| Started: | Mountain View, California, 10:00am (Pacific time) |
| Reached: | Mountain View, California, 7:30pm (Pacific time) |
| Miles: | 80 (via train) + walking |
| Route: | California - Mountain View, Stanford, San Francisco |
| Highways: | None! |
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The bay area has really nice public transport system. I took a train to San Francisco and used AAA's walking tour guide. I started walking from Union Square, and went through "West" Wall street. Its the financial district of SF. There were also lots of departmental stores etc. From there, I walked into the Chinatown. This is the biggest Chinatown in the world. SF has highest number of Chinese in a city outside China. There were lots of souvenir shops and Chinese grocery stores.
I then went to Washington Square, and decided to walk up the "stairs" to Telegraph Hill instead of taking the bus. SF is a very hilly city. In some places, the hills are so steep that the sidewalk has stairs on it! The parking is usually parallel on the roads, with wheels turned in or out. But on the really steep hills, the parking is perpendicular to the road! From Telegraph Hill, I got a panoramic view of the city. I saw the Alcatraz prison, Bay bridge, Golden Gate bridge, and a section of Lombard street. Its known as the "World's crookedest street" because of the series of sharp switch-backs as it descends down a hill.
I then walked to Fisherman's wharf, which is basically a tourist spot. Obviously it had lots of shopping areas. I then decided to come back via the famous cable-car. Its not self-propelled. There is a cable running under the rails at a speed of 9.5 mph. The car clamps itself to the cable while moving.
From the cable car station I walked back to the train station and took a train back to Mountain View.