Pebble Beach

Taking the 17 mile drive through the Pebble Beach estate, you see not only golf

but a dramatic shore rich in birds, seals and trees

Redwoods

Muir's Wood with many stupendous redwoods.

Cable car

A ride from Fisherman's Wharf to Union Square is a must do.

No more pictures because I had to hold on!

Streets of San Francisco

Seen on the streets of San Francisco:

And of course the streets:

Sonoma County wine tasting

The wine was as pleasant to the sense of taste as the wineries were pleasant to the eye.

San Francisco culture

A very good visit to the Legion of Honor which is a member of the select group of world museums including the V&A, the Tate and the National Gallery in London.

Paintings which are very familiar include Judith with the head of Holofernes by Cranach.

As well as many exceptional Rodin statues.

Including this Lion in pain, one of few animal sculptures made by Rodin.

The Rodin sculpture garden at Stanford has many special pieces:

A martyr.

The Gates of Hel (Dante's Inferno)

San Francisco

No visit is complete without crossing the Golden Gate.

Sunday saw a visit to Sausalito, north of the Golden Gate. Busy and sunny. Good views of the bay.

Immigration

Cleared immigration and customs with hardly any queuing. Now I have the flight. We shall see how quick the arrival processes are. But that is about 14 hours away.

Irish Museum of Modern Art

Housed in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, IMMA has a number of exhibitions.

My eye was caught by:

and

Kilmainham Gaol

I visited Kilmainham Gaol, where In May 1916, leaders of the Irish freedom movement were executed.

The landing in the gaol where the men spent their last night.

The black cross marks where James Connolly, after being brought from hospital by ambulance, was shot. His death raised such opposition to the barbaric execution that it was the last in this phase.

Casino at Marino

The highlight today was visiting the Casino built by the Earl of Charlemont as a pleasure house.

The house is one of the best neo-classical buildings in Europe. It has an exceptional view over Dublin, only spoiled by the building by Charlie Ffolliott of The Crescent, later known as Spite Row. Charlie further irritated the precise, orderly and classical mind of the Earl by untidy and asymmetric building.

Dublin day 1

Around the corner from where I am staying is Terenure parish church. This church has some spectacular windows created by Harry Clarke. Among them the Queen of Heaven. He was a great artist on themes of stories.

Another theme I will follow is new buildings, such as these from Dublin's Canal Dock.