I went to San Francisco last week and after the few things I had the compromise to do, I decided to walk around the city and practice my photography skills.
I stayed at a very cheap hotel, not knowing well the surroundings, let’s just say that 9th and Mission street is not a very touristic neighborhood to be. Luckily the hotel room was nice, clean and functional, so I decided not to cancel my reservation and stayed there.
Walking down Market street I stumbled upon a farmer’s market at Civic Center. It’s nice to see all the natural products by local farmers being sold there. I used to go to something similar in Mexico with my grandmother when I was little, so it kind of brings back some memories.
There was a kind of “food corner” in the market, lots of different options, mixed food scents in the air, it all made me hungry. I was in a very touristic mode, so I wondered if I could get a classic american street hotdog. I know, this is not New York, its California, so I couldn’t find any hotdogs (at least not right there). I found crepes, lots of mexican food (which I refuse to take, since for me it’s…well, just food, but with a crappy taste), and vegetarian options. Then I saw a Greek food stand, and I’ve never before had greek so I tried that. I enjoyed it a lot, very tasteful, loved the lamb and pita. Still, why aren’t there a traditional hotdog cart?
Then I bought some tickets for the musical Hair at the Golden Gate theater. The actors on stage interact with the audience a lot and the music is great (oh and there was this brief moment of full nudity on stage). I’ve only seen the movie before, and expected the play to have the same storyline, but it doesn’t. It’s the same topic and all but very different storyline.
Later that day, I saw the Occupy San Francisco movement by the Federal Reserve Bank building.
The next day I took another long walk (about 28 kms) all day along the bay and returned just in time to do some shopping around Union Square. I intended to take a tour to Alcatraz, but I couldn’t make it. I didn’t had the schedule at hand, so if you’re planning to take the tour, don’t be like me and visit the Alcatraz cruises website to have the information ready beforehand. It was a great sunny (but not hot) day and I hope the photos came out great as well.
Ended the day with some shopping around Union Square, where there was ice skating going on.
Although it is always nice to have some self time and walk around a big city observing and taking pictures of all the interesting things (and some not as interesting) around you. If I didn’t have my camera, I don’t know what I would’ve been doing by myself around the city. Unfortunately, I’m not in any of my pictures, since I had no one to photograph me.
Travelling alone can get boring sometimes. The good part of it is that I got to do exactly what I wanted, go wherever I wanted and walked kilometers with no one else but myself to complain about it. I really enjoy those silent reflexion moments for one self.
Have you gone travelling alone? What activities you like to do on those trips to not get bored or homesick?
