Japanese Tea Garden, San Francisco

 We lucked into a free guided tour of the Japanese Tea Garden.  Our guide was Don McLaurin.  The garden is amazing!  There are stone paths, koi ponds, pagodas, stone lanterns, a moon bridge and beautiful trees and shrubs.  It is a very restful place.  Our tour guide talked about the history of the garden, which touches on the persecution and detention of Japanese-Americans during WWII.  He also discussed some of the features that characterize a Japanese style of garden.  It was a wonderful talk and I learned a lot.  

Afterwards, we stopped in the tea shop in the Garden.  We had a matcha tea with mochi, a matcha cheesecake and jasmine tea.

This is one of my most favorite places to visit in San Francisco.  There is something new to see every time.