San Francisco Trip Report -- Just 2 Days But We Fell in Love with the City!
Sep 27th, 2008, 11:15 AM
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San Francisco Trip Report -- Just 2 Days But We Fell in Love with the City!
I'm a few months late in posting this report (I've been traveling for work). My sister and I took a long weekend trip to SF in late June and had an absolutely amazing time. We didn't stop moving, but that’s how we like it 
I've posted some pictures from the trip online, if anyone is interested in seeing them. Click on the link below, then click on the “San Francisco” album on the left side:
http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/u103/carma223/
We stayed at the Hotel Adagio in the Union Square area, and thought it was terrific! This is a boutique hotel, well-located with very friendly staff, an amazing restaurant/bar downstairs (Cortez), and the rooms were very nice. Here's our jam-packed two days seeing the city:
DAY 1: Cable Car / Wharf. We walked to the Powell-Hyde cable car turnaround where we bought a 3-day Muni pass (for all cable cars, buses, etc.) We rode a cable car up to the wharf... a great experience that just had to be done! On the wharf, I mainly wanted to visit the international musical instrument store “Lark in the Morning,” but was very disappointed to learn they'd moved their location away from the wharf a week earlier. We wanted to avoid the touristy aspect of the wharf, so we just quickly walked up to Pier 39, saw the sea lions, enjoyed the view, and met some great, friendly locals. (The people of SF couldn't be nicer.)
Coit Tower / North Beach. Across the street from Pier 39, we caught the bus that goes to the top of Coit Tower. I absolutely loved Coit Tower and Telegraph Hill, and apparently we got extremely lucky, as the weather was unusually beautiful -- very sunny and 85 degrees. (Being from South Florida, this was fine with us, but we didn't think to pack sunblock for SF!) The views (especially of the bridge) from the top of the tower were spectacular. Then we walked part of the way down the Filbert Street Steps. I really loved Telegraph Hill overall. This was kinda the SF that I pictured in my mind before coming... the beautiful homes up and down the hills, walkways, flower gardens... it's a great area. We then took the bus back down the hill and got off at Washington Square in North Beach. Because it was a beautiful day, everyone was taking advantage of the square (in front of the church), with picnics and laying out in the sun. We walked down Columbus Ave. and had a great lunch (sorry... I can't remember the name!). We really loved this area... it's got a great vibe... the Italian influence, plus a bit of funkiness. We then went to City Lights Bookstore (home of the Beat poets) which was a total highlight for us, being book geeks We loaded up on books by some great local authors; the staff there is really friendly and has great recommendations. I loved all the murals in this area (Jack Kerouac St., Vesuvio's bar, etc.) North Beach was probably my favorite neighborhood in the city.
Chinatown. We kept walking, into Chinatown, looking at shops along the way, then stumbled onto Waverly Place (alley between Sacramento and Washington). This was a really colorful street, with all the painted balconies. There was a traditional Chinese music rehearsal of some kind, coming out of one of the balconies, with singing and drums, which was really cool and unexpected. Then we came across a street musician playing an er-hu (Chinese fiddle). I was really interested in learning how to play. The guy only spoke Chinese, but we managed to communicate through gestures and a printed page of music he gave me, as he explained how the instrument works. It was tough! Close by was Clarion Music store, which has all sorts of Chinese instruments, so we spent some time there, trying out various string instruments and drums, etc. We finally walked back to our hotel, past Union Square, which is a really nice green area. Again, because of the beautiful weather, we watched all sorts of people hanging out with their dogs, reading, etc.
Beach Blanket Babylon. Later, we took a taxi to North Beach for the early show of Beach Blanket Babylon at Club Fugazi. This was highly recommended by our brother, so a few weeks before our trip we bought tickets online for the show... it was great!!!! This is a really outrageous, fun musical... lots of topical and political humor, with constant costume changes (giant hats and wigs), and we laughed the entire time. Really worth it. Afterwards we had dinner at the restaurant in our hotel, Cortez... they’ve got really delicious food (we had some small plates, which they're known for), and the atmosphere is very nice.
