I’m definitely biased towards west coast cities, and I expected San Francisco to be a hipster heaven. So many movies had been filmed here, and coincidentally a week before the trip I watched “Woman on the Run” (1950) and saw that Fisherman’s Wharf was featured. I definitely did not find as many sailors there as the movie depicted, but I did get a visual warning of the hills.

I was actually more charmed by the quieter streets and buildings on every block. It is a different colour, style, vibe and décor on each street, and I am fascinated by how cozy it feels, even with the wide streets and abundance of grey concrete and asphalt. It seems to lack the parklets, cul-de-sacs and green bike route wayfinding signs (on local streets) that Vancouver has, but still manages to feel comfortable and slow.

Such a contrast with the downtown financial district. The tall glass buildings are immense, drowning, clean. I enjoyed the bike scrambles too, even though I didn’t get to see the intersections at a really busy time. We hunted around for a Joe & the Juice, but wasn’t hungry enough to sit down, so we checked out the Autodesk showroom. Such a smart idea to promote a product!

Although disappointed by the bike lanes, I really liked that transit was well used by seemingly the locals. Public transportation was clean and easy to use too, which makes me hopeful that this city is more sustainable than others. It certainly made my trip easier as a tourist, especially after I gave up on biking up hills around here. The city started to feel familiar to me on the 2nd day. Vancouver has the same busses and pedestrian push buttons. Vancouver also has a hipster street like Valencia, a huge bridge like Golden Gate and a touristy car-free path along the water like Land’s End. And yet San Francisco is still distinct like an alternative universe. The hipsters are cooler, chiller. The water is more vast and engulfed in the fog like a dream. The roads and bridges are bigger and domineering. The bikers insist on fixed gear and work their way up the hills without a sweat.

I don’t remember being this impressed by food anywhere else in North America. Within a weekend, we had beignets, cheese platters, sausage flights, super tacos at the famous taqueria in Mission, the Danish smoothie that I missed so much, kosher diner food, ramen that isn’t too salty, and a ton of Trader Joe’s snacks. I was lucky that I was able to burn the calories on the hills.

At this moment I could say that San Francisco is at the top of my list for American cities!