maybethinking: San Francisco #4- Conservatory of Flowers

Social networking is all the rage. But I'm not much for Twitter or Facebook. But flickr, built around a shared interest in photography is a great social network for me. When I found out I was going to San Francisco I got in touch, by email, with a San Francisco flickr person.

That was the best email I've sent in a while-great ROI for my marketing friends. It takes a native to give a great tour. Or "naturalized" native. For a day of adventure and firsts, many thanks to my tour guide- Nolehace. Which is really spelled, no le hace. But it deosn't matter. He was very gracious, asked all the important questions and I became really excited about the possibilities for great shooting in San Francisco.

And better than a mapped out itinerary, I got a great tour guide. Nolehace met me at my hotel-the above mentioned Palace-and off we went. First crepes after a BART ride to the Mission. Good food and sidewalk seating. Saw lots of interesting folks as we munched down.

Then on to the "22" bus to the Conservatory of Flowers. Great series of buildings. You can read about it in the link. They seemed to be made of glass and metal all painted white. There was a very "original" SteamPunk feeling to the buildings and the fixtures just reinforced it.

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As you can see there are half a dozen buildings, each for a different micro climate. First we were hot, then chilly, then hot and muggy, then back to chilly, and we warmed up right before leaving. The offereings were magnificent.

And who knew that Nolehace was an Orchid Nerd to boot! Phew.

From Wiki:

Orchids are easily distinguished, as they share some very evident apomorphies. Among these: bilaterally symmetric (zygomorphic), many resupinate, one petal (labellum) is always highly modified, stamens and carpels are fused...

-My bolding. This seemed to be the most important part of the definition. Or at least the only part I remember. According to Nolehace, in England prior to Queen Victoria, only men could own Orchids, because of women's genteel natures. Queen Victoria changed all that.

We walked from building to building enjoying magnificent flowers I'd never seen before. All in a rich, musty, humid atmosphere. The obvious star were the Orchid varieties, along with many other flowers paying court. Below is a small sampling of the pictures I took. More to come as I cull through the original 700 pictures.