Visiting San Francisco

[ithanos]

On 3/15/2016 at 1:44 AM, ljkeane said:

Did you go as far as Sausalito when you went over the bridge? I've seen a few things suggesting cycling down to Sausalito then getting the ferry back to San Francisco.

Sausalito and the ferry back was in my original plans, but meandering around the waterfront at the start drew out my time. The ride across the GGB was so exhilarating I was happy to cross back that way. I reckon you should go for it and fit Sausalito and the ferry ride into your day, just start early. 

[A True Kaniggit]

Good timing on the thread Ijkeane . I'm headed to San Francisco for the first time in April and am going to steal a lot of the advice that was given to you (Bwa ha ha). Friends of mine had already told me I should probably go down to the warf, even if it is touristy. But neither of them mentioned the Redwoods. Thanks everybody!

[Taphien]

...and don't forget to look out for the California sea lions at Pier 39

[ljkeane]

Ok, I'm back from my San Francisco trip and it was definitely a lot of fun. I really didn't need the jumpers I took either, there was far less rain and fog than I was expecting.

Alcatraz was very cool, it's fairly touristy but, whatever, I was a tourist and it was really interesting. Muir woods was great as well, very impressive, so thanks for the tips on that guys. I really enjoyed going to my first baseball game at AT&T park, the game was fun and it's a very nice stadium. The Californian Academy of Sciences and the De Young museum were fun but I ended up cutting short visiting Golden Gate Park and Haight-Ashbury because the 4th of April, when I went, is apparently some sort of weed festival and probably not the best day for wandering round a park. The bartender at the Liverpool supporters bar I went to thought it was pretty funny.

I ended up walking over the Golden Gate Bridge, I planned to cycle it but being fairly dense I didn't think through the need to pay a deposit and I didn't have a credit card/enough money for the cash deposit on me so I decided I'd just walk it. It was very cool but I'd probably suggest cycling it or if you do walk it wearing more appropriate footwear than I did.

On that note I didn't end up doing as much as I was planning to mainly down to me underestimating exactly how hilly San Francisco is. I expected it to be hilly but I didn't quite appreciate how many properly steep hills there are. For example I think the Filbert Street steps is more of a going down attraction than going up like I did. So it was a bit of a relief to reach Coit Tower but I really liked the murals, definitely worth a visit.

The only slightly low note was when I went to the Asian Art Museum (which was very interesting by the way) I decided to cut through the Tenderloin area, I had heard that it was a bit of a dodgy area but honestly I thought it couldn't really be that bad stuck right between Union Square where all the shops/hotels are and the City Hall. Yeah, I've probably been in some places in South Africa where I was more likely to end up getting shot but I have to say it was definitely the most noticeably sketchy area in the early afternoon I can think of. Two guys offered to sell me drugs in the space of about a 3 minute walk. After that I decided to sit down and eat some lunch in what looked quite a nice spot by a fountain behind the Asian Art Museum and looking around while I did some charity workers were picking up used syringes, and there were a lot, then I'm pretty sure the guy sat opposite me started smoking crack, in the street at 2 in the afternoon. So, yeah, that was a bit interesting. 

Overall a great trip though.

 

 

 

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

2 minutes ago, ljkeane said:

 

The only slightly low note was when I went to the Asian Art Museum (which was very interesting by the way) I decided to cut through the Tenderloin area, I had heard that it was a bit of a dodgy area but honestly I thought it couldn't really be that bad stuck right between Union Square where all the shops/hotels are and the City Hall. Yeah, I've probably been in some places in South Africa where I was more likely to end up getting shot but I have to say it was definitely the most noticeably sketchy area in the early afternoon I can think of. Two guys offered to sell me drugs in the space of about a 3 minute walk. After that I decided to sit down and eat some lunch in what looked quite a nice spot by a fountain behind the Asian Art Museum and looking around while I did some charity workers were picking up used syringes, and there were a lot, then I'm pretty sure the guy sat opposite me starting smoking crack, in the street at 2 in the afternoon. So, yeah, that was a bit interesting. 

Overall a great trip though.

I suppose we should have given you a bit of a warning regarding that. The neighborhoods in the City are a bit bizarre in that they can change pretty drastically from block to block. I lived in the Tenderloin for about 6 months about 15 years ago, and it was a bit colorful to say the least.