I love Boston, but I think I might like San Francisco too

I think San Francisco in general has the ability to be a favorite city. Because it is so huge I decided to explore it by bike today. So I rented myself a bike at the hostel and just hit the road. The first thing I had to learn is that there are a lot of one way streets and most of them do have four lanes (which is more than most German highways have). So, at first I thought my venture might be a little reckless, but it could only get better and even crazy San Francisco traffic follows some basic rules. You can actually get used to it pretty soon. Thank god I did have a lot of training in the Odenwald, because the streets of this city are very, very, very steep! It goes up and down and up and down again. Crazy!

 

Well anyway, my bike and I had to check out some sights today. The weather was beautiful, the sun was shining and we had a bright blue sky. From the hostel I drove down to Union Square, which is really nice with its monuments but looks a little sterile. From there the journey continued to the Gate of Chinatown (every larger city seems to have one). Chinatown itself is something you shouldn’t miss. It actually smelled like being in Asia. Right in the middle Portsmouth Square is located. Were crowds of old men gamble on park benches while just a few feet away children play on a playground. And sitting right in between is a pretty cool thing. After I checked out the neighborhood I went to Washington Square. There is a neat little park where children and dogs played. Just a few feet away there was a nice church. From there I went up to Coit Tower, which is located on top of the (so far) highest hill. If you are taking the steps make sure you are walking the last bit right next to the road, because right above the school you have a splendid view over the city and Golden Gate Bridge! From the top of Telegraph Hill (where Coit Tower is) you have again an awesome view over San Francisco and the whole bay as well. So make sure you don’t miss it, if you’ll ever visit SF. By the way, after two days by myself without any Germans around to speak with (although there seem to be hundreds of them in the city) I am finally getting used to speaking English again, which for my taste took way to long. Now I am obviously taking advantage of this miracle and write parts of the Blog in English (unfortunately while I am writing words do still come more easily than when I am talking, but it gets better every day). B-)

 

After being up here for quiet a while it’s about time to go down to the pier. I’ll have a short stop at Pier 39 to take some pictures of the sea lions and then go to Fishermen’s Wharf and finally to Golden Gate Bridge.

 

Guys, it’s stunning! Driving over the Golden Gate Bridge is the best thing I possibly could have done today! The way up was really steep (but that’s simply the way the whole city is), but it was worth all efforts and I didn’t regret it at any time. The only thing that really sucked was the wind! Up here it feels like you are going to be blown away at any second. From the bridge you do not only have a great view of the bridge itself but over the city too. Nice, really nice! In the meantime I did arrive at the other end of Golden Gate Bridge. Somewhere over here should be a National Park and I am going to try to find it now. Let’s see if I succeed.

 

…to be continued. I am just toooo tired to continue writing right now. Once I told you the whole story of what I did today you’ll now why. The update will be available as soon as I get up and had breakfast tomorrow. So make sure you don’t miss is!