Californacation Part - 3 ( dont ask me where are parts 1 and 2 )

Trip Details: San Francisco

distance :

Denver- San Francisco - 950 miles/1529Kms

No of days: 3.5

Cost : $990 (Rs 44000)

Mode : Rental Car, Bus , Cable Train

Song : Cold Deserts - King of Leon

WARNING: ONLY FOR TYPICAL INDIAN TOURIST

SFO lies on the west coast of US. A little to the North.It is much cooler than LA.I spent almost 4 days in and around San Francisco (SFO). I had been there before but did not see much of it.

Weather: SFO is a windy and cloudy city ( as per many of my friends ). I was lucky all the 4 days were

sunny that too in winter!Sunny and winter is the greatest tourist combination, alwaysremember. Except mild showers the second day it was dry through out. It does not snow.Win ds...Yes it was windy a little bit.

City: City is just awesome. It has its own character. You will see lot of ethnic Chinese ( the settled here in late 1800's and were source of chea

p labor) , Mexicans ( California was a part of Mexico before the civil war) Indians ( tourists and white collared workers) ,Caucasians and general tourists. Landscape, well I think this is the most unique thing about SFO. This is a city built on the hills. Some roads cross more than 60 degrees! cycling or for that matter even walking can be a mountainous task ( ohh...It has to be mountainous rt?). Houses lining the streets are treat to your eyes. Colours will hit you. They are really beautiful. From the top of the mountains you can see the deep blue Bay. The golden gate bridge cannot escape your eyes.It has that shade of red which no one can describe ( Let me know if u know it! ). This city has a good amount of green cover. Golden Gate is a part of national Park and it is not to be missed. Link to the government website http://www.nps.gov/goga/index.htm

Transportation: I would say transportation is one of the good things here. Golden gate area is fully made for bikers liking. Though winds might just get u straight. See the weather before you venture. City buses ( BART...not a Simpson ) are equipped bike racks. You can rent the bikes from the Fisherman's Wharf. The local transport BART is known to be good.There are some weird electric buses with wires hanging. From airport there is a direct train ( or metro..a part of Bay Area Regional Transport ) link for their chick site http://www.bart.gov/. The most famous mode of transport is the Cable Car. You would wonder why is it named cable car? The cables run underground to pull the car. $5 per ride or free :).It has its areas of operation downtown to fisherman's wharf. You would need to rent car for going around the national park areas ITS CAL PPL.

The Trip: Its a personal choice what to see and what not to. I am a nature freak to some extent but I wanted to see the urban landscape. We rented a car from Budget with a GPS ( must!) at SFO. SFO airport is one of the biggest and filled with Chinese ppl. Stay, I would suggest find some cheap hotel in downtown area. We stayed at The Opel hotel on Van Ness Ave. It was close to almost all the city landmarks ( except the Airport ). Hotel is ok for $50 but parking cost us $25 per night. Parking is a headache in downtown area and costly! It cost us more than $120 to park. But if u act little intelligent unlike us you will save a lot!

Day 1(was just 1/2 a day) : Pier 39 : Its ia a pier lined with shops and people performing on the road. It is a place to be at DUSK. food..is mostly sea food.I had a crab sandwich which was unexpectedly good n expected costly. There are shops filled with magnet souvenir's.,California wines. There are good restaurants but Its upto your liking of sea food.Chowder is a very popular dish. You get a good view form the pier. You can see the Alcatraz island ,the Bay bridge etc. At sunset it looks amazing. You can also have a good look at the SFO downtown. There is a maritime museum there. Worth a visit if you have lots of spare time. The pier is a crowded place bustling with colours , people and fish! Public Parking is expensive $7 per hour ( max $35 per day). You can spend upto 3-4 hrs here.

Day 2 : Was partially sunny with little rains!

Alcatraz Island (The Rock): Do we need an introduction. This was the place where Al Capone was kept. Movies were made on it..The Rock (and the famous Kamayat with Neha dhupia n ajay Devgan). Its an Indian reserve now. It was a prison uptill 70's .Now converted to a tourist spot ( these Americans know how to do it! i.e. fleece!). Its a fairly walkable small island. You can see bay bridge, GGB and the city skyline and the dropping roads! Its a part of National Park area.It has been well maintained. It has to be traversed in a boat that starts from pier 33.

As soon as u get down from the boat they will give you a brief introduction and a history. Then you can start on your own. They have a short film ( made by Discovery channel) .Then you walk to the main prison. They have an Audio tour. It is self guided and good! available in Chinese,Spanish ,French and of course English! The tour gives you brief history. quite fascinating!After the tour you can go around the island , buy souvenirs or go back! Boats take you back to 33 every 1/2 Hr. I would advise you to book online and print tickets. The rides get overbooked often .It should not cost you more than $23 from official site http://www.alcatrazcruises.com/

Mill Valley: Its a small Scenic place just close to the Golden Gate .Nothing much to see but the

beauty is just astounding. Roads are clean but have to watchout for the cyclists cycling at a higher speed on the way. You ll have to cross the GGB and take highway 1. I could still see fall colours in winters.There are small caffes where you can have snacks n stuff. Worth visiting if you have some spare time.

