San Francisco

As the weather was supposed to be bad in Sacramento we decided to go on a day trip to San Francisco. Due to the corona situation we were a bit unsure if we could enter the city, but when we got closer we noticed there were no controls and we didn’t even have to stop at the toll houses. In general the American drivers are pretty rude when driving as they’re overtaking whenever and wherever. Some are reckless drivers and accidents are a usual sight when driving on the roads. On our way to SF we saw our first accident happening in front of our eyes, when two cars collided and one was spinning from one end of the road to the other.
However, we drove safely and got to SF at around noon. It was quite difficult driving in the city since the well-known hills make it hard to see and it was pretty busy. Our first stop was twin peaks where we had a nice view over the city. After that we drove down Lombard Street, and then went to see the Painted Ladies and had lunch in the car. The Painted Ladies were a bit of a disappointment, and it was hard taking good pictures of them. After this it was time for the highlight of the day, the Golden Gate Bridge. We parked our car and walked along the beach to get as close as possible. It was a nice 20 minute walk and when we got to the bridge we noticed people surfing in the big waves under the bridge. We both agreed that it was fascinating to see such skilled surfers, but it also looked dangerous as the rocks/cliffs were pretty close. We took about 100 pictures of the bridge in different angles before moving on. Next we were planning on going to the other side of the bridge but the viewing points in this area was closed to the public. We expected more things to be closed in the SF-area, so we were still happy as it looked quite normal in general. A good thing about corona is that it wasn’t crowded at all at the tourist spots, and we could easily find parking spots which is usually impossible here.
After spending around 5h in the city we decided to go back to Sacramento. We had quesadillas for dinner and then went to the motel room to book accommodation for upcoming nights. After a while inside we went outside again to go have a look at the Capitol Building in the city, unaware of what was happening in the city at the time. On the way to the building we saw hundreds of policemen and cars blocking the freeway entrances, as well as several helicopters circulating above. We started seeing big groups of people wandering around the city spraying on walls of buildings, things such as ”George Floyd”, ”kill the cops”, ”black lives matter, and ”fuck the police”. It was a tense atmosphere and as we got closer to the Capitol Building we saw burning trash bins. The courthouse next to the Capitol Building was covered with spray paint, and the white statues’ faces were painted black. The Capitol Building was surrounded by hundreds of policemen protecting the building while we photographed it. Later we heard that people had been breaking into stores, blocking the freeway, attacking the police, destorying buildings, and the police had been forced to use tear gas and rubber bullets against demonstrators. However, the area where we lived was calm during the night and we slept well.Read more