Lately I had to commute to San Francisco 2 times a week. I have tried to do it with the car which costed me enormous amount for parking. First of all it costs 2 dollars per hour (only in quarter coins. no other paying option available!!) and secondly you have to move your car every 2 hours since otherwise it will be towed away and you'll get a ticket.
There are other possibilities - daily parking garages, but they also cost a lot. In addition you shouldn't forget about the gasoline price and traffic. So, next time I tried as advised from some of my new friends to drive to the BART station, left the car there and proceeded with BART. I didn't like that option either since it's about 2/3 of my way to San Francisco to that BART station which is quite far, 30 miles. Then you pay 2 dollars for the day parking. Than you take BART which is similar to Moscow subway, not very nice place (on the way back there was no air at all, I hardly managed to endure the whole distance. And after BART I would have to either go take bus for 2 dollars (and you have to have exactly 2 dollars, they don't have change!) or to go by foot around 15 minutes which is generally bearable but not very nice as well. I don't like it going by foot in San Francisco. There are a lot of homeless people, much more than in Moscow, at least they are more visible, I believe due to the weather conditions which allow them to live outside whole year comfortably. You meet from time to time people who talk to themselves, not always nice and quiet, very often they shout at their invisible opponent. They go with those supermarket carts carrying all their belongins in them, so you recognise them even if they are dressed properly and don't look dirty or crazy. And also it stinks with Urine. Really, a lot. Probably they don't pee more on the streets of San Francisco, but the weather, again, doesn't provide the streets with this natural shower of rain and snow as it is in Moscow. Finally, last 2 times I went with Caltrain. This is the best option. Caltrain is nice, clean, you can always sit there on a soft chair, on the second floor and enjoy your book.
There are other possibilities - daily parking garages, but they also cost a lot. In addition you shouldn't forget about the gasoline price and traffic. So, next time I tried as advised from some of my new friends to drive to the BART station, left the car there and proceeded with BART. I didn't like that option either since it's about 2/3 of my way to San Francisco to that BART station which is quite far, 30 miles. Then you pay 2 dollars for the day parking. Than you take BART which is similar to Moscow subway, not very nice place (on the way back there was no air at all, I hardly managed to endure the whole distance. And after BART I would have to either go take bus for 2 dollars (and you have to have exactly 2 dollars, they don't have change!) or to go by foot around 15 minutes which is generally bearable but not very nice as well. I don't like it going by foot in San Francisco. There are a lot of homeless people, much more than in Moscow, at least they are more visible, I believe due to the weather conditions which allow them to live outside whole year comfortably. You meet from time to time people who talk to themselves, not always nice and quiet, very often they shout at their invisible opponent. They go with those supermarket carts carrying all their belongins in them, so you recognise them even if they are dressed properly and don't look dirty or crazy. And also it stinks with Urine. Really, a lot. Probably they don't pee more on the streets of San Francisco, but the weather, again, doesn't provide the streets with this natural shower of rain and snow as it is in Moscow. Finally, last 2 times I went with Caltrain. This is the best option. Caltrain is nice, clean, you can always sit there on a soft chair, on the second floor and enjoy your book.
By the way, here on this picture I am finally reading the german book I've started in Austria "Stadt der Diebe" von Davin Benioff. Yes, I was extremely slow this time because this period of first 2 months (even less) was really crazy. You would imagine that since I don't work I was relaxing all the time, sleeping, reading whatever... Unfortunately it doesn't work like that. You really spend a lot of time for these settling-down activities. Even all official stuff, it takes time. Having a bank account, apply for work permit, solve appearing issues. Right now I'm on hold trying to reach Social Security Administration call center for 25 minutes already. Apart from that I sunk into job search from the very first day (actually I even started before, being in Austria yet and even in Moscow).
That's why I enjoy caltrain so much also - there I can afford relaxing and just reading a book:) A german book. That's by the way another problem. Nevertheless we are speaking german with my husband constantly I feel that it fades away. It's not so easy to speak it anymore, I forget words and language constructions. I forget the prononciation. It's a pity, I was working so hard 4 months in Austria and even handled to pass the C1 exam which is not so easy. Sure I'm improving my English here every day. But it soothes me just a little bit, I want my German.
So, coming back to the travels to San Francisco and to the city generally I have to admit that I'm not at all in love with this city. I don't even like it. Sure, when we come for a weekend as tourists it's fun. There is a lot of stuff to do, to see, to experience. Though I wouldn't say that it proposes something exceptional. And when you come there on business, during the rush hour.... I don't enjoy it. Each time I go by foot to change the public transportation, for example, I'm being approached at least once on my way by some strange guys. There is at least peron each time speaking to him/herself loudly, swearing, shouting, showing the middle finger and all of that kind. The landscape of the city is weird. There are hills everywhere and sometimes they are very steep, so even if you go by car it's a challenge sometimes to stop before the crossing with the nose of your car pointing right to the sky and having a very limited observation to the sides.
What's nice in California generally and in SF escpecially is that there are so many immigrants, that you don't feel special at all. In Austria I felt that I'm different, that I'm an alien. Here I don't have this feeling. Even more, I speak local language better than many people here which makes my self-confidence stronger:)
The weather in San Franciso is also strange but in the way I like since it's colder than in our area. When you are going there from Sunnyvale, where we leave you may see the clouds covering the city from the distance already. And it's really very often much colder there. Now, in August and September we are having the warmest days, they say.
What I also like in Caltrain is that the driver always makes jokes, he even speaks in some funny manner so even if I don't understand everything that he says, the mood rises up anyway:)
The bad thing is that the public transportation is not completely precise. Once my bus got late for about 15 minutes, I lost my caltrain therefore and had to wait 40 minutes for the next one.
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