Muir Woods: Pronounced as Mee Urr woods. Is a good place to hike, Its a part of NPS.Getting here was a bit tricky but do follow CA-1 and i guess ppl(cyclists) will be there to guide you. We can see the simply astounding tall red wood trees and Sequeras. Trees are more than 400 years are there so watch out for elefants..;). Some are older than 1000 years old. There is a $5 entry fee and you ll get a brochure with the trails map.There are different beautiful trails some short ,some looong.There are trails more than 6 miles long so bring in good shoes.Some times it rains during winters so dress accordingly.If you have visited northern India's forests then it might not amaze you after all !!

http://www.nps.gov/muwo/planyourvisit/hours.htm, All your FAQ's will get answered here. Remember! in winters park closes at 5.

Stinson Beach: It is about 10-15 miles from The Muir woods .The road is extremely scenic.

We pass through good huge woods and the beach front. The road speaks for it self. There are speed limits so watch out for the speed limits! and also the bloody cyclists ( if you are not one! ). There is a small village ( mind it! its a califonia village ! ) where you can park your car. The beach is just ad joining the parking (It closes at six in winters).The beach is huge,clean with golden sands. There is a bistro on the beach. Its not too crowded. Worth a visit. It has a rock formation at the end of the beach can walk upto that if you wish. Dont try the cold pacific ocean! There are also other beaches like Muir Beach. I would suggest follow this road till the END! which is not too far.

Fort Barry: I went there alone at night. Was quite an experience. It is very close to GGB about 5-6 miles i guess. In the night no body is present, winds are cold and all you can hear is swish of flowing winds and lashing waves. Its a place to visit! But safety I donno! you could get mugged alone .I went there against everyone alone to take fotographs in night mode! but the winds ruined them. it was a full moons day.You can see the whole of SFO in night. What a view! I again went there at day time. I guess the day ended there ;)

Day 3: Was Sunny!

The Crooked Street: The crooked street aka the Lombard street is supposed to be the crookedest street in the world. Its is a really pricey piece of real estate which I would not like to buy as people flock there day and night and continously take fotographs with little room for privacy. Plus Parking is really a headache at wierd angles! You get a good view of the blue bay from the top of this street. Neat houses are lined on the side of this street. This street seems to be purposefully made crooked but the angles are for real. Anyways it wont take you more than 15-20 mins to see it! Just park you car 2-3 blocks around the street and take a cable car to the downtown or fishermas wharf.you will save a lot of money in parking plus you get to ride the world famous cable train. The cable train has a one way ticket of $5 or 2-way of $11 quite wierd! People hang from the sides of the train unsafely like in India so gives you a homely feeling. If you get down in between you can forget to pay ! :P ! 3-4 peope operate the cable train ! I know the last man is a brakeman and pulls the brake when the roads r too steep!

The Downtown : The Downtown is awesome like most of the downtown's. It has huge

boulevards and the cable trains operate there to the fisherman's wharf. There is very less of parking space so forget taking your car there! It is lined with shops with famous brands like victoria's secret ( she might just reveal it one day.I am waiting for long! ),Gucci, Prada, Diesel etc. It is a good place to roam around .It also has a huge Macy's store. I have these brands going, everywhere you go!

The Golden Gate Bridge (GGB): This is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of SFO. It has that weird color of road which in background of blue coloured bay looks very striking! You have to take the highway 101 and cross the bridge to the Vista point exit. The Vista point is very crowded! always! and you ll be lucky to find the parking! We were ! The bridge is very beautiful .you can walk only at one side of the bridge the other is strictly for cycles. It is very windy there but it was a good sunny day .You can see Alcatraz island! Walk till the end of the bridge, till other end its about 1.7 miles (4.3Kms).Do Walk! dont commit the mistakes that I did ! View is very good from the centre of the bridge. If your light weight (highly unlike Americans who suffer from gigantassism) do hold the rails! There are other points from where you can clearly see the whole bridge. We have to go to the road for Fort Barry to see the whole bridge! I would suggest get a bike from fisherman's wharf and cycle to the GGB! IT IS A MUST!!!!! if you are fit ! Haan It has a $6 oneway toll so kep change ready!

Day 4: Sunny Again!

San José (Pron. Span. San Hozee ) : It is the silicon valley of the world. Costly place ! It is in south of SFO about 50 miles from it. You ll find tech biggies like Google, Yahoo, Oracle etc and lots and lots of Indians
Mystery spot: We went there in the morning. It is about 20-30 miles from San Jose. It is famous for the weird gravitational anomaly. Some weird stuff. Worth visiting once! For more information visit http://www.mysteryspot.com/. There is a hut at at angle and you feel a bit dizzy due to intense gravitational effect! Illusion of vision is also some stuff. Entry fee $5 parking $5

Santa Cruz: Again a small Cal Village! Amazing beach and a pier. lined with palm trees. The beach is clean and you ll find people dancing and playing ball ! The pier is huge and had is lined with shops and restaurants. You can see Sea Lions down the pier!

Conclusion: This city certainly has something unexplainable! It is the most colorful city in US that I have seen. Clean and good transportation Every thing is seen from everywhere! From Lombard street I could See GGB and alcatraz .From Alcatraz , the streets and GGB . From GGB the streets and Alcatraz!