Art, Comedy, and...More Comedy

This past weekend, Todd and I went to see the new Women Impressionists exhibit at the Legion of Honor.  It featured two well-known artists - Berthe Morisot and Mary Cassatt - and two lesser known artists - Eva Gonzales and Mary Braquemonde.  It was wonderful to become acquainted with the paintings of the latter since for some reason (probably just arty snobbery), they find scant mention in most art history books.

The Palace of the Legion of Honor is at Lincoln Park, which is just north of Golden Gate Park.  It has panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean on one side and the Golden Gate Bridge and the bay on the other.  There's also a public golf course in the park.

The Palace itself is a grand old building, with thick swathes of vibrant marigolds flanking the front entrance.
In the inner courtyard, there was some modern art, like this enormous glass sculpture by Dale Chihuly...

And some more traditional works, like one of Rodin's many sculptures of "The Thinker."  The museum also has a quite large gallery filled with other Rodin sculptures.
But sometimes art's best inspiration is found in nature, like these clown poppies growing across the street from the museum.  They look so delicate but, believe me, they can stand substantial San Francisco-in-the-summer-style winds!
After the Legion of Honor, we explored Fillmore Street and had a late lunch at (fittingly) La Boulange, following several hours of mostly-French art gazing.  Then we headed over to Cobb's Comedy Club, down in North Beach, where we saw the hilarious Kevin Nealon, of Saturday Night Live and (most recently) Weeds fame.

Sunday was luxuriously relaxed.  We saw Stepbrothers, I got a new wallet at Vera Bradley (here's hoping this one doesn't go anywhere for a while!), and we ended the weekend with hot bowls of chocolate chip bread.  All in all, a very positive conclusion to a stressful week.