The quirky and captivating city of San Francisco (my first blog post!)
(Lol so much for a cliched robotic way to start my first blog post)
This is my first ever piece of blogging (mentioning it for the 3rd time) and quite unsure how to start off. The main motivation behind writing (typing) this post is the BOREDOM I've been experiencing since falling sick last week (I got a severe case of Epididymitis and need a few more days of bed rest to recover) and trying to do new stuff to keep my mind engaged.
Anyway I decided to post a few pics of my recent trip from the United States, pics of San Francisco in particular, just cause I find the city so damn quirky and interesting. In my opinion, SF beats any other city in America when it comes to living, travelling, eating, exploring and doing outdoorsy nature stuff. (Ok I've only been to three major cities in America but SF was the best for me - NYC included). So I was browsing through all the random snaps of SF I took while there and decided to post a few of the quirky, interesting, artsy and breath-taking ones (kind of like an ode to the city). Here they go :-
Believe it or not this is the first snap of SF that I took. This was on the morning after my arrival and there was a Latino pride carnival happening in the place I was staying at. The above lady was probably one of the participants in the parade (which is seen more explicitly in my next pic).
This was one of the acts in the Latino pride parade. Now being a long time resident of Abu Dhabi, where women generally are a little conservative, seeing such ummm barely dressed performers kind of fascinated me. hehe
The nearly century-old cable cars in downtown SF. Although they're used more for ferrying tourists around than as an actual means of transport.
Statue of Mahatma Gandhi in downtown SF. Brought out the (faint) Indian patriotism in me (Don't judge me for that statement!).
Dolores park, a smallish park near the place I was staying at. Locally well-known as the hipster hangout spot....Although in this picture you just see normal looking San Franciscans enjoying a nice sunny Sunday afternoon.
Lombard Street - the crookedest street in the world! Though getting a good shot of it was difficult with the hundreds of tourists huddling around with their cameras and cars intermittently driving down.
One of dozens of street graffiti/paintings on Haight-Ashbury. Unknown to me before, Haight-Ashbury is often claimed to be the birthplace of hippie culture, where famous rockers like Hendrix and Janis Joplin lived or hung out.
Haight street again. Just a random store selling hippie clothes.
Random street/building painting, shot around Mission street. San Francisco has thousands of such street graffiti/ paintings, and a lot of them are quite impressive....This one represents Latino culture in a SF setting (it's common knowledge that SF has a large Latino population).
A female cop (or policewoman in British English) on a horse. I only thought such a phenomenon existed in England. I mean how is a cop riding one of these going to stop/catch a traffic offender/criminal (not sure if she was from the traffic police) zipping away in a Ferrari at 150+ mph. Lol the sheer uselessness of police horses. (not to mention the droppings that they let out).
Ok this was just a random thing I noticed walking down Haight street. The dog's owners (a yuppie couple) decided to fit this covering around the dog's neck and tie him to a bench, while they went to dine at a cafe.....now what exactly is the purpose of fitting such a thing around a dog's neck?? (Since you don't get to see many animals in this part of the world and I've never had pets I don't exactly see the purpose of it).
Again being a long time resident of Abu Dhabi where pork is very very hard to get and it being a delicacy of my native land I get fascinated to see stores like these.
Just thought this was a little cute. Hehe. (I'm a secret Spongebob fan)
Sea lions on pier 39 (the most touristy place in SF)......Warning# 1: If you ever get a chance to go to pier 39 and go towards the sea lions habitat side, BEWARE of the stink. It is quite strong.
Golden gate bridge - the most picturesque bridge I've seen....and I walked up and down the entire stretch of it! Was a good feeling. hehe....I must say the views of SF along the way and after reaching the end are quite stunning. Although you get better views of the city from two other spots/means (which you will see towards the end of the page).
This was shot from Alamo Square, famous for its row of century old Victorian houses (seen in the picture), commonly known as the 'Painted ladies'. The view of these old houses juxtaposed against the downtown skyline is quite riveting (this picture does not fully capture it).
One of the first things that greets you on Alcatraz isalnd. Just thought the 'Indians' bit was interesting. I'm sure it meant Red Indians (Native Americans) but the (Asian) Indian in me was amused....Warning #2: Alcatraz is a highly over-rated touristy island full of fake close-to-historical reality displays.
Random click in Chinatown. Just to give you an idea of the sheer number of people that live in Chinatown. All these people were waiting for the bus!
This is just a budget Indian restaurant in SF. I just found the name interesting since it's titled after the district in India I'm originally from (though my parents have now shifted base to the mega city of Bangalore). I didn't really expect Udupi cuisine to be known or even popular in America and was kind of surprised to see a restaurant named after Udupi.
These were strutting out the windows of a building which had a boutique downstairs and a banner of a legal office at the side. Just what exactly are those plastic hot legs doing there??
Just a kinky poster of a smoke shop (SF has millions of them)....The claim that the above shop is the oldest smoke shop in SF is highly doubtful.
And finally just two pics that capture the stunning skyline of SF.
This was taken on the way to Alcatraz. Had such amazing views of the city all the way.
This was taken from the top of Coit Tower - has the best possible views of San Francisco, from all 360 degrees.
And I had to include one last picture - The Palace of Fine Arts. Just to give you a brief history about it, it was constructed in the early 1900's by some guy who wanted to impersonate ancient Greek architecture in America and was subsequently reconstructed in the 60's to repair the decays.....It's quite an impressive piece of architecture really, unlikely to be seen elsewhere in America. Although it does feel a little 'soulless' compared to the historical monuments you see around Britain (admittedly the only place in Europe I've been to/ lived in).
All of the above pictures (taken by myself of course) were the ones which I thought best captured the sights and quirkiness of SF. (Although I didn't go to the Castro district, which might be a little more queer than others).
That concludes the end of my first-ever blog post....and it sure was exhausting (took me more than an hour to upload all the pics and type out all those descriptions, hehe). Hope the stumblers upon this page are not put-off by the number of pics! (I uploaded all the pics I thought best represent SF)
