While coming back from Baltimore, Anand asked us to fly to Sanfransisco instead of Los Angeles as he had gone there and said we can all drive back to Santa Barbara. I had heard about this city a lot and was told that it is one of the beautiful cities of America.
Yeah I found it was true and I am impressed how they maintain old buildings about 100 years old or so and maintain it so well. We went to a big botanical garden which was full of flowers and trees that we spent a lot of time there even though we had not planned that way. We could see hundreds of varieties of Dahlias and many volunteers were there maintaining. It is also a kind of social/community service there. I am impressed by the different ways community service these people do and are so proud of their community.
We then went through different bridges (The city is full of bridges) and went in car into the great Golden Gate Bridge. It was so hazy and cloudy and full of mist that I could see the great bridge only bits and pieces and now showing me one girder and then vanishing. Since it is a thoroughfare and many cars were behind us, in just a few minutes the money paid was spent. I mean we had to pay a toll to get on to the bridge . Though the bridge was beautiful due to the vanishing act I could not see the enormity of the great bridge.
This was before we went to the garden . Anand was also visiting the place for the first time and he saw the map and after our visit to the garden took us through different roads where I could see lot of old buildings. When I saw some steps which looked like ladders on the front side of the buildings I wondered aloud how come they have kept such precarious steps outside the house and who will use it. I was told by my sonny dear that those are all mandatory steps as emergency exits in case of fire and they have been installed later on as previously when the building was built there was no emergency escape ways.
He took some turns this way that way and brought us to a place from where 'hey and presto' I could see the beautiful Golden Gate Bridge which eluded me earlier clearly shining in the Sun. He took us by foot near the bridge and we climbed up the pathway on to the foot path of the bridge and I saw many cars fly past us. It is really a marvel of Civil Engineering and my husband explained the engineering part of the bridge. It was worth all the walking climbing up the path way. From here we went to the downtown. Trams are in use till date and it was funny to see the trams moving on the roads slowly along with the cars. There were electrically operated buses also taking the electricity from the wires going up the roads. The same type of buses I had seen in China also. A broad V shaped steel atop the bus taking electricity from the wires. I was told that Californians are very much conscious about the pollution and hence the use of electric buses. By this time it was evening and we started back to Santa Barbara which is around more than 5 hours journey from here. We went to Saravana bhavan which is in a place an hour's drive from Sanfransisco and packed some food and started our journey back. This is one of the most beautiful roads in US as there is mountains on one side and the other side is the Ocean. I had earlier enjoyed a trip to LA from Santa Barbara which is also like this. LA is further South from Santa Barbara where as SFC is to its North. It was quite late when we reached home. It was one memorable trip and yes SFC is definitely a City which has a character of its own.
Yeah I found it was true and I am impressed how they maintain old buildings about 100 years old or so and maintain it so well. We went to a big botanical garden which was full of flowers and trees that we spent a lot of time there even though we had not planned that way. We could see hundreds of varieties of Dahlias and many volunteers were there maintaining. It is also a kind of social/community service there. I am impressed by the different ways community service these people do and are so proud of their community.
We then went through different bridges (The city is full of bridges) and went in car into the great Golden Gate Bridge. It was so hazy and cloudy and full of mist that I could see the great bridge only bits and pieces and now showing me one girder and then vanishing. Since it is a thoroughfare and many cars were behind us, in just a few minutes the money paid was spent. I mean we had to pay a toll to get on to the bridge . Though the bridge was beautiful due to the vanishing act I could not see the enormity of the great bridge.
This was before we went to the garden . Anand was also visiting the place for the first time and he saw the map and after our visit to the garden took us through different roads where I could see lot of old buildings. When I saw some steps which looked like ladders on the front side of the buildings I wondered aloud how come they have kept such precarious steps outside the house and who will use it. I was told by my sonny dear that those are all mandatory steps as emergency exits in case of fire and they have been installed later on as previously when the building was built there was no emergency escape ways.
He took some turns this way that way and brought us to a place from where 'hey and presto' I could see the beautiful Golden Gate Bridge which eluded me earlier clearly shining in the Sun. He took us by foot near the bridge and we climbed up the pathway on to the foot path of the bridge and I saw many cars fly past us. It is really a marvel of Civil Engineering and my husband explained the engineering part of the bridge. It was worth all the walking climbing up the path way. From here we went to the downtown. Trams are in use till date and it was funny to see the trams moving on the roads slowly along with the cars. There were electrically operated buses also taking the electricity from the wires going up the roads. The same type of buses I had seen in China also. A broad V shaped steel atop the bus taking electricity from the wires. I was told that Californians are very much conscious about the pollution and hence the use of electric buses. By this time it was evening and we started back to Santa Barbara which is around more than 5 hours journey from here. We went to Saravana bhavan which is in a place an hour's drive from Sanfransisco and packed some food and started our journey back. This is one of the most beautiful roads in US as there is mountains on one side and the other side is the Ocean. I had earlier enjoyed a trip to LA from Santa Barbara which is also like this. LA is further South from Santa Barbara where as SFC is to its North. It was quite late when we reached home. It was one memorable trip and yes SFC is definitely a City which has a character of its own.
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