The flight was long but pleasant (at least the first one, the way back was a little bit more uncomfortable, but I'll explain later). The good thing is that we flew Friday at 3 and arrive around 6, because of the 3 hour difference. And all the way, the landscape underneath us was spectacular
It was a little bit cold when we arrived, which we personally hadn't considered. I had checked the temperatures, and it was in Fahrenheit. Now, for me, everything about 50 is very hot (thinking in Celsius), so I didn't really understand that 60 degrees can mean cold (especially when the wind blows like in San Francisco). And I guess that the stereotype that California has always good weather doesn't help either. Once we were there I remembered the quote "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco".
Anyway, in spite of coldness, the city was very nice, from the moment we got off the train we saw a city where people actually live :) Our hotel was in Japan Town, I can't say if the recreation of the Japanese culture was good, but I liked it anyway. That night we stayed in the same city area to have dinner, we enjoyed a very nice Shabu-Shabu, the Japanese Fondue. Really nice if it hadn't been by the loudness of the teenagers that we had next to us..
After that, we went to Polk Street to enjoy the night, but we didn't stay very long, we wanted to be fresh for the next day.
On Saturday, we had breakfast in a typical "Chinese-American Restaurant", and after that we started our way to the Golden Gate Bridge.
These were the highlights of the first day:
The typical houses in San Francisco, with their creamy colors, all matching together.
An amazing view of the pier and the Alcatraz Island, with the famous prison. Later that day we realized that the visit that we so much wanted to do to the island was not going to be possible, since the tickets had been sold out.
The only good views that we have of the Golden Gate.
Here again, the Golden Gate behind us. By the way, the two Italians are Giuseppe and Carlo, both very nice guys that unfortunately are finishing their assignments in Detroit in the next weeks/months.
Later that day we got closer to the bridge, but a huge cloud was covering it and so we could just see the lower platform.
After that, we went to the Fisherman's Wharf. You can tell by the photos that the weather in that part of the city was so much different. That is one of the things that amazed us about San Francisco. As it is surrounded by water, the weather is much influenced by cool currents from the Pacific Ocean. In consequence, the temperature can change from one minute to the next one. Also, there is a few microclimates within the same city.
Seafood is very famous in the city, it is amazing to see all these crabs together waiting for a hungry tourist.
The pier was very crowded, and it smelled delicious.
After having a marine lunch, we went to see the Sea Lion Colony, which is located near Pier 39. It is amazing to see them so near, without fences or any kind of protection. The city has done this as a project to protect the colony, and the result is a daily agglomeration of tourist taking photos of these huge animals.
Our next excursion was going up the hill, direction Chinatown. But before that, we had to see probably the most famous street in San Francisco, known for the steepness and the Z-turns that the cars have to do to drive down, Lombard Street. By the way, the girl in the picture was not part of us, she was just one of the many tourist that were admiring the scene.
And then in Chinatown, we saw a dramatic change in the city. It was like as turning around the corner we were also leaving the country, entering a new neighborhood where not only the streets looked different, but also the people.
That was mostly the first day, after that we had dinner in Mission District and ended up in what we pretty much considered a Gay Karaoke. By the way, San Francisco has the highest concentration of gays, lesbians, etc. of the whole country, and that fact makes the city very open and livable. The truth is that in the United States you can find very different extremes, from very conservative people to the open-mindness that you can find in SF. It never stops shocking us.
The next day we did some sightseeing as well, but much more relaxed. On our way, we passed the City Hall.
We stopped in the SFMOMA, which looked very nice both from the outside and the inside. We just went to the museum shop, though. Not enough time to spend in there. We've read that it is very good, so next time we go, that's definitely one of our targets to visit.
At the entrance of the Museum of Contemporaty Art, we took a nice picture inspired by The Beatles :)
And the end of the day we spent in the Golden Gate Park, visiting the De Young Museum (again, only the museum hall, the shop and the tower, where you have amazing views of the city) and the California Academy of Science.
After that, we took a taxi, got the bags from the hotel and went to have dinner. We chose a Korean BBQ, which we do not recommend if, like us, you have to take a flight right after that and can't get a shower before. We all learn from our mistakes :)
So we took the flight at 11 PM and got to Detroit at 7AM. We went home, had a shower (very much needed), and the week started with 7 hours less sleep. For that reason, this weekend we just felt lazy and didn't do a lot. .At least we got the energy for writing the blog :) and cutting the lawn. But we hope to have many amazing weekend trips like the one we described, it really filled us with energy!!
Lots of love
Lita&Andres
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