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America by car, part 9/10 - San Francisco

Author: kuba
Category: Travel reports
America by car, part 9/10 - San Francisco – main image

As we approached the city on the highway, we expected a similar glow to the one over Las Vegas. Yes - the glow was - it started with the lights of the Oakland airport (actually the "suburbs" of San Francisco). The weather surprised us - a few miles before SF there was a beautiful starry night, clear sky, the moon two nights before the full moon. Moments later, a gigantic fog (cloud?) Hung over the city, giving us a gentle drizzle. As we pulled off the Bay Bridge, we turned towards (as our girls say) "the very center" of SF, and the scenery was fairy-tale-comic.

Imagine: the night, dim light from behind the clouds, a specific fog suddenly falling on the city, skyscrapers in the downtown, which are not visible to the spiers, but you can feel their presence ... Great, a bit dark atmosphere - such Gotham City in light rain.
We found the hotel (The Union Square Plaza Hotel on Geary Street) in no time, it turned out to be a bit worse than our standard Travelodge motel, but it benefited from one thing: LOCATION. Located right next to the HIGH CENTER, San Franciso has proved to be a great base for exploring the city with the help of its public transport. After a little rest and support, we finally gathered and after midnight we set off into the city. A walk around the nearby Union Square (the text "strict center" begins to be the hallmark of our trip). It turned out that SF goes to sleep at this time (at least in the very center) and we finally sat down in the only working Irish pub in the area.

Yesterday, i.e. Wednesday, 6.05. we gathered decently and already around 11 o'clock we were having breakfast in "Lori, s" - a classic American pub, where you sit in red, leather boxes, there is a chessboard on the floor, and the waitress politely pours coffee from the jug ... After breakfast we went on a classic San Francisco tour. First, a ride on the famous "cable car" - Cable Car - along the bizarre streets of SF - up, down, up and down ... then walk around Chinatown (shopping to Marcin's camera) towards Coit Tower. From under the tower there was a beautiful view of the bay and… the Golden Gate, which was not there.

Well, while it was understandable that we do not see this legendary bridge (I have the impression that I use the word "legendary" every now and then - if so - forgive me) when entering the city, the next day, when we went to Coit Tower in fine weather - we expected to see this miracle of engineering, which (as we were told) was to be visible from this place in all its glory ... What was our surprise when, after climbing the last few dozen steps to the parking lot under the tower (funded years ago by a wealthy citizen of SF) - WE DIDN'T SEE THE BRIDGE ... A magnificent view of the bay, in the foreground the bustling pier of Pier 39 , and the place where the bridge should theoretically be - shrouded in fog ...
"We didn't agree like that," you'd like to say, but well - we had to be patient and wait ...

We took the bus from Coit Tower (earlier, before the tram ride, we bought day tickets for public transport for only $ 11 / person) to the aforementioned Pier 39, which can be described as something like a wooden pier built up with shops and restaurants. The biggest attraction here is undoubtedly the Sea Lions - Sea Lions (for me - just bigger seals), which lie - several hundred in number - on the coastal piers and gracefully pose for excited tourists. It wasn't the first time, therefore, that we felt like classic Japanese tourists, whom we used to make fun of (read slang: tearing the shoals / rags) ... Another time during this trip we shot our cameras - this time - at the sun lounging. " seal ".

In the afternoon, we ate a decent but square pizza in the neighborhood pompously known as Little Italy and headed to another tourist attraction - Lombards Street. The whole thing about this street is that on its very short section (about 200 meters in a straight line) it is quite twisted. Twisting means - no more or less - only a few very sharp bends and a very steep slope of the road at the same time. Lombards Street has one direction of going up and down. In the evening, a two-hour session (not necessarily ofkors) at the Marshall's outlet on one of the main arteries of the city - Market Street. The girls fell into a trance, but this was just a foretaste (on the radio we would say in English - tease) of what was about to happen.

Late in the evening, after a short rest at the hotel, we went for a walk around the area. Unfortunately, the area, despite - let me remind you - STRONG CENTER - abounds in crowds of the so-called they chewed the common ones - not to be confused with the tramps. It made a walk near Union Square exciting, adventure in the air, and… it smelled like power - from sneaking, wandering, sleeping homeless people.

I invite you to read the next part about the way back to Los Angeles

kuba
kuba

I crossed America by car and I am happy to tell you about it!

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Although beautiful and full of magic, Languedoc is not as popular as its sister Provence. This one is associated with lavender fields, blue shutters and landscapes that delighted painters - not only impressionists. Languedoc, on the other hand, remains somewhat in the shadow, although it has a lot to offer. Together with Roussillon, which until recently was a separate province, it forms a vast region encompassing the Pyrenees on the Spanish border and the Rhône estuary in the east. Languedoc-Roussillon is an area extremely diverse geographically and culturally. You can clearly see the Catalan heritage there, starting from painting the houses in vivid colors, through the cuisine (including tapas and bull steaks), and ending with traditions associated more with Spain than France - bullfights. The history of the region is also colorful, although often its main color was blood red. In Prouille , approximately 78 km from Toulouse, the Order of Preachers (Dominicans) was born, from which many inquisitors came. In the region we will find numerous ruins of castles nestled in steep rocks, silent evidence of his cruel activities. The scene of particularly grim events was Béziers , the town where the Cathar massacre took place. Fortunately, it also has a brighter side - Pierre-Paul Riquet, the creator of the Canal du Midi, a water route from the north to the south of France, to the Mediterranean Sea, was born there. What other cities are worth visiting during your holiday in Languedoc-Roussillon ? Certainly the above-mentioned Toulouse with its beautiful Capitol and a number of monuments that cannot be visited in one day, Carcasonne with the largest medieval urban complex in Europe, and Albi, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Narbonne, Nîmes and Montpellier are also worth mentioning.