DAY TWO: Glide Memorial Church. No, not 'cause we’re religious (we're not even Christian), but because we had heard amazing things about these Sunday morning services. And I have to say, this was really one of the highlights of the trip! This is a very accepting church that does great humanitarian work (feeding the poor, outreach to the homeless, etc.) We were there the weekend after California legalized gay marriage, and it was really moving to see the celebration of that on the day we attended. The main draw (for us, anyway) was the great gospel band and huge choir... they were fantastic, and we were on our feet the whole time, singing and clapping. I can't say enough about this experience, and the warm, welcoming atmosphere. We had a blast.
SFMOMA. From there, we walked to the SF Museum of Modern Art, which was nice, but I think I'm a little spoiled from having spent a lot of time in the NY MoMa. The building was very nice, and they had a good collection of photography, although I thought there would be more. Afterwards, we walked out to Market St. and caught a bus to Haight-Ashbury.
Haight-Ashbury. Here we had lunch at Magnolia, which was very good (an old hippie hangout, now a restaurant and brewery). We walked up and down Haight St. and saw all the funky stores (including "Piedmont," with its outrageous costumes and drag outfits), and some other fun shops. Being someone who loves the music of the 60s (Jefferson Airplane, etc.) I was excited to be in this area, but I was warned not to have high expectations... and that was a good thing. It was fun to be there, but there definitely is the seedy side... like watching teenage runaways eating out of the garbage can on the street and scrambling for cigarette butts that people had just stepped on. We had planned to explore Golden Gate Park, but realized it was too much for us, so that's saved for next trip.
Biking the Golden Gate Bridge. We took the bus up to the wharf, and went to a bike rental place called Blazing Saddles. We rented a couple of hybrid mountain bikes and biked along the entire waterfront, over the Golden Gate Bridge, and into Sausalito, where we took a ferry back. Now, let me start by saying that this was definitely a highlight of the trip! BUT... I've learned not to listen to 18-year-old bike shop employees telling me how supposedly "easy" something physical is! I'm a 43-year-old female, and my sister is 40... they told us it would take about an hour-and-a-half. Yeah right! Well, three-and-a-half hours later...! Maybe 'cause we’re flatlanders, but that was a pretty demanding ride for us. I recommend doing this trip, as long as you know what to expect. We kept thinking, "Oh, this HAS to be it..." and it seemed to go on forever, especially from the north end of the bridge to the Sausalito ferry... in retrospect, we think we might have taken a wrong turn and took the long way. I also think that "well-marked trail" is a relative term
If you do this ride, be sure to get exact directions out of the parking lot on the north side of the bridge. Just sayin'...
All that said, biking over the bridge was spectacular... just gorgeous views, and quite an experience. Sausalito looked very cute, but by the time we got there we had to rush to the last ferry. We rolled our bikes onto the boat, totally wiped out... only to find out we had to lift the bikes and carry them up a flight of stairs to get off the ferry (mind you, I was past my exhaustion point, oh, maybe 2 hours earlier? On top of this, the ferry wasn't going back to the wharf where we had to return the bikes. Instead, it went to the Ferry Building, so we had to bike from there, up the Embarcadero, back to the wharf. Long story short, I never want to hear the phrase "oh, it's just up that hill" again!
Anyway, the trip was short, but definitely sweet. Direct flights to SFO from Florida were outrageously expensive, but we found that Jet Blue now flies into SFO (they used to only go into Oakland), and we found a good deal flying through Austin, TX (it lands but you don't have to get off the plane). We did lots of stuff, but I already have a list of things to do on a return trip. Including hitting wine country. Anyway, very belated thanks to those of you who gave me plenty of tips while I was planning the trip!
Thanks for reading,
Carol
I've posted some pictures from the trip online, if anyone is interested in seeing them. Click on the link below, then click on the “San Francisco” album on the left side:http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/u103/carma223/
We stayed at the Hotel Adagio in the Union Square area, and thought it was terrific! This is a boutique hotel, well-located with very friendly staff, an amazing restaurant/bar downstairs (Cortez), and the rooms were very nice. Here's our jam-packed two days seeing the city:
DAY 1: Cable Car / Wharf. We walked to the Powell-Hyde cable car turnaround where we bought a 3-day Muni pass (for all cable cars, buses, etc.) We rode a cable car up to the wharf... a great experience that just had to be done! On the wharf, I mainly wanted to visit the international musical instrument store “Lark in the Morning,” but was very disappointed to learn they'd moved their location away from the wharf a week earlier. We wanted to avoid the touristy aspect of the wharf, so we just quickly walked up to Pier 39, saw the sea lions, enjoyed the view, and met some great, friendly locals. (The people of SF couldn't be nicer.)
