San Francisco, CA
SF- Points East, North & South tour:
San Francisco, April 24-25.
The city by the sea has a lot to offer this Summer.
First-off, there’s the 75th anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge, May 26-27. 38,976,078 vehicles crossed this 1.7 mile span in 2010. It stands within the frame of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, a federal landmark. In 2009, 14,200,000 visited the park, which sits on San Francisco Bay. Included here is Alcatraz island which recorded 1,354,714 visitors in 2009.
SF has over 14,000 Victorian home-sites, 3,588 restaurants, 150 theaters and more. There are 43 hills to climb within the city proper. Twin Peaks at 910′ is the highest, while the Sutro Tower is the tallest structure at 981′. The official flower is the Dahlia.The official bird is the California Quail. St. Francis of Assisi is the patron saint. The official song is, of course, ” I Left My Heart in San Francisco.” And its official colors are gold and Black. The most popular attraction for me was the cable cars that strut more than 10 miles of city streets. There are 47 of them at last count. It is a city of only 805,235 residents over 29.5 miles of shoreline.
SF is also a city of museums. There are 62 of them. The Pacific Heritage Museum, The Museum of Craft & Folk Art, the De Young Museum, the Asian Art Museum, the Chinese Culture Center, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Yerba Buena Center For The Arts are important places to consider. The California Exploratorium is a good place to start. It is an interactive exhibit located inside the precincts of the Presidio. But before you visit any of these perhaps you may try some of the foodie destinations in either Chinatown, the North End where a bevy of Italian restaurants are located, Union Square, the Mission district, noted for the best pizza on the West Coast, or Pier 39, the city’s most popular attraction.
In August and September you’ll have a chance to experience the World Series Cup for sailing, America’s oldest trophy in international sport. Beginning July 4- September 1, 2013, there’s the 34th America’s Cup racing series.
The city is a solid core for hotels and resorts, too. We discovered a handful of these in the medium price category. These included The Golden Gate and the Cornell Hotel de France, along with its award winning Jeanne D’ Arc restaurant. This property is truly unique as every one of its five floors is named after a figure in French history. It is amply decorated with lively French themes while a turn-of-the century gold plated metal elevator complete with a hand crank gets you to your floor. And its restaurant is intensely decorated with French memorabilia and artists’ renderings of French pastoral scenes. It’s a living museum in itself. Chef Bernard has been there over twenty years we’re told. Breakfast is included in both properties. They are both located at Bush and Powell Streets in the city’s center. For the Cornell try www. cornellhotel.com
Perhaps the best thing about SF is the transportation. Easy to get to from all parts of the city. You have BART, the city transit line, and then there’s CALTRAN, the regional line. There’s also a cadre of ferry lines from the ports side. The choice is yours. You may prefer to use the SF City PASS booklet to partake of many of the attractions the city has to offer. They are also good on public transit including the Cable Cars. For this go to: Info@citypass.com.
For more on San Francisco you can go to:
onlyinsanfrancisco.com
