I also really loved San Francisco. It was our first time there, and we had a great time. Of course, I realized that I am going to have to make the Stair Master at the gym my best friend if I'm going to return to San Francisco, because my legs are killing me from climbing all those damn hills. (I did love SF, and it is a immensely walkable city, but I think it would be just that much nicer if it were flat!) Having heard that SF is a walkable city, we decided to test that out by not renting a car and relying on our little leg-mobiles and public transportation.
Day one, we took BART from the airport to the Powell St. station.
Dave took this nine second video on our camera of the ride. He didn't tell me he was taking a video, which is why I'm sitting there with an idiot's grin on my face for so long. I thought he was taking my picture.
You can hear him chuckle and then I ask him, "What?" and he says, "Taking a movie." Grrr.
It was about half an hour to Powell St.
It was early, so when we hit the station it wasn't quite the zoo that it is later in the day. It was an easy walk to our hotel, the Serrano Hotel, where we dropped off our bags. (Check in wasn't until 3:00, and we arrived around 10:00 a.m.) The Serrano is a little boutique hotel that sits a couple of blocks off Union Square, catty-corner from the Union Square Hilton. (And actually, the hotel sits right on the border of Union Square and the Tenderloin, which is the neighborhood that everyone tells you to avoid. In fact, that is one of the reasons that I picked the hotel. I am a big fan of sketchy neighborhoods. And in fact, it's not that sketchy. It's really a working class neighborhood, the likes of which I grew up in.)
The hotel was built in the late 1920's, so it's very charming as you can see from the photo of the hotel lobby. Yes, charming sometimes translates into miniscule and old fashioned, but our luxury suite on the 16th floor was large and very comfortable. And the view, looking north (I believe), was really interesting.
From two windows, I could see out over the Tenderloin. From the other window, I could see the Hilton and beyond it, Macy's.After we dropped off our bags, we went up the street to see what we could see about a very late breakfast. (Our flight was so early that there was just enough time for a few spoonfuls of yogurt and coffee before we had to leave the house.) Our friend Chris used to work in SF, and he (and every chowhound on the 'net) recommended that we try Sears Fine Food in Union Square, which we did. We split an omelet and an order of their "Swedish" (read: silver dollar) pancakes. The pancakes are really the reason to go. They're amazing.
The place also has an interesting history. It was founded in 1938 by a former circus clown and changed hands several times. When it almost closed a few years ago, it was bought by the owners of Lori's Diner (a popular local chain). We really loved this place and came for breakfast on all but the last morning we were in SF.After our late-ish breakfast/early-ish lunch, we decided to go to the San Francisco Museum of Craft and Design, a tiny (like three rooms worth of tiny) museum near Union Square. They're having an exhibition of really amazing enamels by artist Fred Ball. I saw them online and thought Dave would like to see them. Ball was like the George Ohr of the enamel scene. We stopped in the gift shop on the way out and bought the exhibition catalog (and a pair of funky little earrings for me that were made out of old Folger's coffee cans).
The man working in the gift shop happened to mention that he lived in the Castro, so I asked him about some places to see there. He was so thrilled to give us a list of recommendations that I thought we'd never leave the tiny little gift shop. We managed an escape after a bit, so we wandered around Union Square, looked in a toy shop, walked along Maiden Lane (which was so much like the Ginza that I stopped paying attention), and ended up in a little coffee shop on Market Street. After a coffee for me and a pastry and iced tea for Dave, we thought we might make a museum afternoon of it, so we headed to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Of course one their current exhibition is of Georgia O'Keefe paintings. I can see Georgia O'Keefe right here in my hometown, at the museum about two miles from my house. Or I can see her stuff at the O'Keefe Museum in our little state. But no matter. It just meant that I saved the $5 extra admission charge for the O'Keefe stuff. We focused mainly on the permanent exhibits and on an exhibit of photographs called "The Americans" by Robert Frank.
Here was one of my favorite sculptures by Kiki Smith.
It's called Lilith. No, she's not crouching in a corner, she's hanging on the wall, upside down.The Brain loved this assemblage, about fifteen vertical feet of brains, though I can't recall the artist.
We wandered for several hours, looking at art, and I knew it was time to stop when The Brain stopped being impressed with the Picassos and Duchamps and Kahlo works and just thought about finding a bench and sitting. After another quick pick-me-up meal in the museum at the Caffee Museo (Dave had the orecchiette pasta and I had a scone and iced tea), it was time to check into the hotel.We walked back to the hotel, which was about six blocks away, but already me feet were begging me to stop. But no.
We made it back to the hotel, checked in, and then turned around and left the hotel.
Years ago, on her first visit to San Francisco, my mother went to Ghiradelli Square. Of course we also had to go there, so we decided to take the cable car up.
The cable cars turned out to be one of my favorite parts of our visit. I adore the whole idea of them and the culture of them and the history of them. I love the sound of them clanking along and I love the bells (going over Nob Hill, one driver set to making such a joyful noise with the bell that I thought, I love that sound--but I'd hate to live on this street!). I love the smell of the brakes grabbing the cable. I love the tough but amiable drivers. (One guy wouldn't let anyone board our full car at stops--except a parent with two small children and, near Chinatown, a little old Chinese woman who pushed her way to the front of the line, waving for his attention.)
That's my giant grinning mug there on the left. I was hanging onto the outside of the cable car and Dave was taking pictures when we passed this other cable car. They pass really close together! It was very fun climbing Nob Hill on one of these things. I'd ride the cable car all day long if I could. (Luckily, we had purchased a City Pass, which allowed us free entry on all the modes of public transport besides BART, so we didn't have to pay for $5 one-way tickets.)We visited Ghirardelli Square, bought some chocolates for Dave's work/gaming buddies, and rode the cable car back to Powell St. Unfortunately, it was Saturday night and every other tourist in San Francisco had the same idea, so we waited over an hour to catch the car.
We could've walked in less time, but then I wouldn't have been able to take videos.On the ride down, I took this. At the beginning, you can hear the driver say, "We're full." At the very end, you can hear him again telling hopeful passengers trying to board the car, "We're full. Guys, we are full. We are full. Ok, pull it in, guys. Pull it in, on my left." (Another cable car was about to pass us on the left and he was warning those people hanging on to not lean away from the car on that side.)
After that, we were really exhausted and there was enough energy for dinner, but just barely. We walked to a place near our hotel, Santorini. It was not a great place and there was a belly dancer and we gave her money to go away. I had a gyros platter and Dave had a felafel platter and we were fed and happy and we went back to the hotel and collapsed.
And that was our first day in San Francisco.
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