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Caption: SAN FRANCISCO Lands End, Golden Gate Bridge, Conservatory of Flowers, de Young Museum, Golden Gate Park,
Pier 39, Lombard Street, Castro
Caption: Traveled to this city on May 2014 and I was lucky enough to find a kind host, Felipe, through Couchsurfing during my stay here. He's an anesthesiologist with a penchant for traveling and I'm really glad he kindly offered me to stay at his apartment.
We met at the Embarcadero and rightly after he gave me a quick explanation and tour of the area. Since it's getting late already, we headed back to his apartment then had dinner and talked about my journey so far and his travel experience. It's one of the reason why i like couchsurfing as it allows me to get in touch with a local and experience the city more.
Felipe asked me what my plan for the next day and I said I was thinking of visiting the Golden Gate Bridge. He then recommended me to go to this place called Lands End in the morning then made my way to the Golden Gate Bridge after. He even drew me a map of where I should go and how I could get there. such an amazing host he is.
The following day I made my way to Lands End as Felipe suggested and I was glad he told me about this place. The view was amazing, very fitting to the name! It was a bit windy and cold but I didn't mind. I continued down the trail, feeling content I would discover other beautiful views along the way.
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Caption: Upon reaching Golden Gate Bridge. I knew right away what I wanted to do when I got there: walking all the way to the other end of the bridge.
Fast forward an hour or so, I finally reached my destination. Spent about half an hour or so savoring the beautiful view and trying to capture it with my phone camera, then decided to go back back after. It was surprisingly hot there and that's just weird because I felt I didn't wear enough layers when I first started crossing the bridge!
Anyway I walked all the way down and made my way back to the other side again. Lots of walking involved obviously but thankfully I've had lots of practice throughout this trip.
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Caption: I went to visit Conservatory of Flowers the following day. It's surprisingly captivating. There was a tour happening with a guide explaining things about the plants and the conservatory itself so I decided to take advantage of it and follow the group around. :P
Really had a blast touring around this place and if I got the chance revisit SF I would definitely love to go here again.
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Caption: Still got a lot of time to spend looking around so I went to de Young Museum after my visit to Conservatory of Flowers. i always love museum visit and this one was no exception.
There's this one display that really enticed me. Don't know how to describe it other than a plethora of tree bark pieces suspended mid air with I have no idea how many strings. Looking at it made me feel like I was caught in a rain while time stood still. Truly magnificent.
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Caption: The artwork I mentioned earlier
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Caption: Stayed at the museum until closing time and discovered this cool wall on my way out. It's getting late so I decided to go back to Felipe's apartment.
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Caption: When I was traveling I often felt the urge to hurry in order to avoid missing anything. So it's nice to be reminded that some things can only be observed upon slowing down, like how beautiful this ray of light was.
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Caption: Stop and smell the flowers. And maybe take a #fromwhereistand photo while you're at it. 😛
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Caption: The following day I went to Pier 33 to get a ticket to Alcatraz (which I luckily got because someone cancelled theirs) and then to Pier 39 to see some seals while waiting for my Alcatraz ferry schedule. Had a good time here.
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Caption: Met Jeffrey who I knew from Instagram! He's based in SF so I reached out to him for a meetup. We met one morning and chatted over coffee. It's always nice to finally meet in person someone I knew online. 😀
Caption: I went to see the stunning Lombard Street after meeting Jeffrey. It's took some effort to walk the street going there but it's surely well worth it. Had to wait for a while to take pictures because there were quite a lot of tourists (and cars) but I'm determined so no problem.
Continued to Castro afterwards and apparently there's some kind of construction happening. My initial intent was to see the theatre and perhaps watch a show there but there wasn't enough time sadly so i just walked around a bit before going bag to Felipe's apartment to pack my bag.
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Caption: I went back to the apartment in the afternoon to get my backpack and say farewell to my couchsurfing host, Felipe and my co-couchsurfer, Keisuke. They were more than welcoming and kind during my stay with them and I'm glad I got to meet and get to know them.
I couldn't believe I forgot to take a picture (or a selfie) with them. I hope that's a sign that our paths will cross again in the future.
I absolutely enjoyed every second of touring around SF. Love this city so much I wish I could stay here.
One day maybe.
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Caption: Thanks for reading!
#arhcamtgoesto #sanfrancisco #usa See more of my travel stories on Instagram
@arhcamt