Leaving San Francisco...

... is like saying goodbye to and old sweetheart. You want to linger as long as possible.
- Walter Kronkite

Sis' f***n hard leaving this beautiful place. Don't cry because it's over they say. Smile because it happened they say.

But you know what that city is? 'San Francisco is a golden handcuff with the key thrown away.'
- John Steinbeck

And so I come back again and again until 'one day if I do go to heaven - I'll look around and say, 'It ain't bad, but it ain't San Francisco.'
- Herb Caen

See you soon!

(Aerial picture taken last summer)

Impression from today

Random order, sorry for that. And yes I know, got dust on the sensor.

Assuming...

... life isn't measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the number of moments that take our breath away, I've had my fair share of life this summer.

Final days in San Francisco

After my spontaneous trip to San Diego I took a greyhound bus back to San Francisco for my final eight nights.

Had to get on another bus in LA and met Jana from Germany at the terminal there. She is from the same area I'm from and somehow I enjoyed that. With all the strangers I spoke to the last months it's nice to have something you're used to every now and then, and if it's only the dialect.

We decided to bike the Golden Gate Bridge (once again) and that's what we did. Perfect weather, nice company, a bike, a bridge, ice cream and eventually a ferry ride back to San Francisco - life as good as it gets!

The next day I kind of guided Jana through some of the touristy places you wanna visit if you only have two days in the city. Lombard street, North Beach, Mission Dolores, Chinatown, Fishermen's Wharf, Ferry Building, Market Street, Aquatic Park, Ocean Beach...

She left the next day and I decided to relax my remaining days.
There's still some neighborhoods and parks I haven't visited, down south, where tourist aren't to be found.
But I'm gonna do that next time.

America's Cup is still running. Sailing enthusiasts from all over to world have gathered in San Francisco. The hostel I'm staying at is packed and the shoreline busy. Every night the races of the day are being discussed in the lobby and at the vista points you always see the same people. Really like the atmosphere the sailing community creates, even though I'm not part of it.

Wildlife

I'm in San Diego now and there will be a separate entry about the city, but for now something else:

Black Bears, Elk, Deer, Bobcats, Coyotes, wild antelope, wild horses, Vultures, Eagle, Hawks, Snakes, Squirrels, Raccoons, Prairie dogs, Whales, Dolphins, Seals, Sea Lion, all kinds of singing birds, turtles, mountain goat...

Reads like a list of a zoo's animals?

That's the wildlife I've seen in the US!

Just hours ago I had a dolphin and seals about 10 feet away from me, paddling a rental kayak along La Jolla's shoreline.

Four nights in Long Beach

These days were packed enough that I didn't use the TV at all, was too tired for any entertainment at the end of the day.

I don't even remember the exact order of the things I did, but among them were:

- driving down to Laguna Beach with my parents
- having a swim in the pacific ocean
- a walk on Balboa Island
- dinner at a skybar in Downtown LA, felt like NYC!
- Griffith Observatorium (again). A bit foggy this time...
- Signal Hill, pretty much like Griffith but in Long Beach
- the Long Beach aquarium
- a long beach harbor boat ride
- renting a kayak and paddling trough the canals of Naples
- organizing myself a bicycle and riding down to Huntington Beach
- watching the USA - Mexico soccer match in California's oldest sports bar (Legend's)
- a brief introduction into Long Beach 2nd street's bar scene

- a ride trough the Santa Monica mountains on mullholand drive, then down to malibu

Guess that's it.