krix

Suggestions for things to do in the East Bay:

Drive along Skyline Blvd (huge sweeping vistas of the SF Bay) in the Oakland hills to Tilden Park above Kensington. Take a walk along Jewel Lake, see the Little Farm, ride the carousel, see the botanical gardens, have a picnic.

Visit Jack London Square.

Visit the Oakland Zoo.

Shop along Piedmont and/or College Avenue. Lots of wonderful restaurants there too!

Visit Berkeley's Telegraph Ave. for street vendors and "out of the ordinary" shops. Take a walk on the UC campus.

Visit the Oakland Museum of CA. Wonderful history!

Take a walk around Lake Merritt, or at sunset have a gondola ride.

If interested in science, try Lawrence Hall of Science in the Berkeley hills or the Chabot Space Observatory in the Oakland hills.

Cheers and enjoy!

~Krix in Oakland

DB_in_San_Francisco

If you are in San Francisco on a Sunday, and want to experience a very progressive church service, visit Saint Gregory's at 500 De Haro (on the corner of Mariposa) in Potrero Hill. They are known world-wide for "liturgy reform" and they get visitors from all over the world. The service you want to visit is at 10:30am.

This church itself is worth seeing for its architectural and artistic aspects alone. They have a famous "Dancing Saints" iconographic painting in its main rotunda, depicting people such as Gandhi and Malcom X as saints.

After the service, go up the hill a bit to have brunch at one of the many great restaurants in Potrero Hill (I like Aperto, Chez Maman, or Rustico).

For more info go to
http://www.saintgregorys.org

DB in San Francisco

cigalechanta

I liked taking the boat to Sausilito for lunch.

andiamo

I'm surprised no one has mentioned it yet, but check out the Palace of Fine Arts near Chestnut street. (I think it's on Broderick) Anyway, it's in the Marina district. It's simply breathtaking, and lovely to just take a walk around. You can even stop at a store on Chestnut, grab some food to eat and have a fabulous picnic. I've lived here 16 years, and it's without a doubt, my favourite place! Here's a site with some info and a photo. Have a great time! San Fran is simply the best!

http://www.nps.gov/prsf/places/palace.htm

AprilinParis

The restored Ferry Building is a must. There are many places you can grab a quick bite - Hog Island Oyster, Taylor's Refresher, etc, but if you can make reservations for the Slanted Door - the Vietnamese food made with items fresh from the farmer's market outside is outstanding. It is noisy but it has that great "city buzz" going for it. It is on our list for out of towners and it is always a big hit.

Shar

YOu buy a "walking in San Francisco" book and walk the wonderful neighborhoods, and then find a local restaurant or bar and sit with the folk...I live in the bay area and I do that regularly.

donco

San Francisco looks wonderful! DH and I going for first time soon-many great ideas!

KathrynT

My daughter and I just took a walking tour of the murals in San Francisco's Mission district offered by the Precita Eyes Mural Project. The tour started with a brief slide show describing the history of mural paintings and explaining some murals we would see, and then concluded with a stroll through the colorful Mission district. We would highly recommend this tour.

offlady

Lots of great suggestions already posted here! If you head towards San Jose or Santa Clara, there is the Winchester House museum. It was owned by the heiress to the Winchester fortune that was very superstitous and believed in the occult. The house tour is a little creepy, but very intriguing. A carpenter's nightmare.