Coit Tower / North Beach. Across the street from Pier 39, we caught the bus that goes to the top of Coit Tower. I absolutely loved Coit Tower and Telegraph Hill, and apparently we got extremely lucky, as the weather was unusually beautiful -- very sunny and 85 degrees. (Being from South Florida, this was fine with us, but we didn't think to pack sunblock for SF!) The views (especially of the bridge) from the top of the tower were spectacular. Then we walked part of the way down the Filbert Street Steps. I really loved Telegraph Hill overall. This was kinda the SF that I pictured in my mind before coming... the beautiful homes up and down the hills, walkways, flower gardens... it's a great area. We then took the bus back down the hill and got off at Washington Square in North Beach. Because it was a beautiful day, everyone was taking advantage of the square (in front of the church), with picnics and laying out in the sun. We walked down Columbus Ave. and had a great lunch (sorry... I can't remember the name!). We really loved this area... it's got a great vibe... the Italian influence, plus a bit of funkiness. We then went to City Lights Bookstore (home of the Beat poets) which was a total highlight for us, being book geeks
We loaded up on books by some great local authors; the staff there is really friendly and has great recommendations. I loved all the murals in this area (Jack Kerouac St., Vesuvio's bar, etc.) North Beach was probably my favorite neighborhood in the city.Chinatown. We kept walking, into Chinatown, looking at shops along the way, then stumbled onto Waverly Place (alley between Sacramento and Washington). This was a really colorful street, with all the painted balconies. There was a traditional Chinese music rehearsal of some kind, coming out of one of the balconies, with singing and drums, which was really cool and unexpected. Then we came across a street musician playing an er-hu (Chinese fiddle). I was really interested in learning how to play. The guy only spoke Chinese, but we managed to communicate through gestures and a printed page of music he gave me, as he explained how the instrument works. It was tough! Close by was Clarion Music store, which has all sorts of Chinese instruments, so we spent some time there, trying out various string instruments and drums, etc. We finally walked back to our hotel, past Union Square, which is a really nice green area. Again, because of the beautiful weather, we watched all sorts of people hanging out with their dogs, reading, etc.
Beach Blanket Babylon. Later, we took a taxi to North Beach for the early show of Beach Blanket Babylon at Club Fugazi. This was highly recommended by our brother, so a few weeks before our trip we bought tickets online for the show... it was great!!!! This is a really outrageous, fun musical... lots of topical and political humor, with constant costume changes (giant hats and wigs), and we laughed the entire time. Really worth it. Afterwards we had dinner at the restaurant in our hotel, Cortez... they’ve got really delicious food (we had some small plates, which they're known for), and the atmosphere is very nice.
DAY TWO: Glide Memorial Church. No, not 'cause we’re religious (we're not even Christian), but because we had heard amazing things about these Sunday morning services. And I have to say, this was really one of the highlights of the trip! This is a very accepting church that does great humanitarian work (feeding the poor, outreach to the homeless, etc.) We were there the weekend after California legalized gay marriage, and it was really moving to see the celebration of that on the day we attended. The main draw (for us, anyway) was the great gospel band and huge choir... they were fantastic, and we were on our feet the whole time, singing and clapping. I can't say enough about this experience, and the warm, welcoming atmosphere. We had a blast.
SFMOMA. From there, we walked to the SF Museum of Modern Art, which was nice, but I think I'm a little spoiled from having spent a lot of time in the NY MoMa. The building was very nice, and they had a good collection of photography, although I thought there would be more. Afterwards, we walked out to Market St. and caught a bus to Haight-Ashbury.
