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Published: October 4th 2013
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October 3, 2013
We’ve become very fond of San Francisco and can easily see why the city was No.1 in Businessweek 2012 ‘best cities to live survey’. It’s very similar to the feel you get in Vancouver; the cosmopolitan, friendly, warm and on the whole safe atmosphere. It’s a beautiful city with lots of amazing architecture and open, leafy areas.
There’s a wonderful camaraderie amongst the people here who are incredibly friendly with each other and with strangers. On the day we arrived a Spanish speaking builder working on the apartment building directed me with his limited English and then proceeded to carry one of our heavy suitcases up 3 flights of stairs to our apartment while Steve was parking the car.
And yesterday, when we travelled on a regular bus down to the ferry terminals, (enjoying the few minutes of feeling like we lived here) the bus driver was so genuinely friendly and welcoming (unlike the last bus driver we had in Bristol!). Generally we’ve noticed how San Franciscans are so convivial and warm with each other. We’ve seen a cable car stop in the middle of the road when a pedestrian recognizes the gripman
(cable car operator) whom he obviously hasn’t seen in a while! The amiable way they greet each other is refreshingly different to what, I think is fair to say, we’re used to. There’s no holding back with genuine greetings and affection. It’s very refreshing.
Of course the weather is helping to put us in the right frame of mind. I don’t think we’ve seen a cloud in the days we’ve been here! San Francisco under a blue, cloudless sky is quite perfect.
Yesterday, once we’d taken our bus down to the ferry terminal we hired bikes from “Bike and Roll” (outside the Hyatt Regency across from Ferry Building – just $32 for the day) and cycled our way along the seawall and over Golden Gate Bridge.
A lovely lunch in a quaint little fishing village called Sausalito and a hop on the ferry back to downtown San Francisco (along with loads of other people doing the same thing! See one of the pictures!! It’s one of the major tourist attractions here but that doesn’t make it any less fun!)
All in all a fantastic way to travel a bit further around San Fran without the need
Golden Gate Bridge
Golden Gate National Recreation Area, San Francisco, CA to drive and a fabulous way of getting across Golden Gate Bridge and taking in a boat ride across the bay without the expensive cruise boat prices.
On the way back we treated the boys to a cable car ride where they were able to “hang off the side” as they’d hoped to do. A rather scary experience to see your child hanging off the side of a moving vehicle while it speeds up the very middle of a steep busy road! And another cheerful and charming gripman who called a goodbye to us across the busy street as we got off!
That evening, after a long full day, Steve and I were faced with finding another parking space as our present road needed to be clear for road cleaning the next morning.
The Baptist church on the corner was so busy their small parking lot was bursting at the seams and cars were double parked for several streets around. It would have been annoying for we needed one of those spaces, except as we walked by we could hear them singing gospel and I had to fight the urge to peer in and watch, transfixed. I
mightn’t be religious but there’s no doubt there’s something very special and enviable about their enthusiasm and the obvious enjoyment and coming together they experience.
And today, our last full day here in San Francisco, we decide to take the car out. Partly because it gives us the chance to go further afield and partly because we have to move it again! After much searching last night the only space we end up with requires us to move the car before 10am! Steve rushes to finish his work and we make the most of an earlier start.
We drive into Golden Gate Park, just a few blocks from us. It’s a beautiful haven within a city, full of attractive landscaped areas, waterfalls and pathways. There’s a Botanical Garden, a science museum and also a Japanese Tea Garden and it’s the latter we decide to visit. (There’s just something about Japanese Gardens we love!). In addition to the elegantly sculptured gardens, the stone lanterns, stepping stone paths, serene koi ponds etc they also have a tea house which served us a very nice Sencha tea and plate of tea house biscuits (including sesame, almond and fortune cookies).
A lovely way to spend an hour. I’d swap my back garden for a Japanese one any day!
On from the park we drive to the coast. We’re still in San Francisco but it suddenly feels a lot less populated. San Francisco only has a population of less than a million anyway and that’s not a fact that comes as any surprise at all. It doesn’t feel over crowded or congested here. The traffic is nothing like Vancouver, Seattle or Portland. I’m not sure I could get used to driving the steep roads and apparently house prices are high but I can really see the appeal of living here.
The nearby coast (Ocean Beach) is a large expanse of sand with a panoramic view of the tumbling Pacific Ocean. We eat lunch bought from the nearby Safeway and sit watching the waves crash onto the beach. The sky is an azure blue but there’s a chill to the air so when we get out and explore we need our sweaters and an energetic game of tag to keep us warm.
We travel further down the coast a little out of curiosity then it’s back to the apartment
where we make the most of having our own space for the rest of the late afternoon and evening (and I can type up this blog!). Tomorrow we head back to the Best Western in Eureka for one night before our stay on the Oregon Coast for a week.
It’s been wonderful to be in San Francisco but tomorrow we move on again!
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
The joys of SF
Glad you had a great time.