Five Things you might not know about San Francisco

(Source: Flickr@Jay Martinez)

I have lived in San Francisco for three years, not long enough to completely describe everything, but might be just good enough to sum up with some reviews. You might have heard about this before, San Francisco is somewhat the most unusual city in the United States. It is just different.

1. Golden Gate bridge is not the only bridge in the city

San Francisco has another bridge which is Bay Bridge. This bridge does not have significant color like the Golden Gate Bridge, but it is very important for local people in the bay area. I would love to go to the Golden Gate Bridge to see the fog and join the crowd, and I also enjoy seeing the dancing light of the Bay Bridge at late night. Bonus: you will not enjoy the bridge during day time though, unless you would like to see how terrible the traffic is.

2. The weather is seriously moody
If you are planning to travel in the city, then you might want to check the weather often. San Francisco’s climate is even different from the bay area’s general weather. The sky’s color can change immediately when you cross the orange bridge. I have experienced it so many times and it is also my favorite about the city. You will hear different opinions about SF’s weather. In general, people enjoy the sunny, warm days. As a result, they live in Redwood City, or East Bay to get rid of the cold in SF. Some people are just like me, we love wearing layers and carrying a jacket and we are always ready for the mysterious weather of the city.

3. The public transit is interesting

Without a doubt, cable cars are the most significant icon of the city. The cable car system in San Francisco is not the oldest one, but it is special because it is still working officially as a part of public transit in the city. To commute within the city, the main bus system is Muni. Their buses and drivers are not the best, but the routes are pretty convenient for travelers to explore the city. If you want to travel outside San Francisco, you can take BART to go to East Bay, up to Richmond and down to SFO airport as well. Another popular transit system is Caltrain, which can lead you down to San Jose (it means you can stop at Stanford to visit the school, or swing by Mountain View to say “Hi” to the Google Android Icon). To be fair, every foreign traveler would love the public transit in SF Bay Area, despite the delays sometime.

4. The most welcoming land for strangers

I am not bringing numbers up here, I think you all can imagine how big the tourism industry in San Francisco is. Not only do foreigners like to visit the city, but also local Americans, and even Californians, love to swing by to feel the SF’s spirit. It is a weird and diverse in terms of business, arts, cuisine, etc. You can find people from around the world in the city, literally. You might have been aware of this, that The Castro district was one of the first gay neighborhoods in the U.S. There is a reason why LGBT community enjoys the city. This is a place where you live and see yourself as you truly are (trust me, there are not many places could be this easy to fit in for everybody).

5. People are fascinating

Have you seen a naked man at Baker Beach? Have you seen a homeless person who is trying to help a driver backing up his or her car on the street? You would see them in San Francisco. Homeless people are not the best part of any cities. They might scare you sometimes, but they also help people. Here is a fact about the homeless people in the states, being homeless is not a misery, but a life style. Homeless people in Financial District and Bart stations are quite different from those who live in Haight-Ashbury district. More than once, I found myself smiling back with a goofy woman in that neighborhood. And yes, I got a help from a creepy-looking guy when I tried to reverse and pack a car on the street. San Franciscans do not just pass by each other on the street, they smile instead of saying “Hi”, they talk on the bus instead of playing with the phones, they help each other instead of saying “Who cares”. It is always good to see people enjoy the beauty of life instead of merely living their life.

There are still many things about San Francisco that I have not covered here. The five aforementioned things are just my subjective observations about this city. I said “subjective” because I fell in love with this city already. As you know, people are fool when they are in love: they love the good, the bad and the ugly.