12/13/10

Mission Dolores

We've been walking home on the blog since last Friday. We're almost there! I just have one more stop to make.

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No, not the liquor store.

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Church Street has a few churches, but none of them are as notable as the church we're going to visit on Dolores Street...

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It seemed less disrespectful to take pictures inside Mission Dolores with the camera on my iPhone, although I'm not sure why it would be disrespectful to take pictures in church in the first place. Does the Bible prohibit taking pictures? I didn't see any "no photography" signs.




"Misión San Francisco de Asís was founded June 29, 1776, under the direction of Father Junipero Serra and is both the oldest original intact Mission in California and the oldest building in San Francisco."
I took a few pictures inside the old mission and a few pictures inside the modern basilica.

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The ceiling inside the old mission is pretty cool.

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But mostly I came to visit the small cemetery.

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"The Mission Cemetery is the only cemetery that remains within the City limits. The Cemetery is the final resting place for numerous Ohlone, Miwok, and other First Californians as well as notable California pioneers." (link)

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If you've seen the Hitchcock movie Vertigo, you may recognize this cemetery as the final resting place of Carlotta Valdes.

"[F]or many years tourists could see the actual Carlotta Valdes headstone featured in the film (created by the props department). Eventually, the headstone was removed as the mission considered it disrespectful to the dead to house a tourist attraction grave for a fictional person." Link.

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Winter may be a symbolically appropriate time to visit a cemetery, but this one is nice to see in summer and spring when the rose bushes are blooming. The local rose society maintains the roses.

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I'm not sure who does the rest of the gardening, but they do a good job.

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I'm not sure what it takes to get an aloe to grow up against a wall like that, but what a great effect.

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Meanwhile, outside the walls of the old cemetery, modern life goes on.

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I am almost home.

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4 comments:

Denise said...

I had my walking shoes tucked under the computer desk ready for the next installment. The statue in the cemetery of, I assume, Father Serra, is really something. Reminds me of Antonin Artaud and not kindly Serra -- very moody. Great walk!

postrideburrito said...

Very nice, thanks for the pics! I do like that cemetery - I've never noticed that aloe before, it's amazing.

There's actually a mural behind the altarpiece in the church! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_Dolores_mural

cdillon said...

Thank you for living so beautifully.

Les said...

I loved all the tour posts.

(I am thankful to be out of my Anne Rice phase)