We flew to the disco-style city via Seattle and arrived on the afternoon of October 1st. None of us had been here before.

Who are we? 1 Uzbek and 8 Romanians.

What do we have? A hostel somewhere in the middle of the city.

How to get there? ?

Well, I guess I downloaded apps on my phone with the city's transport system. The main system to get from the airport to the city is BART, which costs $2.25 for a ticket. By the way, tickets for many systems are shared, so one ticket can be used on other vehicles as well. And it is valid for 90 minutes.

We barely made it to our motel, argued 100 times because no one believed in my ability to read Google Maps. Oh yeah, and we managed to lose two girls at the subway exit. So, the journey was unique. From there, it was a 2 km walk with suitcases. Absolutely great. We barely made it and got our rooms. So. The hostel. I think you understand the point. If not, I'll explain. It's a place where you don't even really want to sleep. Usually, these are the most budget-friendly options for those who don't want to sit in the room but want to see the city. For example, in a small room, there will be 6 beds. Basically a dormitory, roughly speaking. And it turned out that I had to live for 3 days with 5 girls, and our other 3 guys were in a room with 4 beds. There were three of them and someone else. But for some reason, they were put in a room with 6 beds, where there were three of them and three, quote, "scary freaks." I didn't see them myself, but in the end, it turned out that 9 of us were sleeping on 6 beds. Cute, isn't it? Well, I don't really care. I wanted to see the city. For $75 for 3 nights in San Francisco, I think it was fine. Anyway, we left our things and went for a walk.

From there, we, of course, headed straight to the Golden Gate Bridge, which is perhaps the most famous landmark of the city. And, considering that we were not yet fully familiar with public transport here, the idea arose to walk from downtown. If you believe Google Maps, it's about 11 km of travel + we constantly turned off the road to see something else along the way. Standing right in front of it, I was speechless. These emotions are simply impossible to describe.

On the way, we really turned in different directions a lot, so we arrived at the bridge by the very evening. In addition to the cherished goal, we managed to see the Palace of Fine Arts, about which I will say something more on the last, bonus page.

On the way back, we were terribly tired but had no idea how to get home. We walked almost blindly, using my logic, and constantly arguing, and then accidentally stumbled upon a bus that had already finished its shift. A kind woman took us to the nearest station and explained how to get home. Having arrived, we found ourselves a new mission: how to take a shower for 9 people in a hostel with 6 bathrooms. Even though we are not the only ones who want to take a shower.

Therefore, after all these adventures, we didn't really care where we would sleep and how. The main thing was to lie down somewhere and fall asleep, which we, in fact, did.

October 2nd. Day 2.

In the morning, there was no electricity in the whole area. Such things happen in America too, can you imagine?

After leaving the house and having breakfast, we used another transport system - MUNI, which is more focused on transporting passengers within the city. And we immediately went to Ocean Beach, where we spent the whole morning until lunch. The trip to this beach became one of the brightest events of the whole summer for me. If you compare NY and SF in this regard, California is definitely a step ahead. The beach is huge, and everyone around is having fun, everyone is happy. You can't drink here, but no one really cares, not even the patrol officer who drives along the beach every 5-10 minutes. Ocean, beer, new American friends - this was our daytime entertainment today.

What I also really liked - the beach is perfectly clean. And there are many dogs around that are actively frolicking in the water. For this, I love Americans who treat their animals so caringly and walk them here.

It is generally difficult to compare the city with New York. Don't do it. They are colossally different in size, people, and color. In size, SF is a very small city that can be walked across horizontally or vertically in less than a day. In terms of people, I liked my current stay significantly less. There are many more freaks and intimidating people around. Perhaps I ended up in different levels of neighborhoods in these cities, but it seemed to me that the level of poverty in SF is higher than in NY. People generally look too crazy, but at the same time freer. I concluded about freedom after I started smelling weed from every corner. The police here don't seem to care about this at all. Although can this be called freedom? Or just indifference? It doesn't matter.

But the main difference between the cities is still the colors. When you see California, you realize that New York is truly gray compared to its cities. It is possible that different weather conditions and architecture play the main role.

After the beach, we headed to Golden Gate Park, which we walked all the way through, and from there we took a bus to Chinatown to eat at a Chinese restaurant.

In Chinatown, you really feel like you are somewhere in Beijing or Shanghai: many cafes, restaurants, as well as shops, and just people of Chinese nationality. We decided to go into one of the restaurants and have a snack, as we had only had breakfast all day. It seems everyone was satisfied with their dishes. And I even more so.

And they also gave us traditional fortune cookies. I got: Do something Unusual Tomorrow.

