Getting Around San Francisco

I thought I knew a lot about San Francisco. But in my first two weeks here I've learned, as they say, "it's different once you live together." Especially with regard to getting around this odd place.

It's not all bad. There have been some pleasant surprises. In LA, I think I got that syndrome women get when their husband beats them, except the traffic version. It's where you just expect to get royally effed somehow every time you drive out of your driveway. So, for example, if you are trying to make an unprotected left, but aren't sure you should go, there is definitely a jerk behind you, and he won't hesitate to let you know you just missed a perfect gap. Last week in SF, I made this mistake, and by reflex cringed and looked in my rear view. No one to be seen. This exact thing has already happened to me 5 times in SF and I've been here a week. No one there. The traffic isn't nearly as bad.

Also the parking. Parking in LA is terrible pretty much everywhere. Going to an event? Expect to park more than a mile away or a mile deep in a parking structure. In SF, I've actually been parking on the street at my apartment, with no official spot, and have had no problems.

But, there have been some not-so-peachy aspects as well. The public transport isn't the cure all I had hoped. It takes twice as long as driving to get anywhere. Oh, and you pretty much feel like you are in a different country or universe. I looked around on the full bus I was on yesterday, and I couldn't see anyone who looked American. And, this group didn't exactly, how do I say this, dress up. It was the middle of the day on a Wednesday, and none of them looked like they had just stepped out of the office at their job as an insurance agent. Not sure what these people do or where they go. Hope to find out.

Haven't tried biking yet, but I can't imagine my skinny chicken legs will be able to get me up any of these hills. And for whoever says its a small 'walkable' city compared to LA, I have to disagree. Where I lived in LA, I was a short walk from pretty much anything I needed. Sure, if I wanted to catch a Laker game, I absolutely had to drive, it was 12 miles away. In San Francisco, there isn't much near me that would qualify as a short walk. Because even if it is a short walk, you are going up and down 45 degree hills the whole time. And yes, its plausible to walk to events such as a baseball game, but no one ever would anyway because of the hills.

So all in all, for all the credit SF gets for having a great public transportation system, and how its small so you can walk or bike anywhere, if I could only have one mode of transportation, I'm taking a car, no question.