Weekend in San Francisco

When & where - Last weekend (July 15th to July 17th) I went to San Francisco. I was planning to go there for a weekend during my stay in the US, but as Shruti (from Imperial College boat club) was there too with her boyfriend, we thought it'd be nice to meet, and I really had a great time.

What - I walked a lot in San Francisco, from Union Square to Fisherman's Wharf via Chinatown, on Ocean Beach, in the Golden Gate Park (unfortunately the Californian Academy of Sciences, located in the Park -- where the Natural History Museum is -- is being rebuilt and will reopen in 2008), went to Alcatraz and Angel Island, took the cable cars, went shopping aroung Union Square... Sam & Darius (the american student who's working in the lab) told me to go to Alcatraz if I could, but when I booked they didn't have 'Alcatraz only' trips anymore so I bought a ticket to go to 2 islands: Alcatraz & Angel Island (the 'Ellis Island' of the West, which used to be a military place, and also the arriving site of many immigrants from China and other asian countries). Alcatraz was really interesting, they have a great 'cell audio tour' in the prison building, during which former prisonners and guardians talk about their time there.

Transport - I took a Greyhound bus to get to San Francisco, and it took me 2h1/2 for less than a hundred miles, as the bus stopped in San Jose, Oakland & Hayward before arriving in San Francisco. I saw a family (2 parents + 4 kids under 8) going from Hayward (or San Jose) to Orlando, Florida... probably going to Disneyworld, starting their 3 -- 4 days trip. I don't know how they could do that!

Food - San Francisco's supposed to be a great place to eat good food, and indeed I had the best chinese food ever (House of Nanking), a very good cheesecake at the Cheesecake factory (Union Square), some good beer at a Microbrewery, food we cooked with Shruti and John at their place...

Animals - I say quite a few different animals in San Francisco, I wasn't expecting to see sea mammals, but I saw some sea lions. They look like seals, but they have big 'external ears' which seals don't have. I also saw brown pelicans, different types of seagulls (some nice ones with a red beak), cormorants...


Commentaires:

Le mercredi 26 juillet 2006 à 15:33, par papy
bonjour pendant une période caniculaire (+30°dans appart.)Avec Anne-fr et Marie-an.qui dort plus qu'elle ne travaille !!! on essaie des rangements ds studio (trains etc).Nous t'attendons et te souhaitons la Sainte-Anne. on t'embrassera mieux après le 10 août. Bye

Le lundi 7 août 2006 à 22:09, par Tatan
Bonsoir ma grande, je viens de découvrir toutes tes nouvelles et je me suis régalée.
Mieux vaut tard que jamais mais depuis que je suis sortie de ma "maison de redressement" je n'avais pas pensé à te rendre visite.
Bravo pour tes nouvelles c'est vachement sympa. . . .J'en ai profité pour regarder tes aventures norvégiennes.
Bon je t'attends à Lyon quand tu veux, tu auras gîte et couvert et un trousseau de clés pour aller et venir facilement.
Plein de bises à toi et à très bientôt Tatan