OK, I have it all set, but just need some advice on where to go, where to eat, other interesting things to know. I am going with my wife, mother-in-law and uncle. My uncle used to live in Oakland in the 1960s and I am taking him back to visit with us. His brother, whom he has not seen since the 1970s still lives there. This will be fun. We are going from Sep 13-20 (Mon-Mon). Mondays are travel days, so not much to do then. Anyway, we are stying in Brisbane because it was cheaper and we have a rental car to get around. I plan to drive to the Napa Valley area one day and have lunch or even may drive to Yositmite, not sure. You can help here. Will I need reservations? I have tickets for the Giants game versus the Padres (Sat) and the Raiders opening game versus the Bills (Sun). I already have them so that is set. Would love to see the city and all the sights. Cable cars and famous areas are important. What about the weather? Thanks.
Go to North Beach for the buildings, the Italian food, and the old timey bars. It's a little Italy and has a great history surrounding it. City Lights book store is right there and the Italian food is just outstaning (China Town borders it, too, and you should see that for sure). Hit the Mission district for the Mexican food and the dive bars, but bear in mind it's pretty dirty, but alot of fun if you into gritty, urban districts. For the cable cars and shopping, hit the downtown/Union Square area first, then you can just take a cab to the SBC for the Giants game...it's not far away. Haight/Ashbury district is cool, but I recommend actually getting off Haight St. and just walking around Golden Gate Park (the panhandle part is a few blocks north, and the main section of the park is just west of it). Just around the panhandle is a beatiful area to walk around and look at the houses and flats, as most surrounding it are of the picturesque, classic San Franciscan type. Go a bit east from there, close to Hayes Valley, and you'll run into Alamo Square and the famous "Painted Ladies" view of the city. The weather changes day to day and neighborhood to neighborhood (seriously). Bring a sweater, a windbreaker and a scarf and you should be fine with some combination thereof.
September has probably the best weather that San Francisco gets. The early summer months are a lot colder than people expect -- you can tell the tourists because they're the ones freezing their butts off in shorts and T-shirts in July. This is the city of San Francisco proper, not the rest of the bay area -- for example, San Jose gets plenty of sun in the summertime. Driving to Yosemite is not a day trip. It probably takes four hours to get there -- if you go on a weekday, there is a ton of commute traffic, and if you go on a weekend day, there is a ton of leisure travel. And the traffic in Yosemite Valley can be horrible. You will spend 7-8 hours getting there and back, an hour or two stuck behind a long line of RVs within the park, you won't have any time to see anything. The waterfalls also tend to dry up towards the end of summer. Napa Valley is easy to do in a day trip. Go on a weekday since it gets crowded on weekends. Within SF itself, there are some tacky tourist areas (Fishermans ********ing Wharf) and some good tourist areas. I don't spend a lot of time there as a tourist, and I don't live in SF proper, so I probably shouldn't recommend anything. SF has a lot of fantastic high-end restaurants, as well as great regular eats (check out the SF burrito thread). I've been to a number of the good restaurants but there are so many that any of the SF regulars here can give you a completely different list than mine. Here's a couple: Le Colonial (Vietnamese/French) Aziza (Moroccan) There's a couple more that I've been to with a friend who lives up there, but I don't remember what they're called or where they are. One is right across from the Albertsons on Folsom, I think. The other, a little French place near Alamo Square. Fabulous restaurants. There's a Peruvian place called Limon in the Mission which my wife says is great, but I'm not sure whether you'd enjoy it. I'm going to the SF Opera on Sunday, September 19. Cosi fan Tutti. It's a matinee, so dinner afterwards -- probably at Suppenküche, a German restaurant with awesome selection of fresh German beers.
Le Colonial is dope, as is Limon...haven't been to Aziza. I love Suppenkuche...really good, and it's in Hayes Valley which is a great area. If you want some good pub grub in downtown (and want to save some cash by eating before going to SBC), then hit the Irish Bank (in an alley way off of Bush/Grant (across the street from the main Chinatown entrance). For some good "California Cuisine", maybe try Rose Pistola in North Beach. Indian Oven off of Fillmore and Haight is fantastic Indian food, and right next door to it is a little Thai place (name escaping me) that can do, instead, if the line is too long. Go to citysearch.com and look some stuff up for specifics.
This is great. Thanks guys. And yea, how could I forget, Peruvian food...on the west coast. Ohhh. Yummy. What ever happened to Harvy Milk's camera shop? I would like to pay my respect to a person I have admired for sometime.
What is it called?? I know of an old photo shop off of Church/Market...not sure if it was his, though it might make sense (that's right where the Castro District is/starts).
I took a tour bus to Yosemite and it took us like 4 hours to get there without traffic!! We left like at 6 or 7 from Fisherman's Wharf. Neither my girl or I wanted to drive(I actually dont have a license living in NYC Metro and all) so we opted for the bus. I gotta say that even with the VERY LITTLE we saw, it was worth EVERY wait and every penny. We only stayed there for like 5 hours, but I would have rather seen Yosemite than not seen it at all. For me atleast it was THE highlight of the trip. Living in the city all my life whenever I go to the wilderness it amazes me. But aside from maybe Macchu Picchu this was the most amazing place Ive ever seen. I went during late summer and there was already snow on the ground and it was freezing. I say skip anything youre planning on and go to Yosemite. Specially that baseball game, not because its baseball but being in a stadium is just wasting your precious vacation hours away. Specially when youre missing out on such a great place. Once you seen a game youve seen them all. As for the city itself I actually was able to see all the sites in about 2 or 3 days. I wasnt able to REALLY get into the nooks and cranies of SF but everything you usually hear of. Just get yourself a transportation map at the market st station and try to follow it as best you can and you can get about anywhere with a combo of Bus/Bart/Trolley. It came really easy for me being a city boy.
