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San Francisco Treat!

Description:

Highlights:
I now know why people rave about California, it was spectacular. My best friend, Sue, and I pick a trip every year as our birthday/Christmas gift to each other. For 2007…San Francisco. With a backdrop of the Bay, Alcatraz island, the mountains, the Pacific and the Golden Gate & Oakland Bay bridges, every direction you look is beautiful.
The day we arrived, we hit the tourist spot of pier 39 on Fisherman’s Wharf. We turned in rather early after a long day of traveling from the east coast. On day 2 we had mapped out some of the land marks in a few of the neighborhoods that we wanted to see. With a combination of cable car rides, the bus and our feet, we managed to navigate our way around pretty well. We visited Lombard St. (the crookedest street in the world), Alamo Square/The Painted Ladies, Lafayette Park, Spreckles mansion, Whittier mansion, the Octagon house and all kinds of cool looking houses along the way. Not to mention all the beautiful vegetation. Then, we headed for pier 33 for the Alcatraz tour.
Day 3 we spent exploring outside the city…we rented a car for the day. Drove over the amazing Golden Gate Bridge and headed for the Shoreline Highway to Muir Woods, where I saw my first Red Woods (I was awe struck… seriously). Then, off to Stinson Beach (what is a visit to the west coast without dipping your feet into the Pacific). We continued north on Shoreline to Point Reyes National Seashore, at the Point Reyes light house the view is unbelievable. We finished off the day in Sonoma Valley for a quick look at wine country and a fabulous dinner.
Day 4 we hired a driver to bring us around the city for some great photo op. From Twin Peaks (the highest point in SF) to Golden Gate Park then the Holocaust memorial, Golden Gate visitors center and finally… a ride down Lombard St. In the afternoon we walked to the pier and took the Golden Gate Cruise then hit the corny wax museum.
On our last full day we explored the harder to find nooks and crannies of the city. We found our way to Macondray Ln., Valejo steps, Coolbrith Park, North Beach neighborhood, Coit tower, Filbert steps, Levi’s plaza and Union Square.

Quick Tips/Suggestions:
What they say about the temperature changing quick is true… coming from New England I figured I was pretty well accustomed to temperature changes. I did learn, however, after the first day… it is worthwhile to bring a light weight jacket with you. Seriously, one minute you’re completely comfortable in a T-shirt, the next minute you’re freezing.
Saving a few bucks on attractions: I had purchased a San Francisco area Entertainment book prior to my trip. It worked out pretty well at saving us a few bucks. The book cost $25, I got to choose a $25 dinning certificate for free (I picked the Compass Grill which is in the Sheraton at Fisherman’s Wharf… where we stayed). That alone paid for the book. It had tons of buy-one-get-one-free coupons for attractions (the cruises, wax museum, etc.). We even used the Ghirardelli coupon for buy one get one free hot fudge sundaes. I had checked out the CityPass for San Francisco and the Go San Francisco card… they weren’t as worth while for what we wanted to do.
Don’t get sucked into the tourist trap… I definitely recommend seeing Fisherman’s Wharf (why not?), but, the restaurants at the Wharf don’t even compare to the rest of the city (I asked a local for restaurant suggestions… and boy did that pay off… the North Beach Restaurant). The only bad meal for the entire trip was at Fisherman’s Wharf (and way over priced). I also asked my local connection, our driver from the airport, Bob, if there were any neighborhoods that we should avoid. For safety reasons being two women traveling together... I figured this would be good to know. Anyway, he told us that as long as we stayed north of Market St., we should be fine. So, we stayed north of Market St., we did, however, get rather close to Market St. in the area of Geary St., and we were both getting a bit nervous. There we saw a few questionable characters on the sidewalk.

Best Way to Get Around:
I had purchased the 7-day Muni pass a few weeks before the trip, that saved us a few bucks, not to mention saving us time… no waiting in lines for tickets. It is valid for 7 days of unlimited transport on the cable cars and the cities buses (it was $24 for each pass, it costs $5 for a single cable car ride… you do the math). We took at least 6 cable car rides and rode a hand full of buses, so, it was definitely worth the money.
The start of the Powell-Hyde cable car line starts at Fisherman’s Wharf…the line to wait just to get on a cable car is at least a half hour (even if you already have a pass). The Powell-Mason line is just a couple of blocks away with hardly a wait at all (the view doesn’t include the bay like the Powell-Hyde line). You can always take the Powell-Hyde line back towards Fisherman’s Wharf to catch the famous view without wasting so much time in line.
Obviously, in a city that is filled with steep hills… walking around can be a challenge. I suggest researching a bit (a topography map), before you go off on a walking exploration. Combine the public transport with your feet to keep from wearing yourself out. For example…we made sure we got to Filbert steps at the top of the stairs, so we could walk down them rather than up. Don’t get me wrong...you can’t completely avoid ever going up hill, but if you can knock out a few by taking public transport a couple of blocks further and walking down hill to go where you want…your feet will be grateful.
I’m not big on renting cars to get around in a strange city, I find it to be to frustrating. Not to mention the $25 - $30 daily parking fee at most of the hotels. We did rent a car for one day to explore outside the city. The hotel had a Dollar office in the lobby. One days rental was only $50 including fees for a sedan. Once we were out of the city and over the Golden Gate, getting around was a breeze. You kind of feel like you’re in the twilight zone…city then country (no suburbia in between).

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