Santa Cruz and San Francisco

I have made good use of the past two days.
I went to Santa Cruz the day before yesterday. It's a small city with a population of about 55,000, situated along the West Coast of America. The ocean is friendly to surfers and Santa cruz is also the home of skate boarders apparently. We went to what seemed like a biotechnology research centre. There was a skeleton of a full grown blue whale that had once crashed into some rocks on the coast and died. It was remarkably huge! The ocean has rich marine life and was a little stinky. We saw sea otters, pelicans sitting on the Pelican Rock, sea gulls and a seal. We sat by the light house and had a delightful meal. I saw a great deal of people walking dogs. Petting dogs is probably a fad here since so many of them have it! The dogs are given manicure and pedicure and fancy hair cuts. I find that quite unnecessary.
We drove around Santa Cruz, past the multimillion dollar houses facing the mighty Pacific. They're all beautifully ventilated and they're the kind that would make you wanna live there. I love the Spanish names of the places around here. They first belonged to Mexico, I believe. That's that.

We went to San Francisco yesterday. We bought subs from Subway for lunch. As usual I wanted extra capsicum in my sub. I said "Extra capsicums please" and the lady there seemed confused. They don't understand our Indian accent. D'oh! So I corrected myself and said "Extra bell peppers please" full on with an American accent and she obliged. I feel I sound like Russell Peters imitating Indians here. Trust me, it's not a very nice feeling.
San Francisco is around 50 miles from home. We reached in less than 45 minutes. I might have said this before and I'll say it again. It's a real pleasure driving here! Or watching my aunt drive. It's as smooth as going by plane! We went to a beach where the water was freezing! The wind blowing there was bitterly cold. Apparently it blows from Alaska across the Pacific ocean and reaches San Francisco. It was a bad idea to assume California would be hot and not bring a jacket.
There was this steep road where we ascended slowly and my aunt said "you're in for a surprise" and I was literally holding my breath to see what lay ahead! Slowly coming to form in front of me was a maginificent city with kazillion houses, all stuck to each other, and a hundred high-rise buildings! Never before in my life have I seen so many buildings! It was outrageous really! Looked like a whole lot of houses thrown in a godown or like they had been arranged there for Dussera. It is a very crowded city and all the houses are single storey buildings because the city is prone to earth quakes and what's more? Each house looks exactly like the one next to it so they're all painted in flamboyant colours. We went to the Twin Peaks, a view point and also one of the highest point in San Franscisco. From there we could see almost the entire city. The Golden Gate, the financial centre of San Francisco, the port of San Francisco and other elegant structures that stood out in the residential areas. From there we went for a drive on the Golden Gate itself. It had me singing the theme song of Full House (Everywhere you look everywhere you go, there's a heart there's a heart). It was such a pleasant feeling! We went to different places and saw the Golden Gate from different angles. At one point, the wind was so tempestuous, I almost lost balance and the camera wouldn't stay still to click a picture! It was a permanent colossal gust of wind! (I couldn't find a better way to put it.)
Also, I learnt that San Francisco has the higest gay population in America. They had their rainbow coloured flag faluntering high up in the air! We also saw about five or six couples.
On our way back we went through the market street of San Francisco, one of the most happening streets. The streets are always either rising or decending because the city is built on hills. I was so cheerful to see that Princess Diaries might have been shot on one of those streets! (The scene where she loses control of her car and crashes into the tram was stuck in my head!) I saw electric trams, the Golden Gate Park that stretched from one end of San Francisco to the other and other specialities.
I'll be visiting SF once every week to see all the places. Can't wait to go to Ghirardelli and gobble up a few ice creams!
Right then. Good day. Till tomorrow..