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Things to do in San Francisco / Info about "The City" (long)
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Things to do in San Francisco / Info about "The City" (long)


Dec 31, 2018, 2:32 AM

I put this information together last summer for some friends who came over from London....Hopefully it is useful. If you have any questions about these things or other Bay Area attractions, please message me.

My one overall piece of advice is this: If you want to do anything that requires a reservation, book it before you leave home. Things like Alcatraz, bay cruises, trips to Napa, etc. book up well in advance and next weekend is still sort of a holiday weekend. And the Natty is the second biggest sports event in the US so there are a lot of folks coming other than fans....

Alcatraz
If you plan to go to Alcatraz, book reservations well in advance. There are rarely any tickets available same day or even a couple of days out

Cable Cars
3 lines, 2 east/west lines and 1 north/south. Tickets required – I think they’re around $7 and can be bought at machines near the stops or on the cars

Fisherman’s Wharf
Heavy tourist area. Interesting to see but there’s a lot of tourist shopping so may not want to spend a lot of time there.
There are some very good seafood restaurants. Scoma’s is my favorite. Alioto’s is another good one. Pier 39 – See the sea lions. They’re always fun to watch. They have not always been there – they “showed up” after the 1989 earthquake and never left. No one is sure why they came or why they stayed.

Lombard Street
“Crookedest” Street in the world.

Chinatown
The largest Chinese enclave outside of Asia. Grant Street is loaded with shopping and restaurants. Stockton Street is Chinatown for the locals. Many, many very good restaurants which, for the most part, are not expensive. One of my favorites is City View – incredible dim sum.

Market Street
The main thoroughfare through the city. Directions are usually given relative to Market Street. Extends from the Ferry Building all the way through the city.

Nob Hill
The cable cars cross Nob Hill. It is worth a stop just to take in the views and maybe go to the Top of the Mark at the Mark Hopkins hotel for a very expensive glass of wine. Outstanding views of the city and the surrounding areas. The Fairmont Hotel is very nice and worth seeing the lobby. You have probably seen it in movies. Grace Cathedral (Episcopal) is also on Nob Hill, beautiful Gothic architecture. The doors are replicas of Ghiberti’s “Gates of Paradise”. It is always open except during services. There is a labyrinth in the courtyard in front of the cathedral that is fun to walk and “get centered”!!! (that sounds very California, doesn’t it?!!).

Museums
All have an admission fee:
SF Museum of Modern Art: has just recently doubled in size with a huge donation from the founder of The Gap stores. Asian Art Museum: Relatively new museum with incredible collection of Asian Art dating back to the beginning of time I think.
Palace of the Legion of Honor: Huge collection of Rodin sculptures of all sizes
DeYoung Museum: Fine arts museum with primarily American art.
Walt Disney Museum: a one of a kind and a lot of fun.
California Academy of Sciences: this one you may consider even if you’re not a museum person because it is so interesting
Cable Car Museum: Tiny museum where you can actually see the cables and how the cable cars operate. Free, I think.

Theatre/Symphony/Opera
There are several theatres in the city. The symphony and opera are considered world-class. Typically, it’s not too hard to get tickets. Hotel concierges can help you and make recommendations.

ATT Park
Obviously it's not baseball season but there are tours of ATT Park available and it is an extraordinary stadium.

Palace of Fine Arts
Beautiful Beaux Arts structure built for the 1915 Pan American Exhibition. It was built to celebrate SF’s “return to the world” after the 1906 earthquake which destroyed large parts of the city. It was supposed to have been torn down after the exhibition but fortunately the city decided against that. Wonderful place to take a picnic lunch and watch the ducks in the pond. Walk around the structure and pay attention to all the gargoyles – some doing things that were probably a bit risqué in 1915!

Golden Gate Park
The park is beautiful – the largest urban park in the US except for Central Park in New York City. Highlights include the Japanese Tea Garden, the Conservatory of Flowers, the Botanical Gardens, Shakespeare Garden, the old Carousel and on and on….a great place to bike or a Segway ride.

