theperfect.mismatch

Everything started off with breffus at the Fruitful Grounds. It's a swank little coffee shop that serves just about everything which is two blocks from Maritess' apartment and a block from her school (University of San Francisco). They have really good breakfast food. I had a breakfast burrito which was pretty damn good let me tell ya!

Well what's visiting San Francisco without having a day of "normal" San Francisco weather. This morning, mother-nature greeted us with the what is the usual weather for this area. We were spoiled the day before with the weather where it was in my opinion absolutely beautiful.

So after breakfast, we headed over to catch the bus out on one of the main roads in San Francisco. Let me tell you, at first the whole bus system was pretty damn overwhelming but I think I'm starting to get used to it. Thank god for Maritess that she was able to lead me around the city and my trusty map reading skills since she can't read "map." With the two of us combined, it was a pretty efficient team effort to navigate the city.

The price of bus fare is typical of any city but (In comparison to NY prices) as I was able to get from one side of town to the other and back on only $1.50!!! =) Transfers are awesome and they're good for as many rides until the time runs out (or until a bus driver decides to check to see if the transfer has expired yet). I managed to make it all the way to Golden Gate Bridge and back on one fare which was pretty dope as none of the bus drivers checked my pass.

After figuring out which buses to take we were soon on our way. Hopping on one bus then transferring to the next and so on we finally found ourselves at the base of the bridge. At some point I started to miss the NYC subway's as they don't have an underground system as diffuse as New York's but once you got used to the MUNI here it was cool.

So as the bus took us through the city headed for the Golden Gate, we finally had arrived there. It's pretty amazing to look at the bridge and to think about how many people died to make this bridge. It's pretty magnificent piece of work I'd say. Looking under the bridge you can see how fast the current below is moving which would probably explain a great amount of the deaths.

We snapped a few pics on one end just before getting on and then began the 1.7 mile hike into Marin County. Along the way you'd see several telephone booths with connected to a Crisis Counseling hot-line since SO many people commit suicide off this bridge, throwing themselves into the water down below.
I thought it was kind of funny at first because it isn't that often in NY that people try to kill themselves by jumping off any of the major bridges but apparently its a big problem here. They have surveillance cameras that regularly watch for people doing whatever.

It was quite a walk with some pretty amazing views of both the city and Sausalito. There were so many great opportunites for some amazing pictures.
The fog (fast moving clouds) added to the prety unique effect of how everything looked. It's kind of funny to see how the fog only goes over the city and not anywhere else.

When we finally reached the other end, the sun was out and shining. We walked over to the other welcome center where we had some opportunities to take a well deserved break. Also took a few more pictures overlooking the city of SF and the bridge. Exhausted, we began he walk back across the Golden Gate to catch the bus and head back into the city. It was nice and warm on the Marin County side of the bridge but SOO cold on the SF side.

Later that day, Maritess' friend Dyanne picked us up and we went to a presentation in Oakland. It was pretty cool to get out of SF for a bit and look at it from the outside / drive past Oakland on the freeway. I was able to take a quick peek into the Oakland A's stadium and also see some of George Lucas' inspiration for Star Wars (The machine's they use for loading / unloading cargo ships was his inspiration for one of the Star Wars' things... not sure which one exactly).

After the presentation we both met up with Maritess' friend Brad at a lounge called Canvas Gallery. It was this really artsy place across from Golden Gate Park. It was pretty cool how they decorated the picture; including the picture of the woman killing a kitten.

After a long day, it was finally nice to lay my head down on the pillow. The next day (today) is just a day for R&R while Maritess packed for home.

For more pictures from yesterday check em' here: GGB Pics