Just returned from a fun-filled, walking week of San Francisco. Had an absolutely wonderful time. I may get some of the days mixed up, but I think they are in pretty good order!
Got into city Friday afternoon, 11th of January. Rode Bart to Market Street, checked into Rex Hotel. This was our second stay at Rex, love it there, staff is so friendly, very helpful and great location. Friday afternoon walked around Union Square quite a bit, picked up a city pass to begin on Saturday. Here we go:
Saturday - Up early, ate at Sears, went to Farmers' Market, checked out all the outside vendors, sampled some great fruit, listened to some street music before heading inside the Ferry Bldg; from there headed to Wharf since we were down that way, walked around, mostly people watched, called it a day (by then it was around 5:00 pm), really tired.
Sunday up again early, breakfast at Persimmons, went to Haight-Ashbury, walked around quite a bit, then did the City Walk tour, very interesting and informative. Visited the hugh music store there.
Monday Took Stu's advice and visited China Town, the street above Grant, took in a lot of the sights and sounds of China Town, visited the park there, people watched some, then took the city walk tour, which was great, went in a lot of alley-ways, visited a temple, fortune cookie factory, learned a lot about the culture of the chinese. Would recommend these city walks - they are great.
Right now cannot remember what we did on Tuesday, maybe it will come back later! Senior moment!
Wednesday was Full. Started out at Conservatory of Flowers (got off at wrong block, so had an extra nine blocks of walking - but by they were used to it) - loved it, from there visited Japanese Tea Garden, small but really nice, then on to de Young, spent several hours there, then on to Legion of Honor. Could not believe the views from that place, I could have stayed outside just looking over the city. Loved this musuem.
Thursday was another very busy day - maybe my favorite - started out by going to Louis' for breakfast (near Cliffhouse), then explored the bath ruins, , some of the trails there, then Cliffhouse, spent a good part of the morning in this area. Afterwards, went on the boat tour around the bay and under the bridge. Still felt like we had some steam in us, so we rode bus to the bridge and walked the Golden Gate Bridge, both ways. Loved it - it was so cool, crisp, breezy. Got some great pictures, especially of the sunset. It was absolutely beautiful this time of day on the bridge.
Got back to the hotel and realized that SF Musuem of Modern Art was open late on Thursdays so we headed out there. I guess it was my least favorite of the musuems - I perfer the old art. To be continued

Great report! And it will be very helpful to many people. Looking forward to reading the rest....brings back nice memories.

...continuation - Friday visited the Castro area, then rode bus as far up to Twin Peaks as could, walked to top of peaks via trail, took in the views of the city from there - wow! Friday night saw "Secret Garden", what a perfect ending to an absolutely wonderful week.
Somewhere in between all we saw and did, we did the acquarium, could have been on Tuesday, when I had the senior moment and couldn't remember what we did! Also walked around North Beach area.
A guy on one of the street cars gave us some direction one day, he said he did that type of work - I asked if his name was Stu Dudley, I just knew we were going to run into him!! Thanks for all the imput you give everyone Stu, it has helped us plan several successful trips to SF. I truly feel like I'm leaving my heart in San Fransisco when we board the plane after a week there. We love your city. I know I missed some places that we went or some things we did, but above is a pretty good overview of our week. Thanks for all who give your suggestions and ideas on Fodors for all the great places there are to see. Can't wait to start planning our next getaway.

Glad you had a good time. If you had gone to Twin Peaks 2 days later, you might have run into me up there.

You should have seen some awsome surf while out near the Cliff House.

Was the Haight-Ashbury and Chinatown walk really SF City Guides (www.sfcityguides.org) and not City Walks?

Stu Dudley

Yes, Stu, the H-A and China Town were the SF City Guide, per your recommendation. They were really good. They were fun and informative. I asked everyone I saw if they knew Stu Dudley, but they didn't know you! My husband finally told me to quit asking!! I just knew I was going to run right into you and you'd be our personal guide!! (kidding) The guy that did the Haight tour actually lived there and showed us his house from the outside and showed us pictures of the inside.

The last time we were there we did one walk with the San Francisco Greeters, but this time we used the one you recommended. The views from top of Twin Peaks - oh my, I could have stayed there all day also.

Are there more street people than there was 18 months ago? It seemed to me there was? Just curious?

The surf was great. I could have spent that whole day just watching it, but didn't want any grass to grow under our feet so we had to keep moving

great report Jfawp. I also enjoyed the view from the DeYoung and the Legion....wish I had walked the Golden Gate. Another trip, I suppose!