My now annual summer trip to San Francisco.
1) San Francisco neighborhood walking tours: Japantown, Chinatown including a visit to a temple, and the Financial District including the site of the First US Branch Mint which has been converted to a small Asian art museum. Interesting fact: The east part of the bay used to come to Montgomery Street and then a seawall was built in the Embarcadero area and the space between Montgomery Street and Embarcadero was filled with dirt and sand expanding San Francisco. So San Francisco east of Montgomery street was once all water.
2) Day trip to San Jose via Caltrain to visit my friend Angela. I visited her church, The Home church, which is the most diverse church I've attended. There are ministries for Americans, Chinese, Ethiopians/Africans, and Mexicans. I went with Angela and 2 of her friends to the Tech Museum - San Jose's crown jewel. Like the name implies, the museum is a hands-on display of technology and its uses. There are displays where you compose music via a touchscreen, see parts of your head mixed with those of other visitors, create a roller coaster, play with the San Jose sharks hockey goalie simulator, and feel an earthquake. We got to feel an earthquake of 6.9 magnitude which is the magnitude of the 1989 earthquake in San Francisco. We even got a group picture by an infrared camera. There is also a Farmer's Market near The Home Church with fresh fruit samples - the fruits tastes very sweet. Often overlooked in favor of San Francisco, downtown San Jose is a good place for groups of friends to hangout.
3) Segway tour of San Francisco's hills. I have done segway tours before but this was my first that involved hills. The tour started out with San Francisco Maritime where we had views of Alcatraz Island and the San Francisco skyline. The tour guide mentioned the temperature of the San Francisco Bay is around 55-60 F - makes Austin's Barton Springs pool look warm by comparison. And yes, people do swim in the bay. Then came the hills, including 2 rides down the crooked Lombard street. I have driven down Lombard, walked down it, and now Segway-ed down it. Many pedestrians took pictures of us - we were like celebrities. Segway-ing down Lombard is actually straight forward (notice the irony? haha). You just lean back slightly and turn the handlebar according to the curves. We visited some hidden neighborhoods where we had great views of Bay Bridge, Treasure Island, and the Transamerica Pyramid.
4) Walk across Golden Gate bridge, one of my San Francisco traditions. This time, there is a visitor's plaza with a gift shop, garden, information displays, and models of the bridge. One model demonstrates how the bridge responds in heavy winds, vehicle traffic, and earthquakes. Another demonstrates how cable tension affects the difficulty of raising the bridge. Lower cable tension means the bridge is easier to raise but require taller towers which cost more to build. Engineers had to balance the cost of building the towers with ease of raising the bridge. Several color patterns were considered for Golden Gate bridge - one display shows the bridge in a checkered pattern.
1) San Francisco neighborhood walking tours: Japantown, Chinatown including a visit to a temple, and the Financial District including the site of the First US Branch Mint which has been converted to a small Asian art museum. Interesting fact: The east part of the bay used to come to Montgomery Street and then a seawall was built in the Embarcadero area and the space between Montgomery Street and Embarcadero was filled with dirt and sand expanding San Francisco. So San Francisco east of Montgomery street was once all water.
2) Day trip to San Jose via Caltrain to visit my friend Angela. I visited her church, The Home church, which is the most diverse church I've attended. There are ministries for Americans, Chinese, Ethiopians/Africans, and Mexicans. I went with Angela and 2 of her friends to the Tech Museum - San Jose's crown jewel. Like the name implies, the museum is a hands-on display of technology and its uses. There are displays where you compose music via a touchscreen, see parts of your head mixed with those of other visitors, create a roller coaster, play with the San Jose sharks hockey goalie simulator, and feel an earthquake. We got to feel an earthquake of 6.9 magnitude which is the magnitude of the 1989 earthquake in San Francisco. We even got a group picture by an infrared camera. There is also a Farmer's Market near The Home Church with fresh fruit samples - the fruits tastes very sweet. Often overlooked in favor of San Francisco, downtown San Jose is a good place for groups of friends to hangout.
3) Segway tour of San Francisco's hills. I have done segway tours before but this was my first that involved hills. The tour started out with San Francisco Maritime where we had views of Alcatraz Island and the San Francisco skyline. The tour guide mentioned the temperature of the San Francisco Bay is around 55-60 F - makes Austin's Barton Springs pool look warm by comparison. And yes, people do swim in the bay. Then came the hills, including 2 rides down the crooked Lombard street. I have driven down Lombard, walked down it, and now Segway-ed down it. Many pedestrians took pictures of us - we were like celebrities. Segway-ing down Lombard is actually straight forward (notice the irony? haha). You just lean back slightly and turn the handlebar according to the curves. We visited some hidden neighborhoods where we had great views of Bay Bridge, Treasure Island, and the Transamerica Pyramid.
4) Walk across Golden Gate bridge, one of my San Francisco traditions. This time, there is a visitor's plaza with a gift shop, garden, information displays, and models of the bridge. One model demonstrates how the bridge responds in heavy winds, vehicle traffic, and earthquakes. Another demonstrates how cable tension affects the difficulty of raising the bridge. Lower cable tension means the bridge is easier to raise but require taller towers which cost more to build. Engineers had to balance the cost of building the towers with ease of raising the bridge. Several color patterns were considered for Golden Gate bridge - one display shows the bridge in a checkered pattern.
