BootsnAll Travel Network



San Francisco, 1 year on…

Sept 11th, 2009.  The day my round the world ticket expired.  One year ago I was in San Francisco, my last day in the US before flying to Japan.  This time though, instead of arriving in the evening with no where to stay and sleeping in a camper parked on the side of the road, I had a couchsurfer to stay with.  More pleasant than the driving back and forth around the bay area looking for somewhere to park the camper that occurred last year.

I got to the city around 3:00, to beautiful weather (last I’d see of it).  Didn’t do much in terms of sightseeing, walked past the wharf, remembered it from last year and left to avoid tourist mobs.  Found my way to a nice area near the marina, full of great houses and walked up the hill a bit for an awesome view overlooking the bay.

marina district

Filmore street

As I kept walking (invariably uphill) I got to Japan town (no coincidence), wandered starry-eyed through it remembering Japan and got a couple snacks from a supermarket.  Fish filled rice triangles never tasted so good, or brought back so many good memories from across the pacific.

That evening I went to the same bar I was at exactly one year ago (just about to the hour) and had the same beer.  Niiice.  Then I went down the street for a fantastic dinner of veggie tempura.  Amazingly the bar was 2 blocks away from my couchsurfing hosts house, coincidence?  ha.

Second day I walked all over San Francisco.  Seriously.  Through Union square where there was a Korean festival going on, heard them singing the Korean and American national anthems while I was there, weird, more culture shock.  Next, on to China town where I found a slightly unique sushi place, like the conveyor belt places I came to love in Japan but with boats floating on water instead.  The California rolls were delish.

Chinatown

sushi boats

mm sushi

After lunch I walked up to Telegraph hill, after wandering aimlessly to where I thought looked cool for a while, stopped at the lookout tower for a rest.  A view came with the rest…

Alcatraz

city centre

the bay bridge

Walked along Lombard street next.  The famous “most curvy street on earth” is actually one of the main roads in San Francisco and the vast majority of it is really straight.  I saw the curvy bit last year but went by it again simply because it was on the way to where I was going next.

Lombard street

Lombard street

Union street was my next stopping point, near where I’d been yesterday, a nice section of cafes and shops.  Had a cup of tea and gathered the energy for another uphill bit of walking, back to Japan town.

view of the bay

I explored Japan town much more thoroughly this time before heading back towards the Lower Haight district where I was staying.  This square was on the way back, lined with great houses like these, this city really is beautiful…

Alamo Sq

IMG_6676



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