Growing Up and Sightseeing in San Francisco – California, USA

I have many fond memories of living and traveling in San Francisco. My parents moved there from Cleveland in 1970; I have lived there ever since. I grew up in San Francisco from ages 8 to 18, after which I began my studies at the University of Michigan. Since then, I have visited the City by the Bay many times. I feel privileged to have lived in one of the most beautiful and exciting cities in the world.

During our first two years, we lived in a nice blue house on 18th Avenue in the Richmond District, next to the Presidio. My sister and I often played at Mountain Lake Park, a beautiful neighborhood park a few blocks from our house. We also found several good restaurants and bakeries in our neighborhood. In addition, we often visited many exciting tourist destinations in the city, including Ghirardelli Square and the Cannery in Fisherman's Wharf as well as Golden Gate Park, Union Square and the Embarcadero.

In 1972, we moved into a large red brick house on the corner of Pacific and Walnut Streets, also next to the Presidio. Now we played at Julius Kahn Park, just across the Presidio wall and a few blocks down Pacific Street. We belonged to Temple Emanuel, a beautiful old temple with a large dome which can be seen from much of the city. Another nearby location is the Palace of Fine Arts, which houses the Exploratorium, the world's first hands-on science museum. With my lifelong love of math and science, I always enjoyed visiting this museum. By the time I finished high school, I ended up working there as an explainer for two consecutive summers.

Since college, I have visited San Francisco many times. I also lived in the Bay Area for several years when I attended graduate school in math at UC Berkeley. In 1994, I joined a Bay Area hiking club for singles, in which we enjoyed several breathtaking hikes, mainly on Mount Tamalpais in Marin County, just north of the city. On one of the hikes, I met my girlfriend of 11 years, a beautiful Russian woman who lives in the Richmond District of San Francisco. During the years since, we have enjoyed visiting many places in the city as well as the surrounding Bay Area. We'd often spend the afternoon on weekends walking downtown or through Golden Gate Park, or we'd take a drive up to Marin, where we'd do some sightseeing in Tiburon or on Angel Island.

All in all, I feel very fortunate to have grown up in San Francisco and to have spent much of my life enjoying various places in the city and the surrounding area.

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