San Francisco
San Francisco is something like the "romantic city" of the United States. Undoubtedly it is one of the most fascinating, most picturesque and most visited tourist cities in North America. For San Francisco have written poems, it’s urban background atmosphere is in hundreds of famous films and if you never seen this town then you should do so as soon as possible and then you will understand what inspires the poet's soul and what catches the eye of the director. San Francisco is like the dream city, where everyone can find what they seek, just because there is everything!
San Francisco is located on the West Coast of the United States, its coasts are bathed by the waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west. San Francisco Bay with a touch of the city from the north and east and south, borders with San Mateo County. San Francisco enters into the composition of the U.S. state of California, situated in the northern part. The city occupies the inner part of the bay of San Francisco and is one of the largest in America and the ports of San Francisco and Oakland are continuous in containerized cargo ships mostly from Asia.
It is interesting that San Francisco ranks second in population density in the U.S., but only occupies an area of 18 sq. km. It is the fourth largest city in California. The most important characteristics of San Francisco fit within the many cultural and historical monuments , cult Bridge "Golden Gate", exquisite restaurants and numerous pubs, a variety of outdoor activities thanks to the pleasant parks and last but not least the amazing nature with wonderful views of the surrounding hills on the outskirts of San Francisco.
The old name of San Francisco was Yerba Buena. The name comes from the Spanish settlers in the 18th century due to the abundance of a shrub which was coming from the old name. The name has remained, and currently has an island with that name, Yerba Buena Island, not far from the city. The island is the liaison between Oakland and San Francisco through the bridge, Bay Bridge, which is the largest bridge in the territory of California. The other bridge which is more famous is the “Golden Gate” Bridge, but it is significantly less than the Bay Bridge. The name San Francisco came when the city was captured by the Americans in 1846 during the war between Mexico and the USA.
Victorian architecture of the city can not but make an impression. Most of the houses in the old town were built after the great earthquake in 1906. But even the new are being built in the Victorian style and are particularly attractive to tourists in the city. There are numerous hotels, and they say that in the San Francisco 2000 houses are restaurants. San Francisco is one of the ten most visited tourist destinations in the U.S., and one of the first fifty in the world. According to the Economist magazine, 15 million tourists visited San Francisco in 2004, which bears the city's revenue total to 6, 7 billion dollars.
Church Mission of Saint Francis of Assisi, known as Mission "Dolores" is the oldest building in San Francisco. It was founded on October 9th, 1776, and in fact the name of the city comes from it. The church is located in the Mission district and is named after St. Francis of Assisi, a monk by the name that comes from the Franciscan Order.
The biggest park in San Francisco is the Golden Gate Park. Other parks are the Presidio, which is one of the biggest, Buena Vista Park, which translates as, Beautiful view and is the oldest in town. Other nice places to walk among are the green places of Alamo Square, Yerba Buena Gardens, Union Square, which is located in the tourist center of the San Francisco, Lafayette Park, Dolores Park, Chrissy Field, Sydney G. Walton Square, which is also located in the center and others. Among the nicest coastlines in San Francisco beaches are the Ocean Beach and Baker Beach.
