A New San Francisco
We meet again my old friend San Francisco. I always get the best (or worst, depending on how one looks at it) luck when going in: Saturday was bright and sunny and very hot. However, this time was different from my last visit, because I came in using the Caltrain. Facebook provides GO passes to any intern that wants them, which allows us to use the Caltrain as many times as we would like. As it goes all the way up and down the Peninsula, I can use it to get to San Francisco up north, or Mountain View and San Jose down south - with many more cities along the way.
By using the train, I constrained myself to public transport or a ride share service if I wished to pay more. It was then that I discovered that while you can get anywhere is SF with buses, trains, and cable cars, its highly inefficient and takes far more time than cars. Although this is also relatively true for Chicago as well, my love of my hometown leads me to believe that we are at least a tiny bit better with public transport.
I actually spent most of my day walking around a pretty small area - but a different area from my last trip, which allowed me to see more of the city. I made my way from a Bon Odori festival that a Buddhist Church was putting on (just north of Japantown), south to the Painted Ladies which was around 2 miles away. However, my day started from Lafayette Park, which had a gorgeous view of the Bay.
I had a lot of fun listening to Taiko drumming from cute kids and a Taiko group called Jiten Daiko at the festival. I have only seen Taiko performances a couple of times but I love the fact that it is an art form that requires musical sense and a flair for the exhibition.
