Posts Tagged ‘San Francisco’

Sundays in the City: The Mission District

Monday, September 2nd, 2013

Every Sunday I go into the city of San Francisco to go to my home church, Reality SF. Located on the border of the Mission and Castro District, my church is central to some pretty cool things in the heart of San Francisco. Because I go weekly into San Francisco, I have decided to explore this giant city that is right across the bridge from Berkeley, yet seems a world away at the same time. Thus Sundays in the City is born as an effort of exploration and discovery outside of my Berkeley bubble.

For my very first Sunday in the City I decided to go on a Mural Walk in the Mission District. I had heard about an alley way called Balmy Alley that was supposed to be full of dazzling murals. However I made a few stops before heading deep into the heart of the Mission District. I visited Taqueria La Cumbre, a taqueria featured on the Food Network Show, Man vs Food for a carne asada burrito. Nothing special there, pretty standard. And of course the next thing on my mind was coffee, coffee, coffee. I soon learned that the original Philz, my all time favorite coffee shop, was only a mile and a half away from my church, so I decided it would be the next leg of my journey.

Located on 24th and Folsom, right near Balmy Alley, my final destination, I found the original Philz!

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This quirky coffee shop never fails to make my heart happy, and this one in particular was full of eccentricities. Every inch of wall painted in muralistic fashion from ballerinas to trees, floor to ceiling was covered in great paintings. I stopped inside for a break from walking and some studying. I was even luck enough to get a free Mocha Tesora due to a mix up in orders.

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After reading some Hemingway, I returned to the task at hand and departed to begin my exploration of the mission district. Wandering from bookstore to record store, Latino grocery stands, and all sorts of other interesting shops I kept an eye out for murals.

Then I found Balmy Alley, an expanse of street that was tiny but entirely covered in beautifully vibrant murals. Ranging from political and social protests in art to silly children’s murals, every inch of wall was covered in the vivid paint of these creative minds. This was my favorite view of the alleyway with the bold proclamation of REJOICE! watching from overhead. Between the dazzling murals and the flowers framing them, it was quite a sight to see.

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I wandered up and down the alley way several times just absorbing the color and the passion behind the brush strokes of each mural. It was astounding to see these works of art all of the place. It wasn’t just in the alley way either, it was all over the Mission District. Tucked away down quiet streets, bounding across the tall buildings’ walls, or on old decrepit wooden fences, they were everywhere.

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I had a lot of fun taking in all of the art but eventually I made the trek back to the bart station and sat exhausted but fulfilled the entire way back home to Berkeley. I found there is a grand difference between going to a place and getting to know it. I have been to San Francisco so many times but never truly dug down deep into the city to learn its outline like I am starting to now. Even though I encountered a couple of creepy, scary things (people being rude and creepy to me, a girl alone, wandering some of the sketchy streets of San Francisco unwittingly), it was still a great adventure and I wouldn’t change a thing.

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I love nothing more than exploring and discovering new things and after my first Sunday in the City I really am just hungry for new and more journeys out into San Francisco. There is so much to be seen, appreciated, and enjoyed that I cannot wait to return again and reclaim the pieces of my heart that I left scattered in the mysterious street corners of San Francisco. This last mural really spoke true to my heart and I cannot wait to go again.

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The Dik-Dik

Friday, January 14th, 2011

Let me introduce to you a very strange animal called a dik-dik.Yes, its name is dik-dik. The even funnier part is what this animal actually is, a deer like animal that is only about a two foot long. An antelope named for its shrill call that actually sounds like “dik dik” or “zik zik”. Probably one of the strangest animals I have ever seen, I had heard about them before but never expected to see one in person when I went to the San Francisco Zoo. I am very glad I got to see one, and now you can too.

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Nike Women’s Half Marathon Finisher!

Tuesday, October 19th, 2010

Last weekend my mom and I went to San Francisco for the Nike Women’s Half Marathon on Sunday morning. Saturday we spent at the expo gathering as many free goodies as we could. This consisted of about ten Pom drinks, a billion luna bars and Ghiradelli chocolates (yes they give you chocolate!). We visited Niketown to get some awesome marathon merchandise and find our name on the wall. There is a wall filled with all of the names of the women particpating in the Marathon. It took forever to find ours but we eventually did.

