After LA, San Diego, and the Pacific Highway I was finally on a Greyhound bus from Santa Barbara to San Francisco,
9 hours on a shiny silver bus, the last leg of my California trip. It made me feel a bit like I was on a
Kerouac-like adventure. My bag, my destination and no plan ahead of me but
discover the city of Frisco the best way I could. And soon it would become one
of my favourite cities in the world, so full of life, culture, and history,
architecture, best of all worlds, grown up but cheeky, relaxing and comforting (despite
the unpredictable weather and the prices!)
As I arrived in the city, also known as the Fog City (I
would discover why a few days after my arrival), I walked to my hostel, the
wonderful
Hostelling International San Francisco Downtown, with its colourful rooms and full service right around the corner from Union Square and the world famous Chinatown. It was the first time I was provided
with shampoo, shower gel and conditioner at a hostel! Thumbs up!
All checked-in,
headed to my room, and met my roomies for the next few days, an Aussie guy and
a couple of Korean girls. Aussie and I decided to check out the area and find a
place to eat. We found this Asiatic restaurant around the corner, ordered a bit of
all, and got down to eat, and to plan the coming days of our stay in the Paris of the West (Check
this nice post found on
SFist about the possible origins of the nickname "the Paris of the West").
For the next couple of days we explored the
city together, we even ran into one of those funny looking Google cars after seeing the seals swimming in the Bay, among many other super cool things, and I leave you here with our(my) impressions. Enjoy!
After strolling through Chinatown, we found ourselves
heading towards the corner of Broadway St. and Columbus Ave. where we would find
the famous
City Lights Booksellers (261 Columbus Ave.). City Lights Booksellers is a bookshop and publishing company made
known to the world by the controversial trial for obscenity of Ferlinghetti
after he published Allan Ginsberg’s
Howl
and Other Poems in 1956. It was made a Landmark not so long ago and it has such a homie feeling, they also organise regular events and anyone can attend, you can find more information on their web (linked up).
City Lights booksellers is also conveniently located across the street from the
Beats museum (on Broadway ave.), where one can find exposed some of the first scripts of many works from Kerouac and co., photos, history, everything one could possibly may want to know about the Beats (or Kerouac more in particular). It was well worth it. Must-see if you are as much a literature
buff as me.
After roaming around the bookstore and visiting the Beats
Museum, we walked down Union St. towards Telegraph Hill for some breath-taking
views of the bay.
Oh but wait, there's no wonderful views or Telegraph Hill without...yeah those famous San Francisco hills.
From there it's super easy to reach the Embarcadero and Fisherman's Wharf (from where the ferry to Alcatraz leaves). Along the coast from there, it's the San Francisco MaritimeNational Historical Park (where seal can be spotted swimming carelessly), Fort Mason, and the Marina Green. All of them really nice for an afternoon stroll.
Foodwise, San Francisco is amazing, there are cute little places everywhere. If i had known then that today I'd be writing this, i would have taken better note! Anyhow...next week more :)
Labels: #ThrowBackThursday, Beats, California, City Lights Bookseller, Fog City, Frisco, Hostelling International, Kerouac, San Francisco, the Paris of the West, travel, USA
