San Francisco

After a long time today I feel I want to pen down something on my blog again and what best could I write about but my recent travel to San Francisco.

A famous Dutch proverb goes something like this “He who is outside his door already has the hardest part of his journey behind him”. My life has been like this, I love to travel, I dream of the places that I want to go; there were many places in my bucket list and this one was on the top of it. Sometime back I had read about San Francisco in a traveler’s magazine; seen the pictures of its steep rolling hills, electric mix of architecture, the Golden Gate and the cable car and since then I always felt like a burning desire to visit the city. So it all started and I made arrangements for our travel to San Francisco. Our battered suitcases were out again, and I was most happy to visit this city than any other.

We reached the city around mid afternoon and that night we relaxed in our hotel at San Mateo. I was up early the next morning, anxious to go to the Fisherman’s wharf and take our Grayline tour to the Napa valley.  When we reached downtown we had our first glimpse of the heart of the city, my vivid imagination of the steep roads, the vibrant colors and the different piers.  The Grayline tour was a full day tour starting at 9:15 am and ended around 6:30 pm. The tour took us to three different Wineries – Jacuzzi, Cline and an Organic winery. I never know there was an art to cherish the taste of a wine. A tip to all Wine lovers – hold the wine glass by its stem not by the bowl. Your body heat warms the wine when you hold the wine glass by the bowl and as you know wine tastes best when it is chilled. Napa valley is very beautiful and has a very interesting history about Wine production, how it first started there, how the wine plants were imported from across Europe. I would definitely recommend the tour to anyone who is interested in knowing the history about San Francisco and Napa Valley; of course there is an added advantage that you do not have to drive after tasting to much wine.

Frank Herbert said, “Without new experiences, something inside of us sleeps. The sleeper must awaken”. San Francisco has exactly this to offer. Our next day was kicked off by taking another Grayline Trolley tour of San Francisco. It is a 2 hour long tour which takes you through Chinatown, close to the Crooked Lane, to the Victorian style house, stops at the Golden gate. Golden Gate is majestic. It comes to life when you see it in front of you.  Our next activity was the Red and White fleet cruise which took us to both the bridges and the Alcatraz Island.  San Francisco has rich history and Alcatraz is a part of it and a must see in your trip.

On Fisherman’s wharf there are lots of nice places to eat and one I recommend is the Stinking Rose, the all Garlic Restaurant close to Fisherman’s wharf. Try the Garlic Ice cream it’s quite the unexpected.

The California Academy of Sciences is also a must see place in San Francisco. Make sure to visit its Planetarium  and Rainforest. We watched the show Dinosaurs there.  On your way back from the Academy you can drive to the Crooked Street, btw the address to crooked street is

1000 Lombard St, San Francisco, CA 94133

This evening we drove to Palo Alto to meet a friend and had dinner at a Mediterranean Place. There are many fine dining options in Palo Alto.

Day 4 of our trip we drove to Lake Tahoe from San Francisco. This is another beautiful drive and Lake Tahoe is overwhelmingly beautiful. Made me remember of Kashmir where between the hills we have a serene lake. Lake Tahoe is picture perfect. It’s the best place to visit if you need to spend time in nature away from the busy life of cities. This is what California offers, in few miles you reach a beach in another few you reach the mountains, in few miles you would have snow and the next sun blazing down.

There are many things to do and many more things to write about San Francisco. I would rate this as one of my most favorite places visited so far.

End by saying, Till another trip - I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list.

 - Saral