Warning: this post contains an overload of pictures. O:)
I know, I'm sorry. I know I'm not supposed to say Frisco and I know San Franciscans despise the word. But our last full day in San Francisco we decided to be proper tourists and do as much sightseeing as we could. And tourists do call it Frisco :P
We saw a LOT this day, so yeah... I took a LOT of pictures.
We saw a LOT this day, so yeah... I took a LOT of pictures.
The world's most crookedest street! Not that spectacular. I used to play Midtown Madness and GTA San Andreas a lot, so from that perspective it was funny to finally see Lombard Street in real life!
Great view
All the streets in SF are crooked :P
The world famous "Painted Ladies" on "Postcard Row". You can find these Victorian style houses everywhere in San Francisco, but I admit these are one of the prettiest (maybe because they are in pretty good condition?). I used to love them even as a kid watching Full House! These houses cost a shitload of money (no really, one was sold for 3,1 million dollars this year, and that was a *good deal*) and while they are gorgeous.. I don't think I would be comfortable living somewhere where people are taking pictures of your house all day long.
Okay so this picture isn't particularly interesting BUT this is Steiner St, where the Hillard family lives in Mrs Doubtfire (one of my faaaaaavourite childhood movies)! Haha.
These houses are pretty awesome as well! They look like there could be witches living inside (that's a positive thing, I always wanted to be a witch a la Charmed/Practical Magic. OH!!!!! I JUST realised as I'm writing this that Charmed was of course set in SF... DUH).
We took a bus to Golden Gate Park, to enjoy some nature and see the academy of sciences building by Renzo Piano. Check out the weird roof! Next time I want to go in...
We made our way through the rest of Golden Gate Park...
...all the way to Hippie Hill. This was the hippie movement's epicenter during the Summer of Love in '67. It was here where they wore flowers in their hair, discussed politics and music, made love, while they were probably high on LSD, marihuana or some other drug.
The real hippies are long gone, but the whole neighbourhood remains a little *alternative*. Lots of colourfully painted walls, a looot of smoke shops (do they actually sell weed here?) and some neohippie tourists here and there. There's also a wide variety of pretty unique shops on the Haight. From shops that sell artisanal products like locally brewed beer to shops that sell (fetal!) skeleton casts and taxidermia.
But to us, the main attraction on the Haight was Amoeba Music. My dad is a HUGE music lover (an understatement, really), and raised me accordingly. So when we planned on going to San Francisco, we knew we wanted to go to this record store!
We thought we'd died and gone to record heaven. Here they have aaaaallllllll the records you could ever dream of. From old obscure rock records that cost hundreds of dollars to the latest electropop. It's amazing and terribly overwhelming. You don't know where to look. Every record you've ever longed for, totally slips your mind. And as I was going through hundreds and hundreds of records (wondering what record it was I wanted), I tried to visualize how many records could fit in my (already too full and overweight) suitcase.
We thought we'd died and gone to record heaven. Here they have aaaaallllllll the records you could ever dream of. From old obscure rock records that cost hundreds of dollars to the latest electropop. It's amazing and terribly overwhelming. You don't know where to look. Every record you've ever longed for, totally slips your mind. And as I was going through hundreds and hundreds of records (wondering what record it was I wanted), I tried to visualize how many records could fit in my (already too full and overweight) suitcase.
San Francisco is full of these very cool retro trams! They buy up old leftover trams from other cities. Every tram has a description inside about where it came from etc.
Moved on to the downtown area to cram in some last buildings we wanted to see. This is the Jewish contemporary museum by architect Daniel Libeskind. Very odd and iconic building, as most of his buildings are. It sits next to St Patrick's Church, which was built late 1800s. Great contrast!
Some crappy pictures that I wanted to include nonetheless, because this is the only building in San Francisco by Frank Lloyd Wright! Unfortunately the gallery was closed that day, but inside there's a ramp that was a prototype for the ramp in the Guggenheim in New York!
Absolutely gorgeous beaux-arts dome at Neiman Marcus on Union Square. This dome has been here since 1896, but they built a new building around it.
This is what the building looks like from outside. It's a very modern building by Philip Johnson, and people weren't too happy with this when it was built in the 80s. I can see where those critics are coming from, though I do feel it fits Union Square, and I like that you can see the rotunda and dome from the outside! Again, such contrast between old and new!
Looking up and down Union Square :) We went to get some cheesecake from the Cheesecake company upstairs at Macy's but ehhh.. I didn't really like that cheesecake. Great view though!
We ended our day with a huge and decadent meal on Fisherman's Wharf. 'Don't go there!' they warn you, 'it's a tourist trap!' Be that as it may, but we thoroughly enjoyed our dinner. Prices were reasonable enough as well!
Let's conclude this very long post with this view of Coit tower and the Transamerica Pyramid building. I absolutely loved San Francisco! There's just so much to do and see and I could've easily stayed another week or two. Shopping's great in San Fran, and the food is of course also pretty great! And if you're more into nature instead of cities, there are plenty of beautiful state parks nearby. Other great (little) places are also within arm's reach and really, there's still so I want to explore! Next time definitely includes a wine trip to Napa Valley, haha. Anyway. I'm so glad we added San Francisco to our USA trip this year, and I can't wait to go back sometime!