Golden Gate Bridge
The most iconic of all SF landmarks. Built in less than 4 years in the early 1930s it was a Depression era project with jobs that paid as much as $20/hour – a fortune for that time. It’s hard to imagine that the bridge was built without computers, almost no safety equipment, and employed a design that had never been built before. There are many ways to enjoy the bridge: driving, of course, and it is heavily used. Walking – there are walking paths and I think the best way to see the bridge, the total length from end to end is 1.6 miles. Biking is an option as is running. And you will see all of them. On the SF side of the bridge there is a museum which is interesting - especially the photos during construction. On the Marin County side, there is a viewing point which offers magnificent views of the bridge and SF. Highly recommend all these things especially if it’s a nice day.

UBERs are all over town and easy to access. Buses…. good luck. Not easy to figure out in a brief time. The “F” line (replicas of old streetcars from all over the US) runs up and down Market Street.

NOTES ON SAN FRANCISCO

SF is not a large city. It is only 7 miles x 7 miles (49 sq. miles) and the population is 850,000. The greater Bay Area has a population of 7.5 million but the city itself is small, by big city standards. It is often compared to Rome as it is built on 7 hills.

Driving in the city – Avoid if possible. Traffic is a disaster and parking – if you can find it – is very expensive. If you do drive, pay attention to the street signs as some streets change direction during the day. If you’re parked on a street that changes, the tow trucks are ready to go to take you to a very nice tow lot where for about $400 you can retrieve your car. An expired meter ticket will cost around $100. Fortunately, all meters take cards.

SF is one of the most diverse cities in the world. There are over 100 languages spoken. Even with this diversity, the city remains one of neighborhoods, or districts. North Beach is the Italian section. The Mission is the Latin section. Chinatown, Japan town, Koreatown are obvious. The Marina is the “yuppie” district. Pacific Heights is the very affluent area. The Castro is the gay section. The Avenues are Asian. Each area has its own personality and its own unique features.

Tolls – all bridges coming into SF charge a toll. No tolls going out of SF. All take cash except for the Golden Gate Bridge. Rental car companies offer a way to pay for tolls so easiest to do it through them. Tolls range from $5 - $8 depending on the bridge and the time of day.

Weather – January is the middle of the rainy season. From around mid-May until late November there is almost zero percent chance of rain. December-early May is the rainy season. It will be cold at the game (prob low-mid 40s though it hardly ever freezes). Let's just hope it doesn't rain, if so think Notre Dame 2015...

SF is not a dangerous city. Prudence, however, is a necessity. Never leave anything within eyeshot in a vehicle – it simply will not be there when you return and you will have a broken windshield.

There is a rather large homeless population and they can be quite annoying, especially to visitors. The best reaction is no reaction. Simply try to ignore them; the city provides adequate resources to assist them and panhandling is not only discouraged, it is illegal.

The area from SF to the Silicon Valley (near and around San Jose – 40 miles) is the technology capital of the world. This is where Levi's Stadium is located. Closer to San Jose are the Google, Apple, Yahoo!, and many other corporate centers – all huge complexes. In SF, the smaller “dot coms” are the norm and you will see lots of weird spaces with a sign announcing the name of the “dot com” or “app”, There are kids with their hoodies and backpacks all over. Keep in mind they’re around 25 and make as much money as a 20-year professional in other industries!

Don’t be surprised if you see people smoking marijuana openly or smell it (personally I cannot stand that smell, but that’s another discussion). As of Jan 2018, recreational marijuana is legal in CA.

If you made it this far, I hope this was helpful. Like I said, please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.....

