Things to Do and Places to Go - San Francisco

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Although sad to say in separate locations - but at least they are both around!

Musee Mechanique - now at Pier 45 in Fishermans Wharf - http://www.museemechanique.org/ - old arcade machines and some of the popular characters from the late, lamented Playand by the Beach.
(http://www.outsidelands.org/playland.php)


Camera Obscura - http://www.giantcamera.com/ - Still in its location by the Cliff House, but hours seem to be random - we've been out there a coupleof times in the past few months and it was closed. Note it is mostly only open when the sun is out....

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Crissy Field, at the Marina

Here you can walk, jog, or bike on a wide promenade while taking in vistas of the city, the bay, the GG bridge, and the restored salt marsh that attracts aquatic birds. Next to a bay pier is the Warming Hut that doubles as a book and souvenir shop. They serve great hot chocolate as well as other drinks and snacks.

For visitors depending on public transit, go to
www.511.org for a point to point public transportation route planner.

http://www.crissyfield.org/visit/
for all the parks in the GG Regional National Parks, including Alcatraz and Muir Woods in Marin County

http://www.nps.gov/goga/

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Not really a must see for a tourist, but for a local, it's a nice place to take a date:

The Legion of Honor. Beautiful building, good artwork, nice courtyard to have lunch, and a very beautiful view of the Golden Gate Bridge. And best of all, free parking!

http://www.thinker.org/legion/index.asp

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http://www.interfaith-presidio.org/the_chapel.html

http://www.sanfranciscoweddings.org/

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I never get tired of visiting the little neighborhood on Telegraph Hill (staying clear of Coit Tower) and walking down the Filbert Steps (Napier Lane). Absolutely lovely, and I always hope that Mrs. Madrigal might pop out from one of the gardens and offer me one of her infamous welcome gifts. http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/wink.gif

The view from the top of Nob Hill looking down California Street towards the Financial District is a favorite.

Alta Plaza Park (and more info/history here). Buy a picnic lunch at Vivande on Fillmore Street and enjoy the views.

A picnic and a hike on Angel Island.

I could go on and on ... http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/smile.gif

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If you haven't gone to a Bay Area TheatreSports (BATS) show at Ft. Mason, then you haven't done everything!

http://www.improv.org

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Christmas shop at the mall in Japantown next to the Miyako Hotel. It's a mess, but one shop there has little odd gift items, that they wrap them with such beauty you are never going to open it anyway. So it doesn't matter what you buy.

I can't remember place names, but just odd things like if you take the bus to the Coit Tower, and get off where the traffic comes to a stop, there is a shaded, steep path to your left that will get you there hours before the busses and cars. And there's a great view from an art school terrace near there, plus the student art things, and a teeny park voted by The Guardian as the most obscure/romantic/best-place-to-have-an-affair park with a tremendous view.

I love SF. My husband will run along the Embarcadero to the Marina and Crissy Field every morning. I may borrow a dog to meet with the big dog group there, so I can feel like a native. Then there are the little dog parks. Buena Vista, for instance, which is the short way from the Miyako Hotel to the Castro. Duboce where my kids took a dog and their lunch, and were seriously chastised for bringing food to a dog park. Hey, they trained THEIR dog to not slaver after human food, what's wrong with these other people?

Chinatown on the day the deliver the produce and fish.

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If you haven't found the Exploratorium's Sea Organ in the Marina, go looking. Took me about three trips to find it, and it never worked for me.
www.exploratorium.edu/visit/wave_organ.html

I like the funerary shops in Chinatown, which sell paper replicas of all types of worldly goods, to be burned up in a funeral fire.

Best source for topical weird stuff, as always, is http://www.craigslist.org

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www.supperclub.com - for one of the hippest recumbent dining experiences you'll ever encounter - direct from Amsterdam!

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I was going to mention the Wave Organ, but I'm too late! To get to it you have to walk (East?) past both yacht harbors and out on the little spit of land that continues out into the bay.

The breakwater that protects the marina and the wave organ at its end were created, in part, from rubble created when some of San Francisco's oldest cemeteries were moved to Colma - hence the interesting shapes.

I mentioned the Cable car museum and winding room in another thread:

http://www.cablecarmuseum.com/

Not in San Francisco, but nearby, a huge working model of the Bay:

http://edge.tamu.edu/waves2001/PC_tour/bay_model.htm

Also by the Camera Obscura are the ruins of Sutro Baths. Bring a flashlight and explore the tunnels.

http://www.sfchangehappens-books.com...pl/sutrobaths/

Note - mr. s. and I were married on the overlook just above the Sutro Baths...lovely, strange spot)

While strolling about you can keep an eye out for manifestations of San Francisco's impressive infrastructure for fighting fires in earthquake country:

http://www.firenuggets.com/murray.htm

Edited to add: Visit Ft. Funston, see the abandoned Nike site, and watch hang gliders cruise back and forth overhead.

http://www.bahiker.com/sfhikes/funston.html
(NOTE Parts of the trail have been washed out)

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Allegedly, one of the Colma cemetaries contains the grave of Wyatt Earp, but I don't know which one (and there sure are a bunch).


http://www.jewishmag.com/41mag/wyattearp/wyattearp.htm

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How come no one's mentioned the Ripley's Believe It Or Not Museum yet? Come on, the world's fattest man outside, the spinning cylinder at the end . . . what more could you want?

www.ripleysf.com

175 Jefferson St
San Francisco, CA 94133
(415) 771-6188

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Taking the ferry to Sausalito at dusk on a clear night. . . The city lights are coming on, the stars are coming out, and the sun is setting behind the Golden Gate Bridge. (I know, I know, being on the Bay is not technically "in San Francisco", but close enough.

http://goldengateferry.org/schedules/

(Golden Gate Ferries also runs the Larkspur Ferry to/from Larkspur Landing. There you will find Marin Brewing Co., a brewpub with great food and decent beer. www.marinbrewing.com)