San Francisco — The Yoga Tour

It was a beautiful day in San Francisco. The sun glimmered through the bare trees, the fresh Spring grass sprung underfoot. We forget how beautiful is this place we live in.

1. Chinatown’s Dragon Gate. The ornate railings in red and gold flustering around the golden statue. I meditated, facing the morning sun, breathing in the chlorophyll of a thousand shoots. I warmed my face, soaking up the air and the light, feeling that I knew what it is to grow.

2. Old St Mary’s Square. The red cords the only reminder of the old brothels that once lay here, hanging from the virgin white magnolia blooms. The city regenerates, pastes over the cracks to build a new future.

3. Waverly Place. Prayer flags fluttered from the wooden balconies. Though brown and crinkled with age, still they clung on, quivering with the wind, whispering to the heavens.

4. Chinese Historical Society of America. The tall pillars proclaimed this museum, rising high up to the sky, within the YMCA.

5. Spofford Alley. The posts were all that remained of this alley, framing the Dragon Gate beyond.

6. Ross Alley.

7. Golden Gate Cookie Factory, seek your fortune beneath the spreading branches, where the bike is the future.

8. Jack Kerouac Alley, twisting away between the trees between the trees, where the author developed many of his tales.

9. City Lights. This wonderful bookshop sprung up on us unawares. Even with only a couple of editions available, it was a delight to explore!

10. Caffe Trieste. The mochas were hot and chocolatey, just what we needed to keep us going through the chill afternoon, the North East wind biting through the sunshine. The table doubled as a horse, a surfboard and meditation cushion. No one complained as we played, reinventing the simple piece of wood as a new object of fantasy, its purpose changing by the minute.

11. Coit Tower. The views from the top platform were more quaint than panoramic, the tight mews offering a more traditional outlook, with cobbles and cottages.

12. Filbert Street Steps, highly decorated stairs, leading to a new level of the city.

13. Levi’s Plaza. Named after that Levi, patron saint of jeans. The bay tree and the steeple mirrored each other, pointing ever upwards.

14. Ferry Building. Through the sandy inlets and bays, the simple stone form offered a look out point for the old ships of the land. Today the flotillas came there for leisure only, small girls excited at the prospect of manning their own craft.