Street Steep Mountain High

IMG_8665Canon EOS 6D (24mm, f/10, 1/125 sec, ISO100)

When we visited San Francisco the first time we had a large RV sitting on the camping site and we were exploring the city by foot. This time on the last day in San Francisco we roomed by car and that was giving me a chance to ride down Lombard Street like all the others.

The city is famous for it’s steep roads and this here is the steepest. It’s also narrow winding – well by US standards.

Of course there is a warning sign on top to scare off people driving in large vans or like us in a massive Chevrolet Suburban. I’m rather brave but I also had no desire to become part of the news if I got stuck there with my oversized car so I checked out the other cars.

IMG_8668Canon EOS 6D (24mm, f/10, 1/125 sec, ISO100)
IMG_8674Canon EOS 6D (24mm, f/10, 1/125 sec, ISO100)

But there is no big car when you need it. Only small sedans went down for minutes. Modern Times. It is a crying shame: all the beautiful road cruisers I saw on TV when I watched The Streets Of San Francisco are gone. These cars were the main reason for the young boy and car geek to watch the series.

Finally after a couple of minutes there was a Cadillac Escalade. Not the long version but that was good enough for me. So I went down too. Finally some real cars for the spectators beside the road. We managed to drive it without any issues. So here is my travel tipp: If you are in a very large SUV or Van don’t be afraid: there is enough space to drive down Lombard street.

IMG_8682Canon EOS 6D (200mm, f/14, 1/80 sec, ISO100)
IMG_8688Canon EOS 6D (200mm, f/4, 1/640 sec, ISO100)

I love San Francisco. It is a beautiful city and I assume it’s a great place to live as long as you can afford it. Imagine to sit on the patio in the image above and to watch the cruise ships. Beautiful! But I have seen a report that more and more people have to leave the city because the can’t afford living there.

A city needs to be explored by foot but it was the last day of our vacation and we decided to move to a motel closer to the airport so we drove around in our car. I’m always amazed how easy it is to get around in an American city. Of course there is more traffic than on the country side but it’s nothing compared to Europe not to mention Asia where sightseeing by car is unthinkable. And there are parking lots available big enough even for our ridicolously large Suburban. A car drivers dream! And it’s a very good feeling to ride these roads I saw first when I was a kid.

IMG_8692Canon EOS 6D (70mm, f/10, 1/100 sec, ISO100)
IMG_8715Canon EOS 6D (110mm, f/13, 1/160 sec, ISO100)
IMG_8719Canon EOS 6D (182mm, f/11, 1/200 sec, ISO100)

I was surprised how small downtown seems to be when seen from above. Just a couple of high rise buildings. San Francisco seems so big because its variety but it’s just half the population of Vienna. Of course its metropolitan area is much bigger though. There is Oakland and San Jose. And there is Paolo Alto and Cupertino – the home of high tech.

Everything surrounded by maybe one of the most beautiful coasts on earth. I guess it is a very good place to live. That’s why we are keep coming back.

IMG_8732Canon EOS 6D (24mm, f/10, 1/250 sec, ISO100)