San Francisco - the city of contrasts.
San Francisco is a very international city. You can hear different accents from everywhere. A lot of Asians. Many accents are from the ex Soviet Union republics. The city is beautiful. It is not actually big, but so much is squeezed in it! I came at night, and the hotel was in the Civic Center Area. The Market street is the central street in S.F. like Tverskaya in Moscow. There are 10.000 homeless people in San Francisco. You can notice them everywhere, especially in the center, and Market street is full of them. Tenderloin - is considered to be a dangerous area of the city. The public transportation is the best in the country, there are 80 lines in the city. The most popular transport n S.F. is bicycle. You can see bicycles waiting for their owners in the subway. And tourists can rent them.
The next day David took me for sightseeing. We went through the Union squire. It is a huge shopping area with brand stores. In the center there is a skating ring and a huge glistening Christmas tree. Looked so nice! There is a spirit of joy in the city may be because Christmas is coming, may be (which seems true to me) it is always like this, and it is its spirit. Homeless people seemed to be very friendly and happier than others. As I was passing them every morning, they always greeted me with a compliment. They seem like happy people. My hotel was close to the City Center, and every day there was a market there3. One day they had vegetables, fruits, the next day - jewelers, handcrafts. The prices were cheap at the market. Though San Francisco considered being a very expensive city, I did not feel it. The restaurant prices are usual. Moscow is much worse with this.
The Fishermen's Warf - seagulls, people walking, bicycling, rickshaws. We had lunch at Buba’s Gum - it was delicious. The fish, smoothies. with a great view. You can see seals in the Fisherman's Warf. They are lying on the docks, shouting something in their language. There a lot of movement around., a lot of restaurants, shops, souvenir stores, there are tra vel agencies in the Fisherman’s Wharf. I bought a hop on- hop off tour. These are double-deck busses with a guide. It costs average $30. You can get off at any stop or hop on. I got off at the Academy of Sciences’ museum. The museum is big enough to spend 4 hours there. There is a planetarium there, rain forest and aquarium. In this area near the museum there is the oldest Chinese tea garden, and a botanical garden. Very beautiful - a lot of fountains.
China town - a disaster for shopaholics like me. I spent almost the whole day there, buying what I don't need at all. It is huge. It is like a city in the city.
There are a lot of art galleries at Geary street, you can see the paintings of Picasso, Toulouze Loutrec there, Pissaro. One of the biggest is Weinstein's art gallery. Some paintings are for sale, the galleries are free of charge. Close to the City Center is the Museum of Asian art. Pretty big.
It would be nice to visit the Coit tower, it has a tremendous view, but I did not find it, and then there was no time.
Acatraz - it is a separate story.
