And so, 7 hours later, I was in San Francisco, and it wasn't even noon yet (time zone difference)! I have to start by saying my first time to the US west coast would not have been possible without if it weren't for my Aunt Barbara and Uncle Stanley and I'm forever grateful of them taking me in for the week I spent in San Francisco and the Bay Area. They gave me a private room in their home for the entire stay, took me sightseeing, treated me to everything, and gave me all the possible means to do some of my own sightseeing. There's really not much to see or do in San Francisco itself (the city and its attractions could easily be covered in 2 days without breaking a sweat); I found it's really out in the surrounding Bay Area that offers the best sights, and without having my aunt and uncle take me out to see those areas, I really wouldn't have been able to see those places (I didn't have any money to rent a car at this point).
They picked me up from the airport, and in only a short time after touching down, I was already back on my feet sightseeing in San Francisco...no time for rest when you're backpacking! Driving into SF, the contrast to NYC was sharp to say the least hahaha...it actually kind of reminded me to Toronto in that there's only a small concentration of skyscrapers in the city's financial distract and the rest is sprawled out as low rise buildings (except they have Spanish style roofing on most of the buildings in SF haha). First stop was SF's most famous symbol, the Golden Gate Bridge! And things must've been going my way because when we got there, it was clear enough to allow great views of the bridge (my aunt said it was really foggy earlier).
At the view point on the SF side of the bridge, offering great views of the Golden Gate Bridge. You can even see downtown SF off in the distance, though it was still pretty foggy for a clear view (5th photo).
A comparison of the same photo taken with my XSi and non-L optics lens (1st photo) and my uncle's superior 40D and L optics lens. If I had set my XSi to the same settings as on the 40D, the clouds in the background probably would've turned out to look like one single blob.
A look at Horse Bay on the north side of the bridge.
Parachute surfing in the San Francisco Bay! How cool that would've been to try!
The views of the bridge, its towers, the SF Bay (which was teeming with activity; 2nd and 10th photos), and SF (6th and 13th photos), as me and my uncle walked across the Golden Gate Bridge! It was pretty cloudy, but it wasn't as dark as it appears in the photos - I purposely shot the photos darker so that I could capture the nice cloud patterns with my camera (otherwise the sky would've looked whited-out in all my photos). I've also borrowed some photos that my uncle took for this post (9th photo).
At the north end of the bridge...they've had a lot of problems with suicide jumpers at the bridge...apparently it's the most popular place to commit suicide from in the world!?!
Looking back as we made our way to the view point at the north end of the bridge.
Some shots at the north view point. SF was barely visible through all the fog. And that's me with my aunt and uncle in the last photo!
We stopped at the small picturesque town of Sausalito, north of the bridge, for some much needed lunch!
After lunch, we walked around town for a little bit and passed by this small ice cream shop and decided to stop for ice cream. It turned out to be a great stop! I don't remember the exact name of the flavour I had, but I know it was basically caramel cinnamon ice cream! Sounds strange? That's why I had to try it, and believe me, it was sooo good! Honestly, one of the best I've had in a long time, if not the best ice cream to date!
The views at Hendrik Point, overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge. The fog again made it hard to make out SF (3rd photo) and Alcatraz Island (4th photo) in the distance; I had to shoot it dark just so the fog wouldn't grey out the details. So I didn't exactly have the greatest weather to get those spectacular shots of the bridge you often see online or in tourist brochures, but I still really like how the 7th photo came out with the big contrast in the clouds (even though I again had to shoot it dark to capture the differences in contrast).
On the bridge heading south back to SF, this time in a car haha.
Next stop was at The Palace of Fine Arts, the only surviving structure from the Panama-Pacific International Exposition (aka. 1915 San Francisco Worlds Fair). The immediate surrounding neighbourhood is now a very wealthy one, and I think it's pretty obvious from the photos that this place is quite popular for wedding photos. Surprisingly, there were a lot of different birds here too!
