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| From San Francisco |
2. Visit the Museum of Modern Art. It's probably one of the cheaper attractions, and it has one of the best collections of modern art in the country. They also had a great collection of Chinese contemporary art which is a temporary exhibit. People were abuzz about the special exhibit of Frida Kahlo, but they were sold out of tickets for it.
3. Tour the Haight Ashbury district, "where the sixties started." It's much more yuppie than hippie now, but the residents still try to preserve the peace and love/anarchy feeling. There are lots of Tibetan import shops and the largest concentration of pipe shops I have ever seen outside of Kathmandu. There is also a fun second hand record store and Goodwill.
4. Drive down Lombard Street. The curvy and interesting part goes sharply downhill, has about five or six near-180 degree turns, and is a block long. It's a crazy experience. Plus, people actually live on that street. I can't imagine how hard it is to turn into the garages.
(not our image)5. Have your mom fly out to SF to meet you for dinner. Sarah just happened to be in town for her friend's birthday, so we went out to dinner with her Friday night. We actually happened upon a very good little Italian place. It was purely by accident though as all the other members of our party were just looking for a salad. There was an abundance of freshly made pasta and bread, and even the salad-eaters succumbed to the yumminess. Thanks for dinner, Sarah! And thanks to Nile and his wife for the use of their vehicle as a taxi. Also, thank you, Jordan, for your leftovers. They made a yummy breakfast.
6. Be yelled at by an event staffer, bus driver, or pedestrian, or watch an event staffer yell at pedestrians and drivers.
7. Find good sourdough. It is not to be found at the Boulbin Bread Company, though, which is where the people at the information booth or visitor center will tell you to go. We found ours at ACMI Bread Company where the artisan bread revival began.
8. Go to a farmer's market. The one we went to had more than a hundred vendors, and most readily gave samples. We had some amazing fruit and cheese. It's also fun to see all the stuff that grows in California since the only things you can get in Mobile right now that have withstood the summer heat are peppers.
9. Eat a Mission burrito. There was an PRI Selected Short dedicated to the Mission burrito which we recently heard. The Mission is the latin district in SF, so there is already guaranteed to be authentic, delicious Mexican food. I'm sue any dish from any taqueria in the area is great, but even our guide book suggested searching for the perfect burrito there. We did not have a burrito search; we only had one, but the one was good enough to justify the hype. We were already in the area at the time, but even if you're not, it is well worth the foodie sojourn.
10. Attend a local arts event. We happened upon an event in the Mission. One of the more unique ways to experience a culture is to experience its art. The Mission is described as an arts district as well as hispanic, and I just though there happened to be a lot of artsy people and a lot of hispanic people in the area. Turns out the hispanic people and the artsy people are the same people. Illusions is an annual event where a team of local artists all get together at the Mission Cultural Center and simultaneously create art. Some of it is performance, some is visual, a lot is interactive, and all of it was distinctively latino. It was very haphazard, a bit confusing, but lots of fun. I feel very in touch with my inner latina artist now.
Thing I kind of wished I had done in SF:
bike the Golden Gate Bridge.
Top Few Things to not do in SF
1. Do not ride the trolley. Five dollars for a one way trip? Right. They don't even go very far or go any place interesting. Ride the street car instead. It's only $1.50, plus you get a transfer to any other public transportation for a couple hours. It goes pretty far, too, and through the main touristy districts. The cars themselves are pretty old and interesting, and sometimes they leave the windows open.
2. Do not go to Fisherman's Wharf. Any touristy thing you ever wanted is there, like a mini Gatlinburg in SF. Ripley's Believe It or Not, Rainforest Cafe, arcades, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, cheap and badly designed T-shirts and postcards- it's all there. Also, the tourists are there. If you want to enjoy SF at all, stay away.
3. Do not have a car. The locals often say SF is the hardest city to park in. This is an understatement. After finding our hostel Ben took a good two hours to find a parking spot, even after being told where the free parking is, not to mention the half hour we spent looking for one before checking in. The roads downtown are deceptive because most have parking spots marked and meters beside them, but you aren't allowed to park there except on the weekend or certain hours of the day. There are parking garages, but most start at $4/fifteen minutes and go upwards of $30/day. Many change prices depending on the time of day. You really shouldn't have a car in SF, but what are road trippers like us to do?
4. Do not visit the Tenderloin district at night "unless you want to buy crack or to be a prostitute or to do crack with a prostitute." Quote courtesy of our hostel receptionist.
5. Do not go to the opening day of the California Academy of Science, despite the offer of free admittance. By the time we got to the new natural history museum there was a line wrapping a half mile around the building.