Leaving the restaurant, we walked home, but then changed direction and decided to walk to the Oakland Bridge - less popular than the Golden Gate, but no less beautiful.

It's strange that this bridge is not as popular as the Golden one. It opened even earlier than the latter, and at night it looks a hundred times more beautiful. This structure connects SF and Oakland and has a total length of about 7 kilometers. Standing at the foot of the bridge, it is difficult to imagine its scale, and why bother. It is enough to stand and watch the play of light on it, as a result of which you can see different patterns or something like that. Insanely beautiful.

And in essence, I want to feel all those emotions again right now, and I also want California weather. Because I'm already tired of the cold.

After that, we walked home and crashed to sleep. Although before that, we went to the store. I already talked about street freaks, right? So one of them pestered us on the way to the store at night. In essence, these are people offended by life who sit on the street and pester all passersby. In New York, for example, I didn't have a single such encounter. Yes, they pestered me, but with a request to buy an album, not with screams about how bad and terrible I am. A creepy sight - you understand yourself.

October 3rd. Day 3.

My last day in SF and the last day with all these guys. That night I was supposed to fly to New York, but there was still a whole day ahead.

In principle, we initially knew where we would go early today - Twin Peaks - a viewpoint of the whole city at an altitude of 250 or 300 meters. You can drive there, but we don't have a car, so the best option is a bus to the nearest station at the foot of the mountain, and then a walk up.

But the view is worth it.

The view is truly mesmerizing. You want to stay here forever. There are also binoculars here that you can use for a quarter or 50 cents (I don't remember exactly) and look around closer. Definitely a must-visit place for everyone who ends up in SF.

The city, by the way, is also popular for one very famous district called Castro, which is very close to Twin Peaks. It is known as, roughly speaking, the "freest" district in the city, or a quarter of compact residence of many sexual minorities (non-traditional orientation). I think many here have heard about rainbow flags. On the same street, there is also the first gay bar in all of America. Therefore, if you consider yourself, pardon, a homophobe, or just don't like people of a different orientation, I think it's better for you to bypass this quarter.

After that, we went to the Pier to get to the famous San Francisco Aquarium. Not the largest aquarium in the world, but a 91-meter tunnel is quite a mesmerizing sight. This is the main feature of the so-called Bay of San Francisco, entering which, you "immerse" yourself in the bay of this city with the opportunity to get as close as possible to the local inhabitants. "As close as possible" is more than literal, as in one of the aquarium departments you can and even should "pet" starfish, as well as children of different types of rays and sharks. No, they won't bite. No, they won't electrocute you. No, you will take your fingers away intact. On the contrary, they are happy to see visitors and play with them like any other young creature. In addition, there are many different interactive information blocks and all sorts of other "attractions" for customers. For example, stick your head into a glass bulb inside an aquarium with a giant octopus. Cute.

Happiness and joy cost $43 for 2 tickets: an aquarium and a boat tour along the bay, up to the "Golden Gate".

In addition to all this happiness, there are also many expensive seafood restaurants on the pier, but you can walk further and find good cafes where you can eat both shrimp and crabs at reasonable prices. And on the pier, there is also the famous Hard Rock Cafe, where I couldn't help but go just for interest and take a hundred photos of all the things that are there: Sting's jacket, Beatles hats and guitars, a guitar with autographs of the band Nirvana, Elton John's hat, and the like, but the most important thing for me personally is this:

After that, we headed to the famous Lombard Street (anyone who has ever played GTA SA will understand what I mean), where there is a very winding road surrounded by flower beds. This is also one of the city's attractions and you definitely need to drive here by car. Although they say it's terribly inconvenient. Well, I'm not surprised, in principle. Well, going up there and looking is very good. Moreover, the view that opens up is also unique. Just of the city. See for yourself.

And the completion of my study of San Francisco was, of course, the famous cable cars, which I could not miss. It was going in the direction we needed from that very winding street. These cable cars are very unusual in themselves, and apparently, you have to overpay for the unusualness. So the fare here is $6. By the way, this is very cool. The system is terribly old - about 141 years, but it works like a clock. This cable car even has constant entertainment for passersby. At the terminal station, the machine does not go for a U-turn, but stands on a platform that rotates and transfers it to another track.

But, returning to the comparison of NY and SF, I want to say that the transport system in the former suits me significantly more. In San Francisco, you can calmly walk everything on foot, but it is difficult because of constant climbs/descents, and the transport is so complicated. In New York, everything is very easy in this regard.

But at the same time, I can't help but say that I liked SF. Some kind of free city with free people. And just a very bright place where you want to be and enjoy life. The perfect reward for my small victory over my weaknesses this season.