Sundays in My City, The Japanese Tea Garden, 5-23-10

Sundays in My City, The Japanese Tea Garden, 5-23-10

San Francisco's Japanese Tea Garden has the distinction of being the oldest Japanese garden in the United States.  It was originally built  as the Japanese Village for the 1894 California Midwinter International Exposition.  Makoto Hagiwara, a Japanese immigrant, was officially appointed caretaker in 1894 and remained so until 1925.  He continued to live at and maintain the gardens until forced into an internment camp in 1942 with other Japanese Americans.

The introduction of fortune cookies to the United States was made in conjunction with this garden.  There is a tea house on the premises serving green teas and other beverages and a selection of Japanese confections.

On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, admission is free, if you arrive  by 9AM.

Recently, Joanne Olivieri ( Poetic Shutterbug, author of "Nameless Faces," a new book of poetry ) and I took advantage of the free admission on a Friday morning and had a wonderful visit, armed with our cameras.

Pagodas at the Japanese Tea Garden

 Willow reflection in pond

The Taiko-Baishi Drum Bridge from the 1894 Exposition

The teahouse

Meija era (1868–1912) large bronze lantern

Japanese maple

In 1949, the S & G Gump Company of San Francisco, gave a large bronze Buddha to the

garden.  It was originally cast at Tajima, Japan in 1790.

Purple iris and fern

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Golden Gate Park Scenes - 5-15-10

Joanne Olivieiri ( Poetic Shutterbug ) and I had a fun morning on Friday.  I picked her up at 8:45AM for a jaunt to Golden Gate Park and the Japanese Tea Garden.  It seems on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, if you get there from 9AM until 10AM, admission is free so, armed with our cameras ( Jo has a marvelous new one that takes incredible macro shots  while mine, once terrific, now shows signifignant trauma from several encounters with pavement, rocks, and other hard objects in various parts of the world ), we braved the misty morning.  One advantage to embarking early is that we found easy parking right next to the Japanese Tea Garden and were
thrilled to see a robin who allowed us to get several photos.  While we would have preferred a bright, sunny day, it was nice to see this setting without hordes of tourists.  In the next month, the numbers will definitely increase.

Of course, Jo and I will both be posting about our visit on our blogs so forgive us if you see some of the same pictures over the next several days.  Her macro shots, beyond a doubt, will blow you away.  For tonight, though, I'm just posting a couple that I know Jo didn't get.

After our visit to the Japanese Tea Garden, we crossed the street and entered the Botannical Garden where several squirrels cavorted around and entertained us for a few minutes.  They clearly were wanting a handout and I was so sorry I didn't have any treats with me. 

From there, we went to Clement Street and had lunch at Yet Wah, a venerable old Chinese Restaurant that both Jo and I had eaten at for years. 

Jo is happy as can be with her new camera

Poetic Shutterbug will go to any length for a good picture!

Here I am in my 49'er jacket, acquiring sniffles for the rest of the day!

Jo's camera will have much better pictures of this robin!

This was the only robin we spotted out and about that morning but, surely, there must have been others nearby somewhere in the park.

These guys were racing around all over the place.  They look a lot skinnier than Ratty's squirrels.

They would come right up to us, obviously expecting food.  When they didn't get it, off they went!

I loved the flowers and lovely scenes we encountered everywhere.

Baby's tears, one of my favorite plants of all time

Japanese maple ( I think ) - if you look closely, you can see the rain drops

At Yet Wah, Jo and I became nearly hysterical with laughter over the appetizer menu with the "stuffed crab craws" - we figured it had to be a misprint or the Chinese interpretation of crab claws.  If anyone out there knows more about crustacean anatomy than we do, please let us know!

More photos to follow on the Japanese Tea Garden and the Botannical Gardens in a future post.