Thread: What not to miss in San Francisco - San Jose area

Ferry Building

The one good thing to come out of the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989 was the revitalization of San Francisco's waterfront. The earthquake damaged an elevated highway that cut off the waterfront from the rest of the city; the highway was torn down, opening up the area and transforming old warehouses and docks into yuppie commercial real estate. Case in point: the Ferry Building, which was originally opened in 1898, then renovated and reopened in 2003.


It's a magnificent structure on the Embarcadero, at the foot of Market Street, but the real reason to come here is the food (that, and the ferry to Marin County): There's a fabulous farmers market on Tuesday and Saturday until 2 p.m., and no shortage of great places to eat. For burgers and shakes, definitely do Gotts Roadside, Formerly Taylor's Automatic Refresher. Or, for nouveau Vietnamese, try the Slanted Door, one of the city's favorite restaurants. You can try calling ahead for a table, but I've waited 45 minutes even with a reservation. Your best bet is to eat at the no-reservations bar. Order the shaking beef and the delicious rum cocktail made with essence of clove and fresh nutmeg.

• 1. Ferry Building
  1 Ferry Building, San Francisco, CA 94111; 415-693-0996 ferrybuildingmarketplace.com
• 2. Gotts Roadside
  1 Ferry Building, #6, San Francisco, CA 94111; 415-318-3423 gotts.com
• 3. Taylor's Automatic Refresher
  1 Ferry Building, #6, San Francisco, CA 94111; 866-328-3663 taylorsrefresher.com
• 4. The Slanted Door
  1 Ferry Building, #3, San Francisco, CA 94111; 415-861-8032 slanteddoor.com

rockzmom! Thank you soooooo much!

You are really like a lighthouse for a traveler.

Originally Posted by CoffeeCup

I've got a good bunch of locations by typing "Redwood forest" in google. Did you mean any specific location like the "Muir Woods" mentioned by zxc?

Well, I don't live in San Fransisco, but if you drive across the Golden Gate Bridge, all you have to do is follow the signs and you will get to the redwoods. They are hard to miss!!

Just so you can get a sneak peek at how awesome the redwood trees (they're also called sequoias-pronounced almost the same as the Russian секвойя but without the в) are, some pictures to show you how big they are:





I think someone above mentioned being able to drive through them:

I’m not a local dweller but from my ‘birds eye’ view you may want to take a trip and visit Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove. There you can not only listen to the Hazel Wright Memorial organ, one of the biggest in the world, but also attend Robert H. Schuller’s (senior) famous sermons, if he still conducts ministries at the moment. He is purported wise and profoundly indoctrinated with everything concerning human sins and salvation, and possesses deep captivating charismatic voice to the fore.

Originally Posted by diogen_

I’m not a local dweller but from my ‘birds eye’ view you may want to take a trip and visit Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove. There you can not only listen to the Hazel Wright Memorial organ, one of the biggest in the world, but also attend Robert H. Schuller’s (senior) famous sermons, if he still conducts ministries at the moment. He is purported wise and profoundly indoctrinated with everything concerning human sins and salvation, and possesses deep captivating charismatic voice to the fore.

diogen, I just read the Wiki page, about their bankruptcy and the Catholic church buying the Crystal Cathedral and renaming it "Christ Cathedral" and all. Dr. Schuller was all the rage for so many years with books and TV shows and The Hour of Power and now, nothing. How he has fallen.

Originally Posted by CoffeeCup

Well, I was considering to go to L.A. on a weekend but it would take me about 6 hours driving to and then 6 hours driving back

Well, William Randolph Hearst's enormous estate/castle -- the inspiration for the fictitious "Xanadu" in Citizen Kane -- is located roughly halfway between S.F. and L.A. (not too far from San Luis Obispo), so you could possibly make a day-trip out of that.

In S.F. itself, I don't think anyone has mentioned the Legion of Honor art museum, which is not far from the cliffs of Lands End, where you get a spectacular view of the Bay. (But I haven't been there myself... I've only seen it in movies.)

Throbert and diogen_ thank you for the suggestions!

You could always visit Alcatraz Island... it was an infamous prison not so very long ago and has been used in various movies, such as "The Rock" with Nick Cage and Sean Connery.

http://www.alcatrazcruises.com/

One place I always try to get to when I'm in the area, is Fisherman's Wharf. Some amazing seafood and sushi restaurants there!!!

http://net4.ccs.neu.edu/home/mrunk/P...mansWharf.aspx

I lived in SF and Oakland about 15 years, and I've been to almost all of the places mentioned. I especially like nature, so give two thumbs up to the suggestions to go up north, but that will take a lot of driving, and you should go for more than two days. Same goes for Yosemite. Also there's Fort Ross up north. You can drive around in the hills above Oak/Berk. There's a nice park up there that used to have live steam trains you could ride in. The Marin headlands has a nice road running along somewhere after you cross the bridge; I think it's US 1. Santa Cruz beach and boardwalk is also a fun place. If you get homesick, you might take in a concert by Slavyanka, a men's chorus based in SF.

Thank you chaika!

San Francisco as it turned out to look.

Golden Gate

Cable car

Up and down, down and up.

Academy of science.

Stanford.

Agassiz standing upright.

Muir woods.

Where are you now ? Теперь где вы ? В США ?