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Re: Things to do in San Francisco / Info about "The City" (long)


Dec 31, 2018, 3:46 AM

Just moved here at the beginning of December. Got to explore SF a little this past Friday. Took a day trip by ferry from Vellejo to the Ferry building in SF. Pier 39 was crazy busy, but fun to experience. The Aquarium was a little disappointing, and the restrooms were sub par. You can also rent power scooters and bikes; they are literally everywhere. There is a lot of parking garages near the pier’s (don’t know how packed they were because I took a ferry). Tickets were available same day for an Alcatraz tour, but it would have been late afternoon. This was also on a Friday so I assume weekends are a lot busier. There is also an exploratorium (interactive art/science museum) on pier 16/17 I believe? Pricey, but it has a ton of great reviews. We will definitely be checking that out in the future.

Also, there is a surprising amount of Bama fans in the area. What’s up with that?

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Clemson Defense gonna get dim sum tua...***


Dec 31, 2018, 5:51 AM



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The road goes on forever and the party never ends...


Re: Things to do in San Francisco / Info about "The City" (long)


Dec 31, 2018, 6:00 AM

SF. Where the streets are paved in gold and the sidewalks are paved with;

https://www.thrillist.com/news/nation/human-wasteland-map-plots-all-of-san-franciscos-poop

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Re: Things to do in San Francisco / Info about "The City" (long)


Dec 31, 2018, 6:10 AM

They have public toilets that you have to pay to use. Not making that up...

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Re: Things to do in San Francisco / Info about "The City" (long)


Dec 31, 2018, 6:40 AM

That's true but they're also sanitized after every use so my personal opinion is a quarter is cheap for a super clean restroom.....As info, these are all over Paris also. Same manufacturer.

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Re: Things to do in San Francisco / Info about "The City" (long)


Dec 31, 2018, 7:03 AM

Interesting! I’m stationed at Travis AFB, will you be making the game? Don’t think I can take the day off, unfortunately..

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Re: Things to do in San Francisco / Info about "The City" (long)


Dec 31, 2018, 10:54 AM [ in reply to Re: Things to do in San Francisco / Info about "The City" (long) ]

Sounds like someone needs to make sure the homeless have a little change on them at all times.

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Re: Things to do in San Francisco / Info about "The City" (long)


Dec 31, 2018, 6:53 AM

:)

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Re: Things to do in San Francisco / Info about "The City" (long)


Dec 31, 2018, 7:48 AM

Some great nerd sites in Silicon Valley that I would recommend...

Computer History Museum - massive... well worth it
Intel Museum - free... Small but interesting
Fry's Electronics - if you have never been to a Fry's, you must go... It's mind blowing how big it is

Food:
Stan's Donuts - you won't believe how good a donut can be until you have had one from here
Banana Leaf - awesome little Asian/Singapore restaurant, I think it is in Mountain View

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Thanks!..One Question about getting to the game


Dec 31, 2018, 8:03 AM

Thanks for the Info. We are staying south of SFO. Any suggestions of how to get to Levi Stadium?

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Re: Thanks!..One Question about getting to the game


Dec 31, 2018, 10:42 AM

I copied this off the Levi's Stadium website....I live in the East Bay so not real familiar with South Bay public transit:

Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) Light Rail is the most direct route for the greater south bay area. Routes are scheduled daily to and from Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Milpitas, San Jose, Santa Clara, and Campbell. VTA light rail trains will drop off and pick up passengers at the Great America Station located on the North side of the stadium. For more information on the VTA transportation services or for a detailed schedule, please visit: www.vta.org/LevisStadium.

The Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) offers a full schedule of city buses that service the local south bay reaching the greater San Jose area, Mountain View, Cupertino and Sunnyvale. VTA buses will drop off guests in two locations: Intersection of Tasman Drive and Great America Parkway and Intersection of Tasman Drive and Calle Del Sol. For more information on the VTA transportation services or for a detailed schedule, please visit: www.vta.org/LevisStadium or call 408-321-2300.

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My favorite city! Used to stay at the Cow Hollow Motor


Dec 31, 2018, 12:11 PM

Inn on the straight part of Lombard. Residential area. Lots of good restaurants close by. Mel's Diner for breakfast. Pickup basketball at Moscone Park. Jog through the Golden Gate Rec Area down to Guirardelli Square and out onto the Aquatic Park Pier.

Love that city!

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