San Francisco
Feb. 12th, 2012 11:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elarbeeI just noticed that I started this journal while I was living in DC, but there is no DC tag, only SF. I fucking love SF. Here is a list of why - I'd link to it, but you can just read my SF tag.
It is so fucking beautiful.
Although it is a generally expensive city, you really can find a way to live here. There are perfectly nice (if not glamorous) neighborhoods to live in that are affordable. Yes, within city limits and no, not in the projects. Ditto for groceries: you can eat cheaply and well here, we've got Trader Joe's just like everyone else. And yes, even in the city they all have parking lots, and all the ones I can think of off the top of my head are free.
The weather is perfect for me. I don't like heat, I don't mind snow but not too much of it (and Andy can't stand it). And BTW, the skiing is way better than on the East Coast.
Best food ever. Especially ethnic food. The only place I know that has better food is New York (which is a post all in itself).
The indefinable atmosphere of the city - I can totally let my freak flag fly. Or not. Seriously, you walk down the street in DC and there is a decent amount of interesting-looking people, but that's in certain neighborhoods and you can tell that they clearly stand out. Here, interesting people are like punctuations in a canvas of other interesting people and things.
Many of my friends happen to either move here or visit here often. Not that I'm that social nowadays, but I like knowing that I have a lot of people I like and can relatively easily see.
There are a ton of places for hikes, day trips and walks. Andy and I used to explore the city's numerous parks and nature preserves, we really liked Glen Canyon, lots of spots in the Presidio, Mountain Lake Park and MacLaren Park. Even when I just take walks around our nondescript neighborhoods, within a mile there are two green courts, a pedestrian greenway hidden between some houses, a park and two playgrounds, some beautiful little avenues and two college campuses. Within an hour's drive there are so many things that I couldn't begin to name them, but in particular, Marin Headlands and Half Moon Bay come to mind.
It's a small enough city that without traffic, you can get most places in about 20 minutes by car. Traffic in many cases is avoidable, but when traveling between cities it's not as easy - SF is a peninsula connected to the rest of the Bay Area by 2 bridges in the North and 2 big highways and a few smaller ones in the South.
However, public transportation is still really good, even though MUNI has cut some service and it can be a while sometimes to wait for a bus. But these buses (and trains and trams) run pretty much 24/7 and get within 2 blocks of most of the places you'll ever want to go. You can seriously live in SF and never learn to drive and I know many people who do it without much detriment to their lives.
Seriously, the one disadvantage of SF that actually bugs me is how long it takes to get to any of the other places I want or need to go, which are all either Europe or East Coast. If I traveled more to Asia or Australia it would be a different story, but alas.
It is so fucking beautiful.
Although it is a generally expensive city, you really can find a way to live here. There are perfectly nice (if not glamorous) neighborhoods to live in that are affordable. Yes, within city limits and no, not in the projects. Ditto for groceries: you can eat cheaply and well here, we've got Trader Joe's just like everyone else. And yes, even in the city they all have parking lots, and all the ones I can think of off the top of my head are free.
The weather is perfect for me. I don't like heat, I don't mind snow but not too much of it (and Andy can't stand it). And BTW, the skiing is way better than on the East Coast.
Best food ever. Especially ethnic food. The only place I know that has better food is New York (which is a post all in itself).
The indefinable atmosphere of the city - I can totally let my freak flag fly. Or not. Seriously, you walk down the street in DC and there is a decent amount of interesting-looking people, but that's in certain neighborhoods and you can tell that they clearly stand out. Here, interesting people are like punctuations in a canvas of other interesting people and things.
Many of my friends happen to either move here or visit here often. Not that I'm that social nowadays, but I like knowing that I have a lot of people I like and can relatively easily see.
There are a ton of places for hikes, day trips and walks. Andy and I used to explore the city's numerous parks and nature preserves, we really liked Glen Canyon, lots of spots in the Presidio, Mountain Lake Park and MacLaren Park. Even when I just take walks around our nondescript neighborhoods, within a mile there are two green courts, a pedestrian greenway hidden between some houses, a park and two playgrounds, some beautiful little avenues and two college campuses. Within an hour's drive there are so many things that I couldn't begin to name them, but in particular, Marin Headlands and Half Moon Bay come to mind.
It's a small enough city that without traffic, you can get most places in about 20 minutes by car. Traffic in many cases is avoidable, but when traveling between cities it's not as easy - SF is a peninsula connected to the rest of the Bay Area by 2 bridges in the North and 2 big highways and a few smaller ones in the South.
However, public transportation is still really good, even though MUNI has cut some service and it can be a while sometimes to wait for a bus. But these buses (and trains and trams) run pretty much 24/7 and get within 2 blocks of most of the places you'll ever want to go. You can seriously live in SF and never learn to drive and I know many people who do it without much detriment to their lives.
Seriously, the one disadvantage of SF that actually bugs me is how long it takes to get to any of the other places I want or need to go, which are all either Europe or East Coast. If I traveled more to Asia or Australia it would be a different story, but alas.
