California 2015, Day 8, On the Road Again (Fowler - San Francisco), Silicon Valley and Golden Gate Bridge

On the Road

After our relaxation day yesterday, today one of the absolute highlights was on the agenda: the Golden Gate Bridge. However, since it is well known that this is not in Fowler, but in San Francisco, which is 3 hours away, we spent most of the morning in the car. Driving on American highways and freeways continues to be a lot of fun and is mostly stress-free.

Silicon Valley

Since Mountain View, Palo Alto, and Stanford are also on the way to the Golden Gate Bridge, we made brief stops at Google, SAP, Tesla, and Stanford University, taking a look around their respective campuses (according to the dictionary, all terms are correct) - as far as they were available. We especially liked the Hoover Tower at Stanford, which offers a great view of the university campus. The Google Visitor Experience Center, where we had the chance to try out the new Google Pixel 10 among other things, was also cool. Of course, we could have made more stops at Intel, AMD, Nvidia, Apple, Meta, and Co., but at some point, you just get tired of looking. However, I can never get enough of the autonomous Waymo taxis, which constantly appear on the streets in LA and San Francisco and are truly impressive. Whether at intersections or construction sites; the Waymo taxis drive smoothly and flawlessly through the city traffic. What Elon Musk repeatedly promises and does not deliver at Tesla (Level 4) has been consistently achieved by the Google cars for years. Thus, the monthly autonomous mileage of the Waymo taxis amounts to over 1 million miles, while Tesla still only reaches Level 2. My Skoda Superb also achieves this level. On the way to the Golden Gate Bridge, we were able to drive on the typical steep streets of San Francisco with inclines of up to 30°. It was a fantastic experience.

Golden Gate Bridge

The highlight of the day was definitely the drive over the Golden Gate Bridge and the subsequent view from Vista Point of the bridge itself, the Bay, San Francisco, and Alcatraz. The sight is truly overwhelming. Of course, we couldn't resist exploring the bridge on foot as well. Due to the strong winds, I actually ended up with some photos of myself without my beloved vacation hat. The risk of losing that hat to the Bay was just too great. The low point of the day: the drive to the hotel through San Francisco during rush hour. The first impressions of the hotel suggest that the stress was worth it.

To be continued...

Hours driven: 7 1/2

Kilometers walked: 10

Steps taken: 12,000

PS: I actually had a small travel blog special planned for today, but due to the tight schedule and heavy traffic, I couldn’t manage it. Let’s see if I find the time and inclination to do so tomorrow.