As Labor Day weekend was arriving, I decided to pay my visit to one of the most popular cities not only in states but in the world, may be because of too many movie references. In first fifteen minutes, my reaction for THE CITY (one of the synonym for SF) was; one of the most chaotic and over-whelming cities I have ever been to. Literally as soon as I reached downtown, I had one of the most pleasurable and memorable head rush in my life. Once I let myself subsumed to the surroundings I knew that, this city has a very different and intriguing vibe and it has a lot to offer. One can find so many things around; hilly terrain, year around fog, ever-changing climate, Pacific Ocean, earthquakes, cable car, liberal mindsets, iconic skyline and last but not the least world-famous Golden Gate bridge. Although I may have listed very few things if one compare it to reality. I reached downtown around 10 PM by crossing one of the other iconic bridges i.e. Bay Bridge, which connects city to Oakland. Interestingly most of the things in downtown seemed to be grandeur than normal and cheesy at the same time. It could be because of my hotel … The Clift Hotel or as I called it wanna be Hard Rock, given the fact that I am a huge fan of Hard Rock Hotels. Oh, where to begin; mood lighting in elevators, acrylic furniture, lobby decorated with most random furniture ever put up in one place and to top that not so friendly hotel staff, but let me start from the start. This time there was a sort of detour in my trip as I decided not to take flight to SF, but to go by railroad from LA, which covers one of the most iconic railroads in the world along the west coast.
Coast Starlight is the name of the train and basically it is a tourist attraction for all train travel enthusiast. Final destination for the train is Seattle with total transit time of 35 hours and for some it will be way too much, although train is comfortable but food is not so hot. FYI, people don’t travel on this train for comfort or food, people travel for the world’s iconic coastal railroad. If someone wants to cover the whole west coast between LA & SF then one can take this train from LA till San Luis Obispo and then rent a car to go on highway one till SF, but for me highway one will be a separate trip altogether. I boarded the plane for LAX from Houston on Friday evening and decided to stay near Union station in LA, as I had to board morning train for SF. Thanks to Hilton checkers for making my day by providing scrumptious meal, having said that I have to take back some brownie points for unsafe neighborhood as concierge told me not to go beyond 2 blocks left or right from the hotel. After having my breakfast, I boarded the train and embarked on one of the most memorable and picturesque train travel ever. Other than food, only thing which was terrible … only for photographers (as everyone these days is a photographer 😛 including me) was, train does not have any patio to take clear pictures hence one will end-up with clicks including reflection.
Day 2 was exciting, as I had lot on my plate. Due to lack of time, I decided to take a ferry to Sausalito. Ferry to Sausalito traverse through Golden Gate Bridge, the rock Alcatraz Island and beats all the chaos of traffic as it took me 30 minutes to reach there. Moment I put my foot on the other side, I was fascinated by it; small cafes, chic shopping area, restaurants offering toothsome meals, ice cream parlors etc. and it was really contrasting from the city. To my luck, I was able to find shop for one of my favorite brands i.e. Benetton. On the way back, I boarded a different ferry that anchored in Fisherman Wharf, which is the starting point for cable car terminal. They say it is curse if you have visited SF and you have not been on a cable car. It was not that exciting but I was really fascinated by the inner workings of the cable car. With the help of cable car, I reached downtown again specifically Union Park area, which is renowned as one of the major shopping hubs and I took full advantage of that. Soon it was past my lunchtime and to satisfy my taste buds, I went to one of the Mediterranean restaurants in pacific heights. Drive from downtown to pacific heights was really soothing as I was able to see Victorian architecture of the city. By the time I finished my lunch, it was almost late evening and I wanted to visit Chinatown before sunset and before clubbing.
Thanks to Uber for making my commute so convenient and cheap. Well I guess I have to be back for more, as I want to go to Napa valley, Lake Tahoe & highway one.
Can’t recall the name of the building
Chinatown .. almost
Fisherman’s wharf
Obviously .. Golden Gate