Another Day in SF: The Mission, The Castro, Twin Peaks and Golden Gate Park

Last Sunday I spent another day in San Francisco. I took my bike on BART and got off at 16th St. Mission Station. The Mission District takes its name from the oldest building in the city, Mission Dolores, built by the Spanish in the late 1700s. However, nowadays the adjoining basilica is far more impressive:

The Mission is a lively and colorful neighborhood, well known for its hundreds of colorful murals, one of the most impressing ones being on the Women’s Building:

However, probably the most peculiar fact about The Mission is that it is so ethnically diverse. Latinos dominate, but Chinese also abound and Italians are never far off either. And unlike in the other American districts I have already visited, here all these cultures are seamlessly integrated. This is quite strikingly illustrated in this picture—pay attention to the restaurant signs:

Even the cars in the streets contribute to the unique atmosphere:

Anyhow, after loitering about for a while in Dolores Park—where we had our 4th of July picnic—I moved on to the next district: The Castro. This district is the epicenter of SF’s sizable gay community, which you can tell from the color of some houses: ;-)

After The Castro, I went on to climb the Twin Peaks, or at least one of them. I had already experienced that covering distances by bike in SF can be deceiving, as the maps in my guidebook do not show elevation contours. However, this climb still surprised me a little… It was really worth while though, as on top of the peaks you have an impressive view on the whole city:

The straight road, clearly visible in the picture, is Market Street. It leads into the financial district with all the skyscrapers. Behind it is the Embarcadero. On the other side of the peak, I could just discern the Golden Gate in the distance:

However, the typically San Franciscan fog—no smog thanks to the ever-present ocean breeze/wind/gale—makes it hard to see. After descending from the Twin Peaks, I continued towards the Golden Gate Park, SF’s largest, which is more than 5 km long. In the park, I visited the Conservatory of Flowers:

This conservatory is home to thousands of exotic plants:

and some butterflies:

The park is not only huge, it is also perfectly maintained and has innumerable quiet, scenic spots with water and beautiful trees:

I don’t know if you could get enough of it soon—I couldn’t…

Having traversed the whole park from East to West, I finally arrived at Ocean Beach:

There, I turned northwards where I still saw some stunning cliffs:

and crossed the last district of the day, The Richmond, following Clement Street all the way back to the east. Here, I found out that there is actually a New Chinatown growing, with Clement Street as its hart. Considering that the old one is already the biggest in the World, that says something about the Chinese population here…

I returned to Berkeley, tired, hungry and a despite all sunscreen a little sunburned, but utterly satisfied and ready to tackle a new week!