Last year on my trip to US, I visited San Francisco during one of the weekends. San Francisco, or SFO is characterised by a high standard of living, and high income working groups. The Silicon Valley is just around the corner, and that attracts a very large number of immigrants from many other countries especially India and China.
My first impression of SFO was “Wow! What a beautiful city!” and I would say I am happy to stick with that. A city that has both hills and sea, is truly a gifted place to be. People say that the weather in California is amongst the best in the United States. The ample warm sunshine was a pleasant break from the cold Chicago. Lovely tree lined streets, nice breeze, lots of people on the street, awesome street side food, great entertainment, excellent public transport, lots of Mexican babes… are just few of the many things that come to my mind when I think back of San Francisco… :)
The flight from Chicago to San Francisco is more than 4 hours long, but flies over some of the most beautiful landscape like the Rocky Mountains…
San Francisco City, as seen from the Marin Headlands (other side of the Golden Gate Bridge)…
The Golden Gate Bridge, is by far the most recognisable landmark of San Francisco… I actually wanted to see this bridge engulfed in clouds, and thought I was unlucky, though Sudeep thought the other way and said that I was lucky to be able to see across the bay!
San Francisco, like much of the Bay Area, is a hilly city with more than 50 hills within city limits. Though being a planned city with roads looking like lines of a well defined grid, they go up and down, and are quite painful to walk around!
The SFO cable car system is the world’s last permanently operational manually-operated cable car system and is an icon of San Francisco, says Wikipedia…
The Embarcadero is the eastern waterfront and a major road that runs along the San Francisco Port, and Bay. It is one of the most beautiful parts of the city, with the sea and the pier on one side and the downtown on the other. Trees and trams run along the street on one side, while cyclists and joggers fill up the sea side of the Embarcadero…
The Navy Pier is a great place for people to spend some time with themselves, calm and serene, with tons of fresh air and sunlight (when the clouds are not around)…
The Navy Pier contains a number of restaurants and coffee shops and attract a pool of people who like to relax in the open…
Don’t I like taking pics of my feet?!?
This is the Bay Bridge that connects SFO to Oakland, is a double-decker bridge that has one of the longest spans in the world.
This statue of Gandhi is mired in controversies… and may not look as pretty or picturesque from all angles.
It was a weekend trip, but the total time I was in SFO was not more than 18 hours… I did miss a lot of places but the fun really was in walking the streets in downtown and exploring some of the little known corners :). I would really like to thank Sudeep for driving me around the town, and letting me put up with him at his place… Only after coming back to Chicago did I realise that Google’s HQs were just a stone’s throw away from where he stays!
There is nothing to see in googleplex. All you can see is the entrance. I dont think we can trespass inside the campus. I could have brought you to Riverbed though ;)
Im sure with all YOUR experiences, it has to be a “WOW” !!
I recently visited San Francisco, all that you observed about it is true. But there is more to San Francisco than that, the gold rush, the hippie movement… I guess, if you have a perspective of the history of a place, you look at things a little differently. It makes for a much more intriguing experience.
Nice account nevertheless.
Thanks Borna for your comment. I agree, there is much more to SFO :) And In 18 hours you cannot do justice to a city like that~