Best of San Francisco - a video documentation

My blog is for everyone - no matter if you are coming to San Francisco from other parts of the US, from the UK, from Australia or from different parts of Europe.

Unfortunately, this video documentation on San Francisco - produced by my friends from ZDF, a German public TV broadcaster, is just available in German. But even if you don't speak German, you might enjoy watching it as it features great pictures of the city as well.

You can watch it here.

This is for you, if...

• you plan a trip to San Francisco and want to get excited!
• you live already in San Francisco and just want to fall in love again 
• if you are unsure if a trip to San Francisco is the right thing and need some more background information 

Enjoy watching it!

Yours, 

Hanni 

Beware, but California is deceptive!

It is not really that I want to do it, but I have no other choice. You all know that  San Francisco is my favorite town and that I value a lot of things over Germany.

Never have I felt more at home and "in the right place" than in San Francisco, but sometimes when digging a little deeper - under the glow and brightness of California there are realities that tell you how deceptive this "Fairy tale city" actually is.Unfortunately!

I went for lunch with a friend of mine - as you know, I just came to the city a few months ago and wrote about it in the first chapter. He is a recent law graduate from a well-known San Francisco law school - with just 25 years he graduated from one of the best law schools in the country. His mission is an honest one: he wants to work as a lawyer for the California state. With this vision he is willing to accept much lower salaries than all those graduates who strive for careers in the big law firms working on solving cases for all the corporations out there.

Problem is, that it's damn hard to land a job as a lawyer in California right now and some law schools have unemployment rates of > 30%.

So, my friend is looking for a job - at the same time having some serious health issues as he is a seizure patient. He needs to take prescription medicine on a constant basis to stay healthy and free from seizures.

Problem is: as soon as he ended his study program he was not allowed into the insurance program which he had access to as a law student. Now, he has been looking for a job for a few months and is unable to get insurance. Why? "With a pre-existing condition no insurance will take me", he tells me and there is no chance that he can get any financial support from any of the government insurance programs such as Medicare or Medicaid as he is neither old enough or poor enough.

My friend is desperately waiting for the Obama Care to start and hoping not to go through another seizure till that point - at this point he has no health coverage whatsoever.
He is still in debt due to his student loan and won't be able to afford any health expenditures if they should occur - his last seizure treatment cost him 30.000 USD.

"You know, this is why America sucks", he told me and I looked outside of the little sandwich shop we were having a lunch together. The sky was bright and blue and a singing guy with Rastas and big headphones was walking by and smiling at us. "So would you ever wanna leave?" I asked and he shook his head. "Unfortunately not - I am addicted to this city ... its sun and peace and people... unfortunately!"

Secret weekend get-aways from San Francisco - Hiking around Calaveras County

This part 2 of the weekend get-away special. For part 1 please see here.

Since I moved to San Francisco I never felt the urge to leave the city over the weekend - it was rather the other way around: San Francisco has soo much to offer that I was looking forward to the weekend to be able to try out some of its restaurants, go to music festivals or stroll around its neighborhoods. 

This last weekend I actually left the city over the weekend - my friends and I had planned to do a trip to Calaveras Country (2,5 hours away from SF)  and it was completely worth it leaving the town, as this little Gold Rush Area has a lot to offer. 

If you are an outdoor-lover Murphys is for you. Very close by there are great hikes and things to explore. I can especially recommend: 

- Natural Bridges near Vallecito 

- Calveras Big Trees State Park 

Below some impressions from the great Natural Bridges hike.  

And you shouldn't forget to stop by in Angelscamp on the way back to San Francisco. why? Have you ever visited a walk of fame for jumping frogs? 

If not, have a look at it in Angelscamp and see how far the best frogs during the annual competition jumped:

Enjoy Calaveras Country!

Stay tuned!

Hanni 

Secret weekend get-aways from San Francisco

Weekend get-aways were always the highlight of my week - at at time when I was still living in Germany. 

Since I moved to San Francisco I never felt the urge to leave the city over the weekend - it was rather the other way around: San Francisco has soo much to offer that I was looking forward to the weekend to be able to try out some of its restaurants, go to music festivals or wander around its neighborhoods. 

This last weekend I actually left the city over the weekend - my friends and I had planned to do a trip to Murphys and it was completely worth it leaving the town, as this little Gold Rush Village in Calveras County has a lot to offer. 

See for yourself: 

Murphys’ rich and colorful past came alive in 1848 when John and Daniel Murphy established a trading post and gold mining operation in the area that is now their namesake. True entrepreneurs with the luck of the Irish, they were a part of the very first immigrant party (Stephens-Townsend-Murphy) to successfully bring wagons over the Sierra in 1844, paving the way for westward migration.John and Daniel’s cries were among the first heard of “GOLD!” in California. It is reported that the brothers took two million dollars in gold ore from the Murphys Diggins in one year’s time, making them millionaires before the age of 25. 

What does Murphys has to do with frogs? 

You will see frogs everywhere in Murphys or other little villages around Calaveras County. This is inspired by Mark Twain. When Mark Twain failed at gold mining he turned to journalism and it was during that time that the wrote the short story that would launch his career, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County. Since this story people all over Calaveras County are crazy for frogs and even have an annual frog jumping competition every May. 

Murphys has great little wineries and I found most of them much more traditional and welcoming than any wineries I had visited in Sonoma or Napa Valley before that. We visited the Lavender Ridge vineyard as well as the Allegorie vineyard, which is both an art room and a winery. 

Most of the houses in Murphys didn't change a lot in the last few years. Strolling through the little town is relaxing and since there is almost no phone reception you can even better get away from the rush of everyday life in San Francisco, where everyone is texting and emailing on his smartphone all the time. 

 BTW, not just the wine is great in Murphys - so is the food :)!

Enjoy Murphys and stay tuned for more updates on Calaveras County!

Hanni