From San Francisco to Sacramento (Part II)

It took us two hours to completely navigate the nine galleries dedicated to Pablo Picasso’s more than 150 masterpieces from the Musee National Picasso in Paris, on temporary display at the de Young Fine Arts Museum in San Francisco. No matter how many art history books you’ve read or documentaries you’ve watched about Surrealism, Cubism, and art in general, nothing could really prepare you for the intensity of seeing Picasso’s original paintings, drawings, sculptures, and other artwork.

But the museum that temporarily housed Picasso’s personal collection is also in itself a masterpiece—an integration of art, architecture, and nature.

The landmark de Young Fine Arts Museum, in the heart of San Francisco’s fabled Golden Gate Park, features unexpected juxtapositions of artwork that challenge traditional museum presentation.

Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architects Herzog and de Meuron, the museum is home to more than 25,000 works of art from around the world. We were able to explore only a fraction of those collections, but they were already enough to send us around the world and transport us back in time.

The museum’s first and second floors showcase permanent collections of American paintings, decorative art and sculpture. They also feature international contemporary art, Oceanic carvings, African art, art from ancient American civilizations, and textiles and costumes from around the world. The basement is reserved for special exhibits, such as Picasso’s masterpieces.

After marveling at countless pieces of artwork, we took turns taking photos of each other against the backdrop of German artist Gerhard Richter’s “Strontium.” It’s a large-scale mural derived from digitally manipulated photographs that, together, form a geometric black-and-white motif representing the atomic structure of strontium titanate, a synthetic substance often used to create artificial diamonds.

Late lunch was in Castro’s Thai House Express. There was a lot of catching up to do over a hearty meal of mostly fish and vegetables because we haven’t seen each other since my last visit to San Francisco in 2009, and I also got to know one of his new friends. We again drove around a portion of San Francisco until it was time to head out to an Amtrak station in downtown Oakland for a train ride to Sacramento.

We just missed the train, so we had to wait for the next one. The Amtrak station, just like the others, looks like something straight out of a movie. And just like airports, train stations have always been temples of love—people kiss and hug, say their hellos, or make sweet promises as they bid their goodbyes.

When I felt that rumble under my feet, I knew it was time for another nostalgic train ride.

As the sun started giving way to the moon, I could hardly make out the structures outside the window. Those moments again reminded me of movie scenes wherein the main character is in deep thought looking out the window of a moving train, charting his next move that will either make or break him.

For many commuters, taking the train is such a blast—you could sit back and relax or take a nap, enjoy the scenery, read a book or newspaper, do your work on your laptop using your wireless card (no wi-fi yet), charge your cellular phone or use the outlet for your curling iron, have your lunch, sip your drink. Most of all, it’s traffic-free.

Occasionally, the moon that particular night would illuminate the bay water, adding more charm to the already nostalgic train ride. In the olden days, train tracks were almost always built alongside water. Workers needed access to water and since train systems and roads weren’t built yet, the trains had to follow the water.

I was tired but couldn’t sleep, but that gave me time to reflect on life’s journey while literally on a $26 journey from Emeryville to Sacramento. In a span of a few days, I’ve traversed three time zones.

It was way past 10pm when the train reached the station in Sacramento, California’s capital that has a good deal of history tracing back to gold rush days. Blocks from the train station is one of the largest and finest train museums in the country—the California State Railroad Museum. When I got off the train, I sat on a bench along with others waiting for a ride. It was great to see my friend again. The ride home was all about catching up.

It was a different world in that gated community. The soothing sound of the water feature beautifully contrasted the feel of a big concrete house on a lot crowning a cul-de-sac. Everything in the HGTV-worthy house was grand, including the stairs to the left, the layout, and the fully functional kitchen. Throw in the complicated electronic gadgets and I could hardly make anything work without being coached, step by step. He was such a patient and gracious host. Besides the pool and other structures I recognized from photos, one other thing that I remember about the backyard was picking a fresh tomato in the garden.

They say a visit to Sacramento isn’t complete without a stop at the 19th century Capitol Building, and over three quarters of a million visitors every year agree. He gave me a tour of the building which serves as both a museum and the state’s working seat of government.

The Capitol Museum contains furniture, photographs, and documents from different periods, while the “green” Assembly and “red” Senate rooms are open to the public even when they’re in session.

California’s Capitol Building, built between 1861 and 1874, is a grand celebration of architecture, blending Greek revival and Roman-Corinthian styles to symbolize “democracy, beauty and simplicity.” Visitors are treated to grand staircases, columns, colonnade windows, pilasters and a cupola with a statue on top of the 220-foot tall dome that bears resemblance to the one crowning the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.

In the heart of California’s Capitol Building is the Rotunda, a circular room rising 128 feet from the basement of the building to the oculus at the apex of the inner dome. The Rotunda frequently serves as the main orientation space for hundreds of visitors exploring the building each day. Its main focus is a slightly over life size statue titled “Columbus’ Last Appeal to Queen Isabella,” perched in the center since 1883. This marble statue is complemented by Belgium black and Vermont white marble floor tiles, along with decorative murals.

Paintings, murals, and other artwork that adorn the walls also give visitors a real sense of pieces of history that shaped California. The West Wings’ walls are home to the portraits of California’s governors.

My friend and I were just wondering whether the geometric mosaic tile on the second floor Rotunda was from the 1800s, when we happened to eavesdrop on a tour guide’s trivia for a group of visitors.

During restoration of the building, the original tiles that did not withstand the 100 years’ worth of wear and tear were removed and replaced with reproductions made from standard U.S. quarry tiles. But workers were able to install original tiles salvaged from the original floor in the second floor staircase landing.

I would always be thankful for that enlightening tour. Back in 2009, I was able to visit only portions of the 40-acre Capitol Park but not the interior of the Capitol Building because my friends and I got there way past office hours.

From a distance is the Sacramento Tower Bridge, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. The bridge is painted gold, emblematic of its Gold Rush days and in concert with the historic buildings built during the 1850s in Old Sacramento. The bridge is repainted about every 30 years.

I met up with another friend I haven’t seen also in two years. He was also gracious enough to bring me from Sacramento to Mountain View, with a stopover at a mall for window shopping, food, and a lot more of catching up over coffee.

Mountain View, where my cousin, her husband and their two beautiful daughters live, got its name from the views of the Santa Clara Mountains. Nights were spent on a lot of catching up, a blockbuster movie, and exploration of an area teeming with international cuisine. We opted for a Vietnamese restaurant, and shared lots of laughter over Vietnamese soup dishes.

My cousin arranged for a taxicab to take me from Mountain View to the San Francisco International Airport, since she couldn’t get off work that particular day. Just when I thought my California adventures were over, came a very interesting Egyptian-American cab driver doubling as a love therapist and tour guide but who heard about a U.S. island called “Saipan” for the very first time. He said his first few months in the States, he was stricken with homesickness but able to get over it by bringing his wife and family from Egypt to the U.S. And they live happily ever after. Next came his love advice, drawing from his conservative views about family, love, and life in general. While my train rides were of nostalgia, my cab ride was an interesting experience of its own. And of course, he encouraged me to someday spend at least two weeks in Egypt. Why not?