If you ever travel to San Francisco, be prepared to enter in another world. Bring warm clothes, good walking shoes and your credit card.

The streets are crazy.. it is like a roller coaster ride going up and down.. The streets are so steep that you are facing the sky while going up and the worst thing about it is that for every cross road you have to face a stop sign and eventually hit your break really hard in order to not be involved into an accident.. and street parking is available almost everywhere but since it is one of the most congested cities you always have to be lucky to park nearby. Alright, sorry for all this complaining but it has to be said. Actually you can walk around the whole city and everything can be reached within 20 minutes or with cable cars which are guiding you around the city. By walking you can explore a lot of the city, you will find beautiful streets and houses, mansions, shops, hundreds of nice bars restaurants and cafes which are all pretty amazing.

You will be tired at the end of your walking day but also really amazed of this unique street system.

One other thing is the London weather…be prepared for weather changes every 10 minutes.. The first thing, the locals teach you is: “Always bring a coat”. It can be very hot and freezing within 20 minutes; you can get a sunburn very easily because the wind is very tricky.. and the next 10 minutes you can eventually get a cold.. For having a great view over the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco we went up on the other side and as higher we got, the more clouds were turning up.. we were close to making a new turn and driving down again but we couldn’t because of the traffic.. which was a fortunate because as we arrived on top, the clouds were almost gone again..i would never believe that if someone would have told me but this crazy weather is very unique to San Fran…so most important: always bring a coat or jacket even though it might be a 110 degrees and doesn’t seem like changing.. believe me, it will!

One of the most beautiful parts of our trip was the small town Sausalito, which is located on the other side of the bridge. Directly at the ocean, you can have an ocean frontwalk or bicycle tour and enjoy some really good fresh seafood on one of the ocean restaurants. The Trident is one of the most amazing unique food places I’ve ever been… An old but very unique fish restaurant with front patio facing the ocean.. We were so lucky getting a spot for 5 people on the patio at a sunshine lunch hour…

The streets of San Fran are full of good bars and restaurants.. you will have lots of taste explosions and good nights out, but also make sure to have some money on your credit card.. actually not only some 😉

For myself I discovered the bloody mary menus .. sometimes even with a spicy bacon on top.. never enjoyed that drink as much as in San Francisco.. the people and bars are awesome, everybody easy-going and from all over the world , just sit with whoever you want and have a good talk.. even though it seems to me that the people are still a little more reserved than the LA people (probably because of the weather and the beach life which is missing out there) but they are still all amazing.

Almost every part of the city is really nice which does not happen often in big cities.. we stayed in Nob Hill which is located in the  center and a good starting point for every sight. You will never believe how lucky we are! It was gaypride weekend so everything was completely booked and all not booked was crazy expensive as san Francisco is in some parts as expensive as New York ..I had my good Italian friends over so we really had to get a place for exact that weekend.. the only thing which came in my mind  was CouchSurfing so I asked a crazy amount of people.. and then Andrew came and eventually just accepted to host all 4 of us (Alice, Yari, my flatmate Julie and me), he is the most amazing host I ever had with a gorgeous apartment with balcony overlooking San Francisco; he showed us all around and made our stay the best we could wish for! I were the lucky one to sleep on his balcony and face the lights of san Francisco whenever I opened my eyes!

 

A must to do is:

• Heading down the fishermans wharf (it is the pier of san Francisco packed with restaurants and more touristy stuff but really nice to see), watch the seals chilling out next to the pier, have a fresh crab in one of the numerous fish places (they cook in front of your eyes!!)
• Having brunch in one of the huge amount of good breakfast places
• Have picknick with the locals (At the Grid) with view of ocean and bridge, there are live bands and lots of exclusive food trucks available!! I never believed to have a scrambled egg with fresh crab and hash browns for Sunday breakfast
• Drive down the Lombard Street! It is really curvy (serpentines and so steep like every street) so better do not do it with a  hangover like we did! It is beaaautiful, packed with flowers of every color.
• Have a drink at the Marina, a street full of bars and really busy at night
• Drive over the Golden Gate Bridge, head up to all the view points and enjoy this gorgeous view. It is a real nature beauty, looks a bit like Ireland with all the rocks and greenness!!
• Have a sail at the bay and overlook the town and bay from seaside
• What really impressed me is the nature.. the green hills, rocks, hills, the wood around San Francisco and the strong colors ( big difference to LA , makes the bad weather count again in a real good way)
• Definitely have a hike or a mountain bike tour!

 

SAN Francisco is a beauty ..real pretty city and different to everything I saw before or expected!