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Travelog and Photos
 Friday,
Day One - Hello San Francisco. Traveling within the USA
means no passport, no currency exchange and being able to use your
regular cell phone without international upgrades. Plus, you're
spending your money here in your country. San Francisco is one of
the most beautiful and cleanest cities in the world. The Bay area
which includes Marin, Sonoma, Alameda and San Francisco counties, is
a veritable treasure chest of unique places to see, foods to eat and
regional beverages to sample. It's relatively safe and easy to walk
around in if you stay away from the hills and The Tenderloin
District. After a relaxing and uneventful direct flight from New
York, JFK, I arrived at San Francisco International Airport at 6:30
PM west coast time. I retrieved my bag, hailed a cab, and got to the
Union Square Hilton Hotel at about 7:30. Some of the hotel staff
were on strike and picketing quite vociferously, using megaphones
and crude percussion instruments. They were loud and disruptive. It
was a weird way to begin my stay in San Francisco. The police were
keeping a watchful eye from across the street. The disgruntled
employees were gone the next morning and I never found out what
happened. I checked in, unpacked and returned to the lobby with some
questions for the concierge desk. They were very helpful. Within a
few minutes I had reservations for 3 tours, a map of nearby
restaurants, information about hotel laundry service, wifi internet
connections and a car rental reservation which I never used. After a
tasty meal at a local Chinese joint, I returned to my room and hit
the hay.
Saturday, Day Two - Double Dip. Today I bought what Great
Pacific Tours calls their "Double Feature" which is a combination of
two half-day tours taken the same day at a slightly reduced rate.
Mary was the driver-guide for both legs of today's tours. Mary was
really sweet and she seemed to know all about San Francisco's
fascinating past and present. Great Pacific picks you up right at
your hotel and after a few other stops, the 13 passenger van was
full and we were on our way to Muir Woods National Monument.
Muir Woods is a picturesque valley at the base of Mount Tamalpais
(tam-ul-PIE-us). It's home to some of the tallest and oldest trees on
earth. The trees are known as redwoods or sequoias. These trees are
huge. The average age of the sequoias is 800 years and the average
height is 250 feet. Many are much taller and some are as old as
2,700 years. With less than an hour to explore, I stayed on the
"main loop" but there are many miles of more rugged trails for those
with more time and better footwear.
After hugging the trees (anything more than hugging them can get you
arrested, even in California), we stopped in the coastal town of
Sausalito for lunch and then returned to SF to drop off some of the
group and to pick up others. With about an hour of free time I
walked to the local tourist trap known as Fisherman's Wharf. I have
fond memories of The Wharf. I met Joe Dimaggio there while having
lunch at his restaurant with my mother many years ago. Today,
Fisherman's Wharf is like Lake George Village on steroids with
better food. It's OK but there are lots of better things to do in
SF.
 The
afternoon was spent driving around the city and learning about it's
colorful history. The neighborhoods and houses are as diverse as the
people who live in them. A panoramic tour early in your visit is a
great way to get a feel for any major metropolitan area and it's
especially true here. San Francisco's many districts include Pacific
Heights, Castro, The Mission, Chinatown, SOMA (South of Market
Area), North Beach, Russian Hill, Nob Hill, Telegraph Hill, South
Beach, The Embarcadero, Golden Gate Park and The Presidio. These
districts are side by side and spill over into each other.
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We made a quick stop at the corner of Haight and Ashbury before
returning to our hotels. Dinner was at a phenomenal
Vietnamese/French restaurant called Le Colonial. Le Colonial also
has Chicago and New York City locations. I had pho bo (soup), a
large appetizer platter (meant for two people) and an Anchor Steam
beer. The food was spectacular, the dining room was gorgeous and so
was my waitress. A remarkable experience. I returned to my room,
fell quickly asleep and dreamed of......... baseball.
 Sunday,
Day Three - Baseball. After attending a party at the Bay View
Boat Club in South Beach I made a short walk to AT&T Park, home of
The San Francisco Giants since 2000. My friend Susie got me a
fantastic seat but I moved around a lot. This is a stunning
ballpark, probably the nicest one that I've ever been to. It's
designed to look old but AT&T Park's got every modern amenity
imaginable. The view from the seats, especially from the right field
upper deck, is spectacular. It was a terrific game for the home
crowd. Popular pitcher Tim Lincecum (they call him "The