Whilst in San Fran it was hard for me to say whether I thought it was a really good place. There was nothing really that I could compare it to. The only place I have been overseas is Bali, so I didn't really know how great this place was when I was actually there.
In ways it reminded me a bit of Sydney, as it just had everything for everyone. But then the old traditional ways of transport, like the cable cars and the street cars, and the way people dressed (pretty out there) reminded me of Melbourne.
It's now been about 10 days since we were there, and looking back on it all, I absolutely loved this city! The vibe I got from the city was how laid back and casual everyone was.
I remember times when we were walking in the centre of it all, with all the big high rises, all the business people rushing off to work, and I just felt so comfortable, I didn't feel like I had to keep moving out of everyones way. This is definitely my type of place.
Another part I loved about this city was that it was like there were 10 little towns in one, and all of these towns so different from one another. There was the Golden Gate Bridge surrounded by green grass and the beach, and underneath it was a pretty popular surf spot. Over the other side was a little town called Sausalito, which was just stunning, overlooking the bay, with the cutest little cafes and ice creameries.
There was Fisherman's Wharf and the Embarcadero, where all the cruises and boats set sail from, also with lots of things to do for the tourists, and some very expensive restaurants where you could watch the sunset over the harbour.
There was Alcatraz, America's most famous and interesting prisons, which many people come to see now.
Then there was the Mission district, all the mexicans mainly lived here, lots of art and graffiti on many of the buildings, and lots of thrift shops.
There was Golden Gate park, this was huge, really wish i got to explore more of it, such a beautiful place. A local told me this park is one of the biggest in the world? Don't know if that was true, but anyway.
Then it came to The Haight area. This was by far our favourite place to be. Had some really cute and trendy cafes, one day we went to one there was free live music, a jazz band they were amazing! This area definitely had the best thrift/op shops I have ever seen! Wow! I was in heaven. And I was so surprised cause they were very reasonably priced, I walked in and thought that they would be ridiculous prices, but i was shown wrong. It made it so hard too, cause there was so much I would have loved to buy, but how could i? This was my first stop on our trip, and I'd be lugging it around for a whole 11 months. So yeh.. it hurt.
The people in this area were very trendy and stylish, definitely took a lot of pride in what they wore. Anyway, i better get to the other parts of the city, I could go on forever about this part, ha ha.
There was China Town, lots of fruit and vegetables for very cheap, and very smelly too. Some places sold BB guns to, Marty was pretty tempted.
There was an area right near us with all the italian restaurants, that looked very tempting but of course we couldn't afford it.
After mentioning all of the good things about this place, there were also a few bad things. The numbers of homeless people here was outstanding, never seen so many homeless people in one place. It was very sad.
And also the tipping. Boy that was tough. The first few days we were there we completly forgot about it. Apparently you are supposed to tip 20% of the bill, now that made things just too expensive, it was something always on my mind, and I would feel guilty the whole time up having to pay at the end.
For anyone who is still reading this right now, well done! You made it through all my babbling on.
Hope this taught you a little about San Francisco, and that maybe one day you'll visit it, it's definitely worth it!
