Tourist in One's Own Town

End of the Day, a photo by Wayne-K on Flickr.

Ever since Harv and Mary visited us and took us on a walking tour of San Francisco, I’ve been enamoured with the idea of being a tourist in my own city. Patrick’s wife bought him a book on Stairway Walks in San Francisco. On Sunday, Patrick and I decided to spend a beautiful Sunday in San Francisco, walking a few of these routes. The weather was perfect for a walk around the city. We took the BART into San Francisco in the morning and proceeded to tackle stairway walks around Telegraph Hill and Fort Mason. We came across a number of tourists during our walk and based on the languages they spoke, they spent thousands of dollars visiting San Francisco. I felt fortunate to be able to enjoy the city for the price of an $11 BART train ticket. The book took us on routes that crossed major tourist areas, but it amazed me how quiet and peaceful the city is just a few blocks away from these popular destinations. All it took was a short walk up or down some obscure stairways and we were in a totally different world.

Here are a few photos from our walk. I highly recommend everyone take the opportunity to be a tourist in your own city. It’s a lot cheaper than flying to a distant city to play tourist….and a lot of fun!