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Just a quick intro
Wow, yes this was yet again an amazing trip! We have been waiting for this trip for so long and when we actually landed in San Francisco - it felt almost surreal… Ok so the general plan was: road tripping in California! This obviously means hiring a car and driving through the state. And that’s what we did, but additionally we also flew to a couple of destinations as driving would be way too tiring. So to sum our three weeks up: we visited 3 states and loads of cities. We were based in San Francisco, that’s where we flew into and then flew out of. We mostly stayed in hostels, because they were reasonably cheap and so much fun - full of young people who are always very open and know how to party! A few times we also had to book hotels if hostel rooms were fully booked (the best was probably staying in the Hilton hotel In Oakland oh yes, our first time, it really was a good hotel, we’ll be definitely recommending it to everyone). We saw and did so much that it’s hard to write everything here, because we will always
be forgetting about something and our words will probably never be exquisite enough to make you visualise what we experienced. So we’ll try to keep it short and simple, and hope the pictures will show it all. And on the subject of pictures: we took nearly 4000! How mad is that!? So as you can imagine it was a pretty hard job selecting the best ones as all of them really are amazing!
Fran San Cisco
...some flowers in your hair. Indeed. Our road-tripping on the West Coast of the amazing US started in SF and ended right there too. Before we landed, our initial ideas of Californian life-styles were pretty much restricted to all that we ever saw on TV (mainly The Hills being my favourite TV show... unfortunately) i.e. expensive cars, fit girls in bikinis, fit guys, expensive cars, fit guys, fit girls, expensive cars. Well SF ain't all that at all! There's a surprise! This tiny, but beautiful city squeezes evertyhing you can imagine into its small area. And we mean literally everything: contemporary touches, unavoidable on the West Coast, mixed with historical, magical and vintage bits and pieces such as the famous cable
Golden Gate Bridge
A view on the Golden Gate Bridge with the American flag next to it cars and street cars. There's a certain feel of warmth and happiness in SF. Despite the huge modern urbanised and contemporary architecture in the city centre, local people and the location with the surrounding ocean, Bay, of course the Golden Gate bridge of SF give out a positive vibe, that makes you want to stay here.
We stayed in the USA American Hostel on Post Street (711), recommending the place big time, you have to try it, very good prices and excellent staff and rooms + location! We both absolutely loved the city (and we actually prefer it to LA, which we will write about in a bit). First impression (and this applies to all American bigger cities) everything is really spread out. And the public transport is very different to what you get in Europe, so be prepared to wait for ages and slow getting around the city. Everyone and we mean EVEYRONE drives a car, simple. The cars are also very big and the streets wide, again very different to the UK. We were actually thinking about our recent visit to Bath, there is no way any of those American vehicles would fit into these tiny narrow
Union Square
Down town, near the cable car station, a preacher with a banner saying "Jesus loves you" wanders around and tries talking to people about Evangelism, this is very frequent in the major Californian cities roads of Bath hehe. There is something about San Francisco that we really liked and it’s hard to tell what exactly it was… the city definitely has a nice feel to it. It has traditional cable cars running up Powell street and trams run through the city too. One of the most poplar spots is the Fisherman’s Wharf, which is a collection of shops and restaurants right at the harbour. It is all built on Pier 39. Just before the Fisherman’s wharf, local companies organise boat trips to Alcatraz prison, located on a tiny island, make sure you do that too, unfortunately we didn’t get to do this because everything was fully booked for the entire weekend and we were leaving for Yosemite. Another cool place to see is the local Wax Museum: to be honest, our British Madame Tusaud’s is better and bigger, but the one in SF has pretty much only Americans and focuses a bit on America’s history, which is def interesting. There are loads of sea lions at the mentioned Pier 39 which make a hilarious noise and provide classic entertainment! We ate in a restaurant located just above the pier with a view on the
Golden Gate Park
Carousel in the Golden Gate Park bay, so the lovely sea lions can keep you company when eating.
So to sum up: all the shops and hotels are located within the Union Square, so obviously that's where the tourists hang out. The other massively popular spot is the Fisherman's Wharf with the famous Pier 39, again loads of souvenir shops and restaurants with a lot of charm, but a little bit too busy and commercialised. One of the most important and beautiful streets and attractions of the Union Square is the Powell Street, and the reason is of course the wonderful vintage cable car that takes up up the road. It's a brilliant way of travelling, because it lets fresh air in and allows you to admire the city from a different perspective. Plus you literally jump on it whenever you want! Just like any of the major cities of the world, SF also has its own China Town, looking... well just like China Town. But going back to the Fisherman's Wharf, you should totally visit it since there is a Bay Museum with millions of tropical fish and other creatures from the ocean. And of course Pier 39 houses over 500 sea lions which
surfing
at the Ocean Beach attract lots of attention. We had a lunch and a couple of margharitas in a restaurant called Sea Lion View Restaurant, which is exactly what it is - a restaurant with a view on the Pier. It's a lovely place with reasonable prices.
So yes, SF is one of those places we could move to.
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