Never one to ignore peer pressure, I’ve compiled a list of my travel ABCs below, as requested by superstar blogger Suki.

A – Age you went on your first international trip: 4-years-old, Hong Kong. Must have been wild because I don’t remember it at all.
B – Best (foreign) beer you’ve had and where: All the best foreign beers I’ve had were in San Francisco (thank you, Toronado, La Trappe, City Beer Store). For the sake of this exercise, I’ll say a nice cold Estrella Damm while overlooking Barcelona.
C – Cuisine (favorite): Sushi and Mediterranean cuisine. When they invent a falafel sushi roll, I will have tasted God.
D – Destinations – favorite, least favorite, and why: Venice is unlike anything I’ve seen before. I love the architecture, the canals, testing my Italian with gruff Venetian bus drivers… It’s a mixed tapestry of wonder.
E – Event you experienced abroad that made you say “wow”: There are a lot of cats in Turkey.
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I recently wrote a post for the Gogobot Blog entitled, “The Best of San Francisco’s Lower Tenderloin,” where I highlighted my favorite places in the lower half of the TL. I spent the day wandering through the neighborhood, capturing photos for the article and associated guide. Many of the pictures, particularly those of the scenery and the beautiful Heart of the City Farmers’ Market, were unused, so I’m sharing them now.

Here are a few of my favorites.

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There’s only so much of a place you can get from a postcard. Those little glossy tidbits usually display Photoshopped representations of the “best” of a city. Rarely will you get the daily life or quiet alleys that really exude the soul of a locale.

When I traveled through the Mediterranean, I kept my eye out for street art in each city. What I got was a flavor of the local community, spoken via graffiti and street signs: politics, subversion, apartments for rent and just general mischief. I’ve included, below, my collection of street art photos from Venice. I’ll post shots from other cities—including Athens, Monte Carlo, Florence, Rome and more—as time goes on.

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Few museums are as peaceful as the Honolulu Academy of Arts. On days of reflection like today (read: too many parties last night), I like to mentally revisit the time spent there, wandering through the courtyards and diving deep into its collection of fine art. It may not compete with the Met or even the Legion of Honor, but it’s beautiful and impressive in its own right. It’s ironic that a place so quiet can instill so much energy inside. read more »

The California Palace of the Legion of Honor consistently ranks as my favorite museum in San Francisco. Up in the hills at the far west end of the city, it offers dramatic views of the Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay. The architecture of the museum, with its striking courtyard and Rodin’s The Thinker, inspires photographs almost as much as the artwork inside.

Currently on exhibition is Pissarro’s People, an examination of the individuals that inspired French impressionist Camille Pissarro. I particularly liked his depictions of the marketplace. To describe his paintings as “bustling” feels odd, though accurate.

Finally, San Francisco is offered a chance to gaze upon Bernini’s Medusa, on loan from the Musei Capitolini in Rome. What makes this piece particularly unique is how he depicted her as sad and in pain, rather than utilizing the usual monstrous images others would. read more »