I posted stuff in this thread: https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=93396 I can't remember what I posted, but I'm sure it was quality stuff that could possibly save your life, and possibly the Earth. metrocorazon - I can't believe you only stayed 5 hours in Yosemite. I went there a few winters ago - absolutely beautiful, even if I was freezing my ass off. And there's a pretty nice ski slope about 30-60 minutes by bus. Also, if you do dim sum in Chinatown, never, ever ever ever ever take food from the first cart you see. Well, may be not never ever ever ever ever, but at a lot of dim sum joints, the first cart is often a test to separate the tourists from the people who actually know what they're doing. Also, italian food in North Beach is solid.
I'm far from an expert on The City... I'll leave that to the locals. But I can recommend other nearby day trips if you don't want to slog to Yosemite (which is worth a day trip but even better overnight). If you're going to have a rental car while visiting SF, you ought to test your driving skills on one of the most scenic routes in these United States... California Highway 1. The scenery along many parts of the coastal highway is pretty breathtaking. If you want to go the beach, you don't have to settle for Ocean Beach in SF. Half Moon Bay, south of The City off the 1, is pretty decent. If you cross the Golden Gate Bridge north to Marin County, you can continue up twisty Highway 1 to Stinson Beach or Point Reyes. Another possibility if you're willing to drive further... I spent most of 2003 living near Monterey, an hour and a half south of SF on Highway 101 (then Highway 156 or Highway 68 west). Cannery Row and the Monterey Bay Aquarium are about as touristy as Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, but the downtown area of Monterey is pretty charming with a lot of historical sites and shops, and the beaches at Carmel and further down Hwy 1 on the northern end of Big Sur are pretty unspoiled.
For the best views of the city and GG bridge, to go - Crissey Fields, on the Presidio - Baker Beach - Dolores Park (hike to the Castro and eat at the Babylon Cafe on Market!) - Alamo Square For breakfast go to Red's Java House at Pier 30. For lunch in the Mission, try Mi Lindo Yucatan at 15th and Valencia. My favorite dinner is Vivande's on the 2100 block of Fillmore.
Have a great time, and don't miss La Tacqueria on Mission near 26th St. Best burritos and tacos in the city. Try one of their carnitas (crispy pork) tacos. Get is super (all the fixins) and dorado (one of the tortillas is grilled). very nice.
Walk along the Embarcadero, have lunch at the Ferry Building. If you have a car, take the trip up to Twin Peaks for a spectacular view of the City and Bay. North Beach, is always a great place to have meal.
Good tip, in-n-out is down at Fishermans Wharf. And one more thing to remember, only bikers and mobsters call it, "San Fran" if you don't fit eithier of these profiles you will be pegged as a tourist.
We were there in July. You will have a great time. A few pieces of advice: Take a bus tour of the city on your first day. You'll get a quick overview of the city, get some history, and see lots of cool stuff without having to walk or drive. We went back to some of the places we saw later on our own. http://www.graylinesanfrancisco.com/ Check out the Citypass ticket. It will let you ride the cablecar as much as you want for one flat price, plus you get discounts to some very good museums. http://www.citypass.com/city/sanfrancisco.html Monterrey and the area to the south along the ocean is beautiful, but it's a long drive. So is Yosemite.
It's been mentioned, but the weather is odd. It was gloriously sunny when I was there, but the water in the bay is absolutely freezing. It may be lovely and warm, but if you take that trip to alcatraz wearing shorts and a t-shirt, you'll spend the first hour there thawing out. Similarly, if you are walking down by the water's edge, the cooling breeze will make you feel like it's nowhere near as hot as it really is. Combine that with thinking that the golden gate bridge doesn't actually look that far away (I learned the hard way) and walking there, and you could well be redder than the bridge by the time you arrive. When walking round the city it's good to realise then when you are walking near some of the very steep hills, it's a lot less tiring to walk around them than up them. I spent many of my evenings in a bar called Kennedy's on columbus Ave. It was an Irish bar doing guinness as $2 a pint, as well as being combined with a curry house. Very friendly place and not touristy at all apparently. Pretty much all locals, who were a strange mixed bunch, but interesting.
Um, i would avoid the touristy places. Market/Union Square is a cool place to shop at, and there are plenty of good places to eat in Chinatown. If you can, ride MUNI around if you want to explore the city.
How could I forget the greatest music store on earth? Amoeba Music 2455 Telegraph Ave Berkeley -and- 1855 Haight St San Francisico http://www.amoebamusic.com/html/
Thanks to everyone. Monday we leave for the city by the bay. I'll report back when we get home after the 20th.
Animal style: grilled onions, mustard, and extra cheese 4x4 or any other number: x number of patties and x number of cheese protein style: no bun