San Francisco Holiday Decorations

We head into San Francisco for dinner at Kokkari and get off BART at Powell Street so we can walk up to Union Square and then over to dinner.  We are initially greeted by the lights on Market Street and the decorations at the Cable Car station on Powell Street.

 Westfield Center on Market Street, cable car station on Powell

We walk up Powell to Macy's, just before Union Square to see the windows, which are again full of pets available for adoption.  This year, they hold many small cats, some as young as four weeks old.

 Cats available at Macy's

Other Macy's windows feature more traditional representations of the holiday season.

 Macy's window displays

Stockton Street, alongside Macy's, is closed and turned into a Winter Walk with booths (free chocolate), bars, and food trucks.

 Winter Walk

Across from the main entrance to Macy's, Union Square features a huge Christmas Tree and an ice skating rink.

 Union Square

Around Union Square, the shop windows are all dressed up for the season.

 Louis Vuitton

 Saks Fifth Avenue

 Tiffany

We leave Union Square, head up Grant Street to admire the lit-up entrance to Chinatown, and then wander over to admire the tree at the Bank of America building on California Street.

Grant Street entrance to Chinatown

 Tree and bamboo garden at 555 California

Tree reflection in nearby buildings

We keep moving rapidly eastward because we're on our way to dine at one of our favorite restaurants, Kokkari.  The ambiance as we enter is still fabulous, with the large fireplace in the main dining room, and we feast on sea bass (branzino) and goat stew for our holiday treat in the city.

 Kokkari

 Sea bass and goat stew

After diner, we take BART back under the bay to head home, where we've recently decorated the tree with ornaments representing many important locations, times, and aspects of our lives, ready for our celebration of the holidays.

Our tree!

Several days later, we head back into San Francisco for the Ferry Building Farmer's Market and see a few more delightful holiday sights.

 More signs of the holiday

Shanghai World Expo

After visiting the Shanghai Art Museum in the old Shanghai Expo China Pavilion, I looked back at my picture from the 2010 Expo and realized that they have not appeared in the blog as I started the blog 4.5 years after the Expo.  The pictures brought back lots of great memories and I though I would share them now.

Expo Shanghai 2010 was open from May 1, 2010 to October 31, 2010, was one of the largest world fairs ever held, and was the most heavily attended.  The theme of the fair was "Better City, Better Life" and it was held on both banks of the Huangpu River in central Shanghai.  The fair occupied about 2 square miles (5.2 sq. km) and the grounds were obtained by relocating thousands of residents, hundreds of businesses, and a shipyard.

 Spread out over 5.2 square km

More than 190 countries and 50 other organizations participated in the Expo.

National pavilions

The official mascot of the Expo was everywhere, greeting people and offering help and suggestions.

Expo mascot

Inside the pavilions, each exhibition offered highlights of their country, culture, and people.  The little mermaid even traveled all the way from Copenhagen to join the festivities.

A long way from Copenhagen

 Countries showing off

And, it was very hot and crowded during the summer months of the Expo.  The refreshment stands did a great business in water, Coke, and other beverages.

Hot and crowded

 Plenty of refreshments

The Expo was incredible!  I'll probably never get to another world's fair, but I've now had the experience once and it was definitely worth it!