suec1

I was fortunate enough to visit San Francisco two times in the past few months and wanted to post a few comments - not exactaly a full scale trip report. You will notice alot of the comments have to do with food, which is one of the main joys of travel for me. Not much of a shopper, just like to stroll around, people watch and eat at outdoor cafes whenever possible.

Both times we stayed more or less in the Union Square area. In June we were at the Ritz, paid for by the company my daughter works for. I was excited to be staying at the Ritz but after the visit, I ended up being disappointed. Of course it was (IMO) over the top on "service" except for the one request we made, a different room with a nicer view. Our room was at street level with an eye level view of the sidewalk, we asked to be switched to a room that overlooked the drop dead lovely courtyard. We were staying five nights but were told no other rooms were available (during that whole time??) Oh well I think we were getting a special rate because of the conference - we were obviously not repeat Ritz visitors. The best part of the Ritz? - free NY Times, even the Sunday edition! Also the Ritz is located half way up Nob Hill - after a long day the climb was annoying but I suppose most of the Ritz guests are taking taxis, not walking. The walk to Chinatown or North Beach was actually easier than the walk to the Union Square area.

On both trips I did free walking tours (well actually gave $5 donation!)with San Francisco City Guides. These are excellent! and a huge choice of venues. Also I did several walks on my own that I found in tour guides - one was near the Coit Tower and the other was from the Chinatown area up Russian Hill and down Lombard street to Northbeach. Wonderfull stairways up though amazing garden areas with great views of the whole bay area and bridges. I huffed and puffed a bit but they were highpoints of the trip. Also on the first trip we rented bikes and went along the wharf area towards the Golden Gate bridge - we enjoyed this too but at times there were so many pedestrians we had to just walk the bikes. We thought about biking across the bridge but I was a little nervous. Our friends rented a tandem and went for it - they said at times they felt the locals were quite impatient with them. Other riders were obsiously out to "make a personal best" - not happy with these out of town sightseers getting in their way. One other sightseeing comment - I visitied the Chihulliy exhibit at Golden Gate Park - it was just wonderful - make time for that if you visit while it is still in town.

Now for the food! On both visits we checked out several of the restaurants in Belden Alley, plus the nearby Cafe Claude. While these are convenient to visitors staying near Union Square (and have outdoor dining) I have now decided they are not the best options. They are pricier and not as tastey as other venues outside of that part of the city that really can be reached easily by public transportation. We especially like Zarzuela up on Russian Hill (a tapas restaurant) The paellla is NOT the highlight but the small plates and sangria are wonderful. Calzones in Northbeach has lovely ceramic tables along Columbus Ave. - try the ravioli with chicken, marscapone cheese and brown butter sauce - oh I would love to find a restaurant here in Atlanta with tht on the menu! And finally we ate one evening at the Crab House. This was not my choice and because it was at Pier 39 I was expecting a expensive, touristy disappointment but I have to admit - I would love to eat there again. We got the crab feast and garlic fries - what a decedant indulgence!

Well I've made myself hungry now - hope these notes give readers some good ideas for things to do and places to eat. What a delightful city San Francisco is - of special delight to me is the cool weather - being from Atlanta the summer temps of low 70's and 50's at night was great relief from Atlanta's sweltering 90's!

Jed

It's helpful. Thanks.

StuDudley

>>they said at times they felt the locals were quite impatient with them. <<

How did your friends know they were locals???

Glad you liked the City Guides tours. My wife is one of the volunteer guides on the two different Victorian House tours - in fact, she is giving a tour this Sunday. www.sfcityguides.org

Which tours did you go on?

Did the owner sing at Zarzuela?

Stu Dudley

suec1

True, it was an assumption the impatient bikers were locals - they were the ones tricked out for the ride with the pricey bikes, the padded pants, snazzy helmets, you get the idea - not the folks on the tourist bikes. Surely not you, Stu!

The tours we took were the Gold Rush and the Victorians of Alamo Square. Would have loved to take a couple more but didn't work into our schedules.

And yes the owner did sing while we were at Zarzuela - we really enjoyed our evening there and wanted to go again but it was closed on Sunday. Next time!

StuDudley

>>Victorians of Alamo Square<<

Did you go into Richard's house???

Stu Dudley