Last summer, I spent almost a month in San Francisco and the bay area nearby. I had a nice time there, though it was quite a revelation and nothing like what I had expected it to be. San Francisco is at one tip of the bay towards the sea while the bay area refers to the little technological and entrepreneurial towns all around the bay (Palo Alto is Facebook, Cupertino is Apple, Mountainview is Google and so on). The towns are all in a continuous line all along the bay. The whole bay area is very open and green; with wide open roads and spacious houses; with a relaxed atmosphere all around; and weather wise warm throughout the year. And surprisingly it gets cooler during the evening, even in the summers which I hadn't expected at all.
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| Clouds in SF |
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| SF bay |
San Francisco is just the opposite, its a crowded city and remains cool or cold throughout the year. It is always covered with fog with similar temperatures all throughout the year. It becomes cloudy everyday with the clouds coming in during the day from the bay and keeping temperatures around 10 degrees even during summers. San Francisco is also a hilly town, with the whole city built in an up and down fashion making the roads very tough to drive on. Most of the roads have a huge incline and its give SF a different feel.
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| Pier 39 |
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| Pier 39 |
Within SF, there are a couple of places to see and spend time in. A great place to walk is along the road next to the sea passing through all the piers. It has a couple of parks there plus bikes available to rent and cycle in the parks. Along this road itself is Pier 39, a collection of shops next to the sea to spend time in. The shops are an eclectic mix, quite different than the usual ones; like one selling only chocolates and another specialising in 100s of types of socks.
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| Seals at Pier 39 |
Also, just next to Pier 39, you can see hundreds of seals basking in the sun and making sounds while they play. These seals live in the middle of the city, along with humans! Apparently, they had come here many years ago when there was a natural disaster in their homeland and then stayed back here anyways.
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| Golden Gate |
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| Golden Gate |
The Golden Gate bridge across the bay is impressive to look at with the clouds passing under it while coming towards SF. It is a daily occurrence and makes a clear view of the bridge almost a rare occurrence. We drove across the bridge towards the park on the other side of the bridge and drove up the hill to get a better view of the bridge. It was so cold and windy there even in summer! That was not the view of California which I had earlier, I thought it was always hot and sunny there. But apparently its always cold in SF:). The views of the bridge, the bay around and the lights of the cars at night, all make for fascinating sights.
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| Alcatraz |
The Alcatraz is the quaint jail right in the middle of the sea, an old stone building which as would be expected, is difficult to escape. There are multiple boat tours which take tourists around the Alcatraz and within, to tell them about its history. I did not go there, but have heard its interesting.
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| SF hills |
The Union Square is located right in the center of the city, a lively place with events happening at the square during summer. This area is also the shopping center of SF and a good place for timepass. Just near Union Square is Tenderloin, the home of the homeless of SF. Apparently, due to some scheme started by the SF government years ago, all the homeless people from around had descended in SF, which created problems for the city. So as a compromise, they were allowed to stay in the city as long as they stayed within the limits of Tenderloin. I don't know how true this story is, but I heard it and it seemed true. Its quite a different sight to see, how located just next to very posh residential areas is this completely run-down and shady part of town which creates fear in you if you land up here by mistake!
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| Lombard Street |
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| Trams of SF |
Honestly there are not that many touristy or historical things to do in SF. There is the Coit Tower located on a high point in the city which gives a panoramic view of the city. The Lombard Street (or crooked street) is a winding street with sharp turns located on one of the hills in the city, which you can drive though but its a tough test of driving skills and car brakes. There are lots of parks everywhere in the city, some of the famous ones being near the area called the Ghiraldi, Presidio and the Golden Gate park. Would be lovely to cycle here, but maybe some other time. The SF trams are very cute, the little coaches running all around town up and down the very sloping roads. They are quite scary to travel in though, especially for people standing on them.
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| Green SF |
The areas along the bay are just awesome to walk around, with the shimmering water in between; mountains on the other side, clouds just above and the green parks on the other side. The roads of SF going up and down make for such a picturesque sight. To top it all, there is always a cool fresh breeze blowing everywhere which adds to the pleasant feeling in the city.
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| SF roads |
SF has a lot of places to go nearby on weekends; the national park of Yosemite offering numerous trekking and camping options; Napa valley for the wine lovers; Lake Tahoe for skiing/gambling/water sports enthusiasts; LA for the glam lovers; Monterey Bay for sea and beaches and Muir Woods for trekking among the old trees.
Also there are a couple of sky diving options in the Monterey Bay area of which I tried one: Monterey diving. They are located in an airfield next to the sea and offer a sky jump from the maximum height of 18,000 feet. Skydiving has been one of my all-time to-do and so I decided to go for it.
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| Skydive at Monterey bay |
And what an experience it was! There was about 1.5 mins of free fall where all you see and feel is the expanse of the land below, the sea on one side and the mountains surrounding the land. The sea and the water both were sparkling blue. Such a mesmerising sight it was and funnily enough, you get so engrossed in it, you don't even feel that you are falling; its all so smooth and comfortable.I did realise though that the many turns I made did not help, I felt nauseated by the end of it. Might have been a good idea to tell the instructor before the dive not to do fast turns in air. Other than that, it was an exciting experience for me and the views were so awesome, I will remember them throughout life!
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| Bridge over the bay |
On the whole, I loved the little bit of time I spent in SF, a quaint city with pretty sights greeting you everywhere you go, cool always and a freshness about it which have not felt at any other place. A fun city to stay in definitely!
