Oh yes...! It was already dawning, as in these southern lands the sun wakes up so early, and because of that, the ten-lane highway leading towards the city was overloaded. Hardworking Americans, sipping Starbucks coffee, were still shaking off sleep and driving their cars to the high-tech production facilities of Silicon Valley, while we were flying to meet the city of our dreams, as we thought, to meet San Francisco. Intentionally entering the city from the North, we anticipated approaching the city's main synonym - the Golden Gate Bridge, which seems red, but is actually painted orange. The first turn - too early, the second turn - missed again, and finally, after the third turn, we saw the absolutely huge, yet infinitely graceful pillars of America's most famous bridge. It is truly beautiful, enormous, and suits the whole city perfectly. It feels as if it was by such a bridge that Europeans once founded the city of San Francisco, or San Fran, as the locals call it. In my opinion, the best photos of this bridge for a simple student-tourist can be taken from the side opposite the city. That is where a stunning observation deck is located, offering a killer view not only of the bridge but of the city itself, Alcatraz Island, and the entire bay. The whole secret is that this is the only observation deck located above the level of the bridge. You look at it from above. All others give you a view from below or at eye level, which, you must agree, is not as impressive for such huge structures. Once more about the bridge. It is worth crossing, but you should also be prepared to part with 6 bucks at the pay-toll. This was the first time we decided to take a toll road; before that, due to our greedy mentality, we had principledly avoided such structures, but this time greed told us that taking a detour would only be more expensive, so we decided to go for it. What was our indescribable happiness when the traffic officer, sitting in the booth and responsible for collecting our fee, recommended not to throw money away in the future, to save the 6 dollars, and spend them on something else. When we logically asked him "Why?", he clearly explained that it was his last day and that he hates his almost-former job. Hooray! We are in San Francisco! And people here clearly think differently. Having barely parked our 'Tractorenok', by the way, in an unauthorized area, we set off to explore the city. It is truly huge, uneven, and located on quite steep hills. People here learn to walk differently, drive differently, and perhaps that is why they think differently. You can only walk here by climbing up, barely moving your knees, or running down with relief, fearing you might trip and break your nose. Driving is even scarier, because you are always driving uphill blindly and there is a probability of running into one of the three hundred thousand Chinese living in the vicinity, or downhill, and then you need to have good brakes to use them in time - we didn't have them. At first glance, the city is very peculiar, unlike other American metropolises. It is very white; there are no familiar two-story cottages and green lawns in front of the house. The city seems stuffed with boxes covered in white plaster, which reminded not only me of a garbage dump. But on the whole, all these irregularities look quite cute and somehow airy. To enjoy the panorama, it is not at all necessary to fly up in the elevator of some skyscraper, as is traditionally done in New York, Chicago, or anywhere else. Here, you just need to work your legs a little and end up on the top of one of the hills, preferably on the top of Russian Hill, which is the very heart of the city and offers an excellent view in all four directions. Right there is also, according to claims, the crookedest street in the world - Lombard Street. Every visiting motorist inevitably strives to drive along it - we were an exception and spared our brakes. By the way, I got the impression that if the relief of
+2
