San Francisco
This controversial city has very narrow streets, congested with pedestrians. Downtown is similar to New York. It is New York that has California flavor. (SFO) has an added feature which Steep Streets (Roller Coaster Style) for a rookie like me, it was a quite an experience. Streets will go up, that you constantly press on gas, then a stop sign, which is like a step, then go down hill, nothing which you press the break. To park in those streets you may need license !!!, when parking car you wheels must be tilted to the right . A car parked parallel will be issued a ticket. Driving downtown is a hustle, there is no room to slow down or to think twice , to turn left or go straight. Drivers behind you will use the horn immediately. Parking in China Town and near Pier 39/49 are plenty and expensive. Some are per hour with minimum charge, others flat fee. At any rate if you budget for 3-4 hours for $ 10.00 it is good. By the coast where Fisherman's Wharf, gift shops and restaurants, lots of homeless, people with a singe begging for money "Why I lie it is for BEER?"
Every inch near those piers there are places to sell cooked crab and or clam chowder soup. Soup is served either in a big sour dough bun ( which is a meal) or in a plastic container light meal). Seafood, mainly shrimp and crab are the main bulk of sea food.
Prime tourist attraction is to take the boat to "Alcatraz" , the old most secure prison. We visited (SFO) in the month of June which is considered a low season tickets are available only for 48 hours in advance. Make early RESERVATION...again and again. Ticket to the island is $ 11.00 you cannot get it on same day. There is a back door for this which is Gray Line Tours, which offer a bus tour combined with the ferry to Alcatraz for $ 29.99. Tickets can be purchased instantly, no advance reservation is required.
Cruise around the bay that takes you from Pier 42 to near Alcatraz then to Golden Gate Bridge and back again. This cruise is available daily for $ 15.95 a person. You can see a lot of (SFO) in this cruise.
As I can remember on pier 39 there was a WW II ship, admission is $11.00 per person, that offer was not appealing enough to me. Traffic, crowding and street maintenance (digging, new railroad for cable cars) here and there makes walking a unique experience.
Oriental presence and existence is so apparent in (SFO). Parking lots and gift shops are owned and ran by oriental. You feel that you took a ride to Philippine or Korea etc..
I started my visit to downtown to (SFO) on Sunday afternoon, traffic was bad I could not move to any where, so I went back to hotel. I wondered "why traffic was so bad this afternoon?" "That is strange today traffic on Sunday is clear" replied motel owner, who remembered " Oh , today is the Gay and Lesbian PARADE". other than this, in my casual visits to (SFO) I did not encounter any odd behavior or any weird person bothered me.
Hotels and motels away from downtown (SFO) are cleaner and cheaper. If you plan to stay and visit (SFO) for 3-4 days, stay in a suburb for half price or more, enjoy cleaner surroundings, and above all organized calm traffic. Downtown is for business, for a short period not for a family with a budget.
We drove by Sunday night to Golden Gate Bridge, we where so close first time same afternoon, but confused directions and Gay parade could not go any where. By evening we drove over there. Nothing out of norm. Bridge entrance takes about 4 miles, the other end there, Alexander Island about a mile away from bridge......I could not walk on this wonderful bridge. Some people told me that the bridge has good suspension that you would feel swimming feeling during walking on this bridge. We could not walk on this bridge. We drove on our way out of SFO Tuesday morning on St. Mateo bridge which is second to Golden Bridge .You can feel the greatness of Golden Gate Bridge as you draw near by boat. Seeing the bridge from cruise boat , passing under it, is more joyful than driving on bridge. Busses passing on bridge are like match box, cars can barely be seen.
Nice links to San Francisco:
Some of these links may be outdated!!
http://freespace.virgin.net/john.cletheroe/usa_can/ca/alcatraz.htm
http://www.colorado.net/sfo/sfs_tours.html
http://fermat.stmarys-ca.edu/~jpolos/photos/sf/index.html informative
http://www.ping.be/cosmopolitan/mainsfframe.htm
http://www.ping.be/cosmopolitan/mainsfframe.htm pictures
http://www.bpe.com/ports/sf/things/fwharf/index.html
http://www.bpe.com/ports/sf/things/fwharf/index.html
http://www.ggbridge.com/goldengate.html
http://www.bpe.com/ports/sf/things/ggb/index.html
http://www.sfmuseum.org/assoc/bridge00.html Historical doc.