Are you going to San Francisco?

Greetings! The journey to Frisco from Hawaii took 4hrs and 43mins on AA (no comments).

San Francisco California, is the 2nd most densely populated city in the US after New York , and people live on top of each other -literally! It is also subject to earthquakes - last one was in 1989 - phew! It is very similar to NY in a lot of ways but with a bit more character (hills and cable cars). It is also known as the gay capital of the world, hmmmmm....

The greater San Francisco area includes the cities of Oakland (visited Jack London sq), Marin County, Sausolito and Berkleley (with the famous university).

San Francisco city itself is located at the tip of the peninsula, with the Pacific Ocean to the west and San Francisco bay to the east - so in other words the weather was awful , cold and windy and not what I expected for California.

In the financial district, one will find the Embarcadero center, the Ferry Building and the Transamerica pyramid - the tallest building in the city. I also visited the Yerba Buena Centre for Arts (esplanade gardens, galleries & theatre), the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Union Square - the main shopping district lined with artificially planted palm trees. It seems there is always a chinatown in every city in the US, and this was mainly on Grant Ave (canton bazaar a most visit). Also visited Nob hill and North beach were the Italians orginally settled, didn't get to visit Pacific Heights.

The highlights of my visit were visiting Fisherman's wharf (with many shops & restaurants), riding on the cable car ($5 ride for sad tourists like myself) and streetcar, a cruise on the bay, driving along the coast and visiting Muir beach, seeing 'Alcatraz' or 'The Rock' which housed many infamous criminals such as Al Capone; and of course walking on the world's famous 3rd largest single span bridge - the amazing 'Golden Gate' bridge! - trully beautiful! Recommended places: Home of chicken & Waffle and Easy Lounge in Oakland, and Boudin in Fisherman's wharf SF.

What I liked about SF was that I could walk everywhere (even though the 43 hills are impossible to climb & a great way to stay fit) and most places (shops, restaurants & bars) are in close proximity (no need for a car - thank God!). However, I felt it was a wanna be NY that just couldn't measure up....

ciao

p.s huge thanks to Titi, Ori, Ohi, Folake and Kunle

p.s.s also saw the church were Marilyn Monroe married Joe DeMaggio :)

mobile +12016808745