Wednesday, November 11, 2015

San Francisco

If you watch SciFi movies, then you would have definitely seen San Francisco. That is the city that has gone through hell. Well, if not anything then the Golden Gate Bridge deserves to be mentioned. So far it has gone through alien attacks, terminators, apes, mutants, kaiju and even the 2012 apocalypse. I was in the city and can assure that in spite of all this, the city is fine and awesome. Don’t trust me? See it for yourself.

Wait, that’s Karl the fog covering the bridge and the city. Here is another pic of the bridge to show that the bridge is just fine.
And the city is fine too. If you head over to twin peaks then you will see the aerial view of the city. Look how beautiful it is. Don’t trust everything that you see in movies (Hollywood, duh!).
Moving on to more recent movies, Terminator Genisys features a bunker on top of a hill which then leads to an action scene on golden gate bridge. You could visit that place by crossing the bridge and taking the route to Marin Headlands (not entirely sure if that is the name). You will see couple of abandoned bunkers here. The route has tunnels and also gives you a breathtaking view of the ocean.


One of the things that I missed visiting was Alcatraz, the island which was portrayed as the development centre to cure the mutants (X-men, in case you didn’t get it). But hey, if you visit pier 39, then you will get to see the island from a distance. You will also get to stare  at the Pacific and it seems endless.

While you are at the pier, you could shop at the fisherman’s wharf. The wharf also has some amazing choices when it comes to food and drinks. And while you are there, do not forget to visit the famous Ghirardelli Chocolate Company.

From fisherman’s wharf you can take the famous cable car ride back to the centre of the city. (I googled but couldn’t find any movie reference that I was aware of!). As you take the cable car ride, you can spot the crooked street. And yeah, you might get a chance to ride the entire distance standing on the footboard :)
 

Union square is right in the middle of several high rise buildings. You can visit the cheesecake  factory while you are there.

You could walk through the market street that will again lead you to the pier. Twitter HQ is around there if you are a “tweep”. Oh yeah, just before I returned back to India, I was told Broadway is the place to go to if you want to have some “fun”. Well that is all I have to write about places in San Francisco.

General tips and guidelines:
- You could take the CalTrain to SF and use public transport/walk to go around on your own. This might save time as compared to going in your own car. Traffic is terrible. If feasible, rent a bike and go on the guided tour around the city. I couldn’t do this but I would do it if I were to do it all over again.
- The first half of my blogpost where I mention the movies are all easily accessible if you have a car. So you could visit SF twice. Once to cover the outskirts in a car and the next time to experience the cable car/bicycles/walk.
- If you are impatient or not a person who likes to explore on your own, guided tour buses such as double decker buses and duck bus tours are available in the city. Might be a bit expensive considering its only sightseeing.

You might also be interested to read: Vancouver, California 101, Delhi

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