Haight-Ashbury. Here we had lunch at Magnolia, which was very good (an old hippie hangout, now a restaurant and brewery). We walked up and down Haight St. and saw all the funky stores (including "Piedmont," with its outrageous costumes and drag outfits), and some other fun shops. Being someone who loves the music of the 60s (Jefferson Airplane, etc.) I was excited to be in this area, but I was warned not to have high expectations... and that was a good thing. It was fun to be there, but there definitely is the seedy side... like watching teenage runaways eating out of the garbage can on the street and scrambling for cigarette butts that people had just stepped on. We had planned to explore Golden Gate Park, but realized it was too much for us, so that's saved for next trip.
Biking the Golden Gate Bridge. We took the bus up to the wharf, and went to a bike rental place called Blazing Saddles. We rented a couple of hybrid mountain bikes and biked along the entire waterfront, over the Golden Gate Bridge, and into Sausalito, where we took a ferry back. Now, let me start by saying that this was definitely a highlight of the trip! BUT... I've learned not to listen to 18-year-old bike shop employees telling me how supposedly "easy" something physical is! I'm a 43-year-old female, and my sister is 40... they told us it would take about an hour-and-a-half. Yeah right! Well, three-and-a-half hours later...! Maybe 'cause we’re flatlanders, but that was a pretty demanding ride for us. I recommend doing this trip, as long as you know what to expect. We kept thinking, "Oh, this HAS to be it..." and it seemed to go on forever, especially from the north end of the bridge to the Sausalito ferry... in retrospect, we think we might have taken a wrong turn and took the long way. I also think that "well-marked trail" is a relative term
If you do this ride, be sure to get exact directions out of the parking lot on the north side of the bridge. Just sayin'...All that said, biking over the bridge was spectacular... just gorgeous views, and quite an experience. Sausalito looked very cute, but by the time we got there we had to rush to the last ferry. We rolled our bikes onto the boat, totally wiped out... only to find out we had to lift the bikes and carry them up a flight of stairs to get off the ferry (mind you, I was past my exhaustion point, oh, maybe 2 hours earlier?
On top of this, the ferry wasn't going back to the wharf where we had to return the bikes. Instead, it went to the Ferry Building, so we had to bike from there, up the Embarcadero, back to the wharf. Long story short, I never want to hear the phrase "oh, it's just up that hill" again! Anyway, the trip was short, but definitely sweet. Direct flights to SFO from Florida were outrageously expensive, but we found that Jet Blue now flies into SFO (they used to only go into Oakland), and we found a good deal flying through Austin, TX (it lands but you don't have to get off the plane). We did lots of stuff, but I already have a list of things to do on a return trip. Including hitting wine country. Anyway, very belated thanks to those of you who gave me plenty of tips while I was planning the trip!
Thanks for reading,
Carol
Sep 27th, 2008, 11:34 AM
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Hey, I just found the name of the great restaurant in North Beach (on Columbus Ave.)... Caffe De Lucchi. It combined Italian traditions with the really fresh tastes of local produce. Check it out!
http://www.caffedelucchi.com/
http://www.caffedelucchi.com/
Sep 27th, 2008, 12:57 PM
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I so enjoyed your interesting trip report CarolM and your lovely photos. Being so familar with all the areas you visited it was fun to read your thoughts. Now about the bike ride, lol, I had younger family members attempt to convince me I should do the bike ride with them. I knew I would never make it, lol. Gads, you must have been totally exhausted! But good for you two is my thinking. I can imagine your heart sinking when you realized the ferry took you to the Ferry Building! I hope you get back to San Francisco soon!
to bike the Golden Gate bridge.
Sep 27th, 2008, 11:01 PM
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I'm a 45 year old woman and you described exactly how I felt last year on a 10 day bike trip through Austria. At the end of the day (and sometimes before), sometimes I didn't even have the energy to get off the bed and go to dinner! It's still fun, though, isn't it?
Sep 29th, 2008, 04:10 PM
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Thanks everyone, glad you enjoyed the report. I always think it's funny how -- when you're traveling -- the worst, most-stressful moments that are NOT funny at the time end up becoming your favorite stories that you tell once you get home... and the moments sure seem funny then!
Anybody else find that to be true?
Anybody else find that to be true?
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