If you study big cities at the height of their glory, from ancient Rome, Carthage, Baghdad and Athens to modernday New York, Mumbai, London and Sydney, a few commonalities emerge — they embraced diversity and welcomed change. After travelling for nearly four months, I've seen first hand how welcoming or not (I'm looking at you, Dubai) some cities are. San Francisco is probably the most welcoming.

 

Unlike snooty New York and hurried Mumbai, San Francisco is cool and laidback. It has the most technologically-advanced populace ( Silicon Valley, people) and everybody embraces diversity with fierceness. The residents of San Francisco enjoy experimenting with everything from food to art. In my first two weekends in the city, I was treated to a choice of jazz, salsa, bluegrass, African chants and classical guitar concerts. Other cities in the world may boast of a similar variety, but not packed in two weekends. As I learned eventually, each weekend features a similar buffet of choices. In some ways, this city reminds me of the Mumbai I grew up in, where you could say, "Yeh Bombay hai. Yahan sab kuch chalta hai" (a sentiment that's less and less true).

 

San Francisco is startling. It's tiny: the area is barely 49 square miles (which is why the San Franciscan NFL team is called the 49ers) and you can walk across it in two hours. It also has a difficult terrain. Not only does the entire city sit athwart a major geological fault, it is also famously built on more hill than plain. None of this, however, matters to the populace.

Let me give you two other instances of their fabulous attitude. First, the weather. New York has sleet-filled November winds; Delhi, its scorching summers and Mumbai, its muck-filled monsoon. (The cyclone hitting our east coast now is a different league, of course; my prayers are with those in the line of fury.) But, San Francisco has fog. Some days the whole city walks, runs, drives or otherwise perambulates in slow motion, simply to avoid running into things because of this perennial condition. But, where other cities vilify their weather, San Francisco gave a name and a twitter account to fog. Meet Karl (@karlthefog). Sure, they curse it occasionally, but when "Karl's in town," he's treated as a slightly irritating house guest, not of a mortal enemy.

 

Secondly, everybody has an opinion in SF. Ask a resident how they feel about something and be prepared for a 20-minute conversation. I almost cried once with the amount of information I was bombarded with when I asked about the best place to buy a souvenir.

 

It's not that SF is perfect — the homeless; delays in BART, their transport system; the economy. What elevates this city to greatness is that its population addresses what's missing. And everyone can join their quest.

 

3 Hang out places

 

DOLORES PARK: A tiny patch of green in the Mission district where the city's most colourful inhabitants come out almost every day to drink, play music, and generally revel

 

THE EMBARCADERO: A posh downtown district close to famous tourist attractions like Fisherman's Wharf

 

TWIN PEAKS: Overlooking the city, with perhaps the best view of San Francisco, where one can take a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay Bridge in the same frame..

 

Sourse : Times of India