Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - SFO Trip Report

Thanks to all who gave great information on these forums.

tue 8/9

arrived in the city mon but really too late to do anything but sleep.

if you don't like complaining, skip past the parantheses.

(were in for a surprise in that dept. we booked through priceline and were lucky enough to get the westin st. francis (or so i thought.) i had read on this forum before that if you priceline the w.s.f. be prepared to be in the smallest room they have with 1 double bed and a view of a brick wall. whoever you were, you weren't kiddin'. that's exactly what we got. they were totally unwilling to upgrade anything as they claimed they were totally sold out. as a starwoods member, i called the spg 800# and they showed that there were rooms available for upgrade. spg tried to get them to upgrade with my points, but the w.s.f. didn't want to. i knew the policy going in, but i thought they might be able to work with us. stinkin' thinkin'.)

anywho, got a late start on tues and wanted to grab a cable car in union sq. bad idea. didn't realize we were 3 min from the turnaround. while waiting in line, we met a nice couple from s.d. and decided to split a cab up to the wharf. ate there at bubba gumps which wasn't bad and not too terribly priced for a touristy place, and the upside was i remembered that anchor steam is brewed right there in sfo. man, that stuff is great on tap. we don't have a lot of a.s. on tap back east. what a treat. (stay away from cajun shrimp appy. two words: heartburn and hell.)

walked around the wharf for a little while. highlight: sea lions off pier 39. left and headed to buena vista's! hmmm... irish coffee. too bad my wife's stomach wasn't in good working order that day. she missed out. after b.v. went to ghiardelli sq. and picked up some gifts for the fam. btw, we didn't get a chance for the sundae, but there are two place in g.s. to get it, the big ice cream shop and there is a smaller gift shop that serves them on the western side of the square. much less crowded.

onto haight ashbury. uh, wait, where am i?
if you've been to south st. in philly or greenwich village in nyc, then you've been to haight. good for people watching and a couple of interesting shops, (like the Gap!) but not much else.

headed back to the hotel for a nap before taking my wife out for her b-day dinner. (FOODIE ALERT) we went to scala's right near the hotel. what a meal! while a little loud, the restaurant was a great experience. first, our waitress was so polite and helpful, and was authentic at the same time (a breath of fresh air). she even took our picture (which might sound cheesy, but it was her 30th b-day and we both looked pretty good that night.) we started out with a glass of proseca (sp?) and ordered a pizza appetizer with some of the best prosciutto i've ever had. my wife orderd the john dory in a butter and lemon saute while i had the flatiron steak with pomme frittes. both were perfectly prepared with the fish being tender and flaky and the steak being seared just so with a grain mustard sauce. the fries were salted just right and were a little more soft than crispy which is how i like them. for desert, scala's has these mini-deserts for $3 that are only smaller versions of their regular selections. that was a perfect ending for the meal (try the chocolate iv. you won't be dissappointed.)

wed 8/10

breakfast at kulettos. my wife had the croissant and i had poched eggs. if you go, and you like breakfast sausage, try theirs. it's spicy, but it is the best sausage you will ever have.

walked through maiden lane to chinatown. if you're into scents, stop at diptyque on maiden lane. great candles, tea, and perfume/cologne. french importers, there are only two diptyque store in the u.s. and the other is in boston. great place.

walked down grant street in chinatown and set the camera to vivid color mode. great shots. very bustling area and excellent for people watching. got dim sum at great eastern on jackson. very good food, reasonably priced. the service was terrible though. it took 15 minutes for a waiter to come over, and then they kept bring the same dishes to us over and over. they didn't have their act together that day.

from there we got on the nob hill trolley car and took that west to grace cathedral. were not religious. and i say that to underscore how beautiful the architecture is in this place. you are allowed to take pictures in the church, so do so. from there we walked north and west to the cable car museum (free) where you can see the huge wheels and cables used to run the entire system. after that, my wife and i walked to vallejo st. and climbed the steps into ina coolbrith park that had excellent views of coit tower and the east bay, and then up to the top of russian hill. very beatiful area. we walked down to the base of lombard st. and took pictures with the rest of the tourists. i felt like a paparazi. kinda weird.

at night, we regrettably took in the musical "beach blanket babylon". while the performers were first-rate and great comedic actors, the play itself was a mish-mash of political, ethnic, and social schlock humor that was (we were told) supposed to hit on some inside jokes about sf, but of course, were tourists! so we're not going to get those jokes. (sidenote: nobody did.) we thought so many of the scenes were out-of-focus and could have been tightened up with better writing and more topical jokes. (note: the j. jackson wardrobe malfunciton angle is sooo over.) my wife was told the show is a must-see, but she couldn't stop apologizing to me for wasting $90.

thu 8/11

met a friend for breakfast at sears in union sq. very good, best overall sit-down breakfast of the trip. great omelette and home-fries. from there, my buddy and i got a beer at gold dust (11:30 in the morning, i love being on vacation) while my wife went back to the room to freshen up. and then met my aunt, in town on business, at kulettos for lunch (which i didn't partake in because we ate right before she called to let us know that her appointment fell through and she wanted to take us to lunch. drat!) after another beer at kulettos, buddy, wife, and i headed to the mission district to walk around a bit. the concierge told us that the best shopping was on 18th and 24 th streets in the mission. how many 18th and 24 th streets are there in the mission, because the ones we went to didn't have anything of interest. anywho, we walked through noe valley which was pretty cool on our wat to find the castro. well, we didn't realize until too late that we were about 7 or 8 blocks south of where we should have been and were able to walk quickly through the area before we had to take a cab back to the hotel to pick up our coats for the night tour at alcatraz.

fri 8/11

we had a car, so we took advantage and drove straight to tartine bakery. oh, my, god!!!! if you like pastries (and who doesn't) you need to go there and try their croissants. the most buttery, flaky, tasty proof that there is a god, that i have ever encountered. i had the ham and cheese croissant while my wife had the choc. croissant. i also got the banana tea cake which was out of this world as well (screw atkins!)

we took our tasty treats with us as we drove to muir woods. i have to say that this was the highlight of our trip to sfo. what a beautiful place, a cathedral of nature (hence the name of a particular tree formation with rich international history.) even my wife, who is by no stretch a nature girl, wanted to go back to do the hike to stinson beach. breathtaking in every way.

we then went to sausolito. nice, quaint, but small. i think this is hit or miss for most. i can't see spending more than 1/2 a day here, but i didn't go to the bars, which looked interesting. after that, we headed back over the ggb to the union st. shopping dist. great shops (boutique-y) and great restaurants (it appeared) and great chocolate shops. we were only able to stay there for a short time because we wanted to go to gg park. we drove around there but it was too late to go to the japanese tea garden, so we wound up driving down the shore on the western side and then down to the airport.

can't wait to go back. (boy, this ended with a dull thud.)