(Warning: most pictures in the post cover my head; sorry the incumbent was travelling alone and had to take his own photos most of the time! You could use the map here for reference.)
I landed in America without knowing the conversion cents to dollars or how many cents made a dime. Well it was on a real short notice that I came here you see. Since my stay here is for just a good month or so, I started backpacking and moving around the city the very first weekend I got. Today was the first day and I decided to visit the places according to my priority list. Right on top was the Golden Gate Bridge.
I started from my hotel in Redwood City at about 9:00 AM to the
caltrain station to catch the train to SFO - a 45 minute ride. From there I began my journey to the Golden Gate bridge.
(Mind you, I was totally unprepared for this). I walked downtown to catch a glimpse os its unique architecture. The climate was akin to
Kodai or
Ooty. I found this interesting place closeby. Its by the
Zeum art center.
Downtown just got me snapping away for pictures. Adding just one shot here, as its quality is nice. There were skateboarders practicing, both serious and fun-minded joggers, yougsters revving their fast cars, crowded trams (very noisy) running down the street, people just out to enjoy the sunshine, and a lot of people with dogs (Americans love pets).
As I walked on, I reached the
Bay Bridge. I thought it was Golden Gate bridge at first and hung around there for a long time until I simply asked the hot-dog person and found out to my horror. The seagulls there are huge and not scared of humans. Caught this inquisitive person staring at me :)
From there on I walked on towards the Golden Gate bridge, and in between went through
Fisherman's wharf. There are many sights and sounds to capture out there. All I am posting here is a picture of this awesome musician performing. There are other dancers, musicians and street delights.
Also in the route was
Alcatraz in the background. I used the biking/skating path to the bridge. There were folks on
Segaways, bikes, roller skates and many jogging on. I just walked on taking in the breathless scenery along the way. The smell of eucalyptus wafted over the air. Its amazing that America has laid so much concern for bikers, setting aside bike trails and other conveniences for them. Nice to see that.
Okay so i got onto my last leg of the trek up towards the bridge and it was a nice climb. The trek reminded me of my Ooty days. Anyways, yours truly did manage to take a shot on his own, standing the camera up on a pier and setting the timer. I am pretty pleased with the result :)
Finally (yay!) I've made it to the bridge!! I start getting pictures in a frenzy. Luckily I carried two memory cards and I filled them both!
Now that was what I was waiting for! A glimpse of the famous landmark. As a bonus, I also got some astounding views of the city. There was a large crowd at the bridge on this saturday evening.
Well, I walked my way back as I couldn't get a single bus!! On the way, I passed through the art palace and the exploratorium. The art work and architecture is extraordinary. It felt like a mythical Greek setting. An English touch to it was a calm lake full of soothing-to-look-at ducks.
Well, that was about it. It was a long day. I took the bos 30 back to the Caltrain station and got back home. And my legs are aching and eyes are closing. So I don't have the capacity to spell check this post (not that I do normally) or check for grammatical errors. I'll do all that later. Till then, ciao.
Note: Entire set of photos here.TIDBIT: cisco got its name from the abbreviation of San Francisco!
I later laid my eyes on the first result of my search - a book 'MAYA - The world as virtual reality'. Thought I would provide the link for those intrigued and the sci-fi fans atleast. This book by the way deals with vitual reality in a computer science perspective, which I think would interest many.
