Niamh on Leave

I couldn’t have picked a better place to kickstart the next part of my little adventure than San Francisco. I have finally discovered for myself what people have been telling me for years – it’s a great city. Sometimes, when travelling alone, I tend not to dwell in cities, but in the case of San Francisco I was there almost a week and left with a list of places unseen and things undone and a definite desire to go back.

Three things stand out for me over the week.  One, was the day I hired a bike and cycled across the Golden Gate Bridge to some of the towns on the other side.

Think I am a convert to playing tourist on a bicycle, at least when it’s flat or downhill. In this case, the route I took had limited uphill, thankfully, but the bridge crossing was seriously windy. What makes it better, is the option to get the ferry back!

Another thing I enjoyed was  the visit to Alcatraz, the tour there is really quite interesting

But my surprise standout was a random photography class I went to one evening. I saw something advertised for a meetup group called Pashadelic so I thought, why not. The group met at a place called Treasure Island for a free tutorial in nighttime photography, the subject being the city skyline – how bad. And there was coffee and cookies and great helpful people. I’m a believer already. Served to remind me that being spontaneous has its rewards.