Climbing the hills in San Fransisco

Hella... :-)

I just came back to Los Angeles (and pulled the flower out of my hear...) after spending the holidays in San Fransisco with my boyfriend. It was such a charming city! San Francisco is well-known for its diverse ethnic and political communities, hilly (must be hard to pedal up, and you better check the breaks on your bike before going downhill...!! ...those skateboard guy's must be trying to commit suicide) and picturesque terrain, and history of earthquakes. It's the place where hippies are born, and many coolies live here. Maybe that's why the weather is always cold??... (Well, still not even comparable to the temperature in Norway this time a year. So according to that theory norwegians are really super cool ;-)





















Wednesday night last week we did the 6-7 hours drive on the 101-North (the most direct route from the south) to San Fransisco. Considering the holidays the traffic wasn't bad at all. The perpetually-clogged traffic, a confusing system of one-way streets, expensive parking, and a fleet of meter-maids who enforce parking laws with zeal made driving in downtown extremely frustrating. There's good public transportation in this city, and it didn't take long to understand it's better to leave the car home. We tried the world-famous Cable Cars. It was a fun ride, and we even got to stand on the running board. Walking is also a good option to get from one neighborhood to another ...as well as good exercise ...plus you get to see some breathtaking views (as the streets often go straight up and down hills)!! And if the hills are too steep you can always go slalom... The Lombard Street which is the (nearly) twistiest street in America.


We started exploring San Fransisco by walking the Fisherman's Wharf sniffing some fresh breeze from the bay. Because Asgeir "didn't hold his beautiful girlfriend's (yes, that's me :-) hand" while glazing the sea we got pulled over to the side by an "officer", and Asgeir got a failure-to-hold-hands-violation-ticket. He got released by paying a $15 ticket (supporting a creative student group to give food to homeless people on thanksgiving).


So hand-in-hand we went to the old ferry building (now transformed into a gourmet food emporium and farmers market, though it was closed on thanksgiving day), Pier 39 (which is a festival marketplace with lot's of stores, restaurants, a variety of (at least supposed to be) fun-filled attractions and street entertainers) and Ghirardelli Square (a shopping mall that used to be a confectionery and chocolate factory). Well, overall I think the Fisherman's Wharf is a "tourist trap" though it might be a good place to see some amazing street entertainers.

For thanksgiving dinner we were planning to check out one of the raw food restaurants in San Fransisco. It turned out almost the whole city closed down that night, and we had a hard time finding a place to eat. I had no clue how serious the Americans are about the thanksgiving holiday.


Well, I'm not to complain. We ended up enjoying a four dishes meal from the classy vegan restaurant Millennium in our hotel room, and the food was outstanding!



San Francisco is a land of scenic bridges, and most famous is of course the Golden Gate Bridge (...and just to clear up that misconception right away... the bridge is not actually golden in color, but has a red-orange paint that really stands out!). The masterwork (I has even been called one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World) of architect Joseph B. Strauss took seven years to build, and was completed in 1937. Today the bridge is one of the major road routes into and out of the city.

Golden Gate Park was much bigger than I expected. It's a huge urban oasis covered with grassy meadows, wooded bike trails, secluded lakes, open groves, gardens and several museums. I guess we could have spent days form dawn to dusk each day just exploring the Golden Gate Park, but for now we only had the time to do the Japanese Tea Garden which is a small park in the park (like a Russian doll...) of traditional Japanese architecture, koi ponds and bamboo trees.























We did our shopping for fruits and vegetables in the original Chinatown. This was quite an exhibit of local life. The houses are decorated with chinese ornaments, the streets are packed with people, and the side streets especially have stores one wouldn't find in a mall.














Well, what I remember best from Chinatown is a small chinese man with a huge poster with "Bush+Blair=Terrorists" and shouting out a lightly contradicting message "Happy, Happy, Happy!!...." I'm not quite sure what he was trying to communicate, but he was sure funny... hehe.... :-)


The absolute greatest about this trip was to enjoy the lovely raw organic dishes at Cafe Gratitude together with Asgeir and Leemore (a lovely girl I got to know during my NLP education). It's a place that really celebrate aliveness and remind you to love your life, adore yourself, accept the world, be generous and grateful (on each plate it's engraved "What are you grateful for??").



We went to eat here twice so I got to taste most of the dishes on the menu. Among other things I ordered a "I am passionate" (live pizza) and a "I am magnificent" (raw chocolate mousse) ...and when served the waitress said "You are passionate" and "You are magnificent".
:-) :-)



After dinner one day we went to the movie theater where we saw the action-adventure-romance-sci-fi movie "Deja Vu". The performances were great and really suck you in, though tthis movie requires a fair bit of suspension of disbelief. Even though I like the concept, going back in time and change things that has already happened, kind of made it too far-fetched for me, though the heart of the story took me along the ride...


























We got to see a lot, but I guess I'll have to go back there to explore the decommissioned island prison; Alcatraz Island. Now I at least get the time to watch the movie "Escape from Alcatraz" first... And when going back I might also want to do something a little more romantic than trying to figure out how it's like to be imprisoned... like maybe take my beloved Asgeir watch the sunset from a sailboat in San Fransisco bay...??? (he'll have to hold my hand... ;-)

We also had a scenic drive back to Los Angeles on the Pacific Coast Highway with a short stop Santa Cruz just to get some sleep. This coastal highway winds along some of the most spectacular ocean views in the U.S. This is the place where you can get some perfect views of ocean waves breaking on rocky shorelines and cliffs.














































There's also dozens of historical landmarks along the way (mostly from the spanish time) ...among them the world's first motel (built in 1925, and now and for the past 16 years under an extremely slow restoration process).

Love you all!

Caïla

To my gay friends:
If you think you're Gay you've obviously never been to San Francisco ...or in Hollywood at Halloween ;-)