegatumIt is like a folded umbrellaStruthio camelusMycteria ...Pavo cristatusStruthio camelusAsplenium nidusHaliaeetus leucocephalusBubulcus ibisBuilt by Miklós Esterházy the 2nd