After unloading our massive booty back at our apartment we took a trolley down to Fisherman’s Wharf for some clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl. Somehow I managaed to never have been on a trolley, or have eaten clam chowder in a bread bowl even though I have been to San Francisco many, many times. Sad, I know. But now I can say I have done both! That was all fun and good but we couldn’t find a taxi back to our apratment for the life of us and had to beat out a group of guys to jump a taxi after walking for like a mile. Sorry about stealing your taxi, we knew it was yours but we needed it more than you I think…. sorry.

We then met up with the rest of our group that we would be doing the half marathon with which consisted of mother’s and their daughters. We had a lovely dinner at Scallas and had a lot of fun talking with each other.

That was enough fun and games for the night before, we had an early morning the next day to begin our journey. I got up at five in the morning to get ready in the pitch black. We met down at the starting line at 6:30 and started to walk our half marathon. We started a little earlier than the pack of 20,000 people so we wouldn’t get stampeded by the mob. It was an amazing feeling to walk down the normally busy streets of San Francisco in the dark where no one is around except for you and your group of friends. All of the course was blocked off so we had the whole road to ourselves. It was really amazing.

Around mile three the first of the runners started to pass us and the marathon had really begun! It was so much fun just walking and running through the entirety of San Francisco with our group. We got to see almost every inch of San Francisco it felt like. We walked along the piers, out to Fort Point and beyond. Every few miles there were stops with food or water that was also fun. You could stock pile goodies like shock blocks and luna bars for later on in the walk.

I was totally fine until around mile seven when my foot started to really cramp up and never stopped hurting for the rest of the walk. I tried to not let it hinder the experience however. We got to see so much beautiful scenery that I never knew existed all around San Francisco like the rolling hills overlooking a stormy ocean. There was so much to see, not one second was boring.

At about mile ten it started to rain, then it started to pour. The last stretch was nice, especially the chocolate mile. The chocolate mile is at mile twelve where they have a food station. They hand out Ghiradelli chocolates. I stashed about six of those…. for later of course 😀

After that it was the final leg, we ran the rest of the way and the best part of the whole experience was turning that finally corner and looking down the shoot at the finish line and all of the people cheering you on to the finish. Running over the finish line with my mom was an unexplainable feeling. By that time it was pouring and we kind of looked like drowned rats but we sure where some proud drowned rats. A half marathon finished, thirteen point one miles done!

After crossing the finish line we had firefighters in nice suits and Nike shoes give us our Tiffany necklaces. They give you these cute little boxes and then you know you really are done.

Then came the painful part, the way back to the apartment. To get back to the start line we have to get on a bus and drive back. The line to get on the bus was miles long! After running all that way the last thing we wanted to do was wait in a line eons long in the pouring rain. It was so cold and all we had where the emergency blankets to shield us from the rain as we waited in line. I got so sore from standing there I still hurt. That was definitely the worst part. The ride back seemed like it took forever but at least we weren’t in the rain any more.

We then had to walk up all the hills of San Francisco to our apartment which was terrible after getting totally sore, cold, and tired. Besides the last part, I had an awesome time. I will never forget this experience and hope to do it again someday. For now I am a one time half marathon finisher!

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Nike Women’s Half Marathon

Friday, October 15th, 2010

Tomorrow my mom and I are heading up to San Francisco for the Nike Women’s Half Marathon. This is my first time ever participating in this even and I am really excited and a little nervous. The expo is tomorrow and we get to explore San Francisco before we do the actual race on Sunday. I will update the posts tomorrow and the day of the race. Stay tuned for photos soon!

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Pretty Self-Explanatory

Saturday, August 28th, 2010

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Open Flowers, Locked Windows

Friday, January 29th, 2010

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Golden Gate Cargo

Thursday, January 28th, 2010

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Say It

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

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This is a window on a bus I saw in San Francisco. I love taking random photos of things in San Francisco, they always turn out great.

This is kind of how I feel right now, just say it. Speak out. Talk to me, let me talk to you. Write something on my blog, I want to hear it.

Say it

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