Back on the road to our next stop, another one of SF's famous landmarks, the winding part of Lombard Street (often claimed to be the crookedest street in the world).
Another popular SF attraction, a SF cable car, which happened to stop at the top of the crooked street when we arrived.
A look down at the crooked street.
How I managed to get my angle of the crooked street haha.
Back in the car, driving down the crooked street! I'd hate to live in one of the houses that lines the street, there's way too many tourists to have any sense of privacy during the day.
At the bottom of the crooked street.
I spotted this funny little "car" (more like a go kart) driving down the crooked street just as we were about to leave - obviously a tourist thing that you can rent.
Back on the hilly roads, with Alcatraz Island in the distance.
Some shots as me and my aunt made our to the Fisherman's Wharf area, really a very touristy area. It was still a pleasant walk to get there though with plenty to see.
Some homeless-looking guy was hiding behind some branches on the sidewalk and scaring people as they approached him hahaha.
At Fisherman's Wharf.
As expected, lots of seafood! Every restaurant and stand along this strip of sidewalk looked different, but they were all basically selling the exact same thing for pretty much the same prices...? And of course, there's nothing like enjoying your food on the trunk of your car hahaha (5th photo).
There were some very loud, aggressive, huge(!) seagulls walking up the street demanding food scraps from the people nearby haha.
At the Boudin Sourdough Bakery & Cafe that we came across, known for their sourdough bread and animal-shaped creations. The bakery even had glass walls facing the sidewalk so that people walking by could watch the bakers create the animal-shaped bread. Some very pricey bread, and it's actually pretty good (we bought a small loaf to try) but still a bit overpriced in my opinion.
The McD's across the street from the bakery. I was drawn to the giant fries and burger models sticking out of the wall...I don't think I've ever seen that at a McD's before...
Uhhh...ok hahaha. Someone dressed up in a giant skeleton costume, obviously a tourist picture-taking thing.
Some crazy looking trees that are pretty common here.
At Pier 39, home to the typical unique pier shops, restaurants, and tourist attractions, as well as (yet again) stinky seals (9th photo)! I finally managed to get a decently clear shot of Alcatraz Island from the end of the pier (7th photo) and had a seagull fly straight at us which made for a cool photo (8th photo). Being a left-hander, I was naturally drawn to the left-hand store...I think this was the first one I've actually seen!
Attack of the giant heart-shaped crab! Back at the Pier 39 entrance with the sun almost completely set.
On the streets of Chinatown at night, with Coit Tower in the background. After a long day of sightseeing, my uncle and aunt took me to dinner at one of the better Chinese restaurants in SF's Chinatown that's known locally to have pretty good Chinese food, and sadly it wasn't nearly as good as the Chinese food here in the GTA! I guess it's true what they say, that the Chinese food in the US really is no good.
After dinner, we finally headed back to their home in the suburb town of Cupertino, situated at the southern end of the San Francisco Bay. One interesting thing I noticed right away during the drive on the highway was that there almost no streetlights on the highway! I'm so used to seeing streetlights everywhere on the highway like it is here. Instead, they use these small square reflector pads on the along running where the lanes would usually be painted so that the lanes are still very visible at night. Very energy efficient! Though I imagine the upkeep costs must be high to maintain those pads considering the weight of cars and trucks constantly passing over them during lane changes.
It was so nice to finally stretch out in a private bed and get some sleep in a non-seated positions hahaha. The bunk beds at the Village Inn Hostel in NYC were really small - I just fit on the bed length and width wise, and I always had to hunch over a lot when sitting up to not bump my head. They have a very nice house and it seemed so spacious despite it only being one storey; I've always believed 2 storey homes for one family to be completely unnecessary haha. And after a much-needed refreshing shower (I'd been travelling all over in NYC for a day, no time for a shower, then sleeping on the plane, then travelling all over SF...I must've stank!), I completely passed out that night despite the jet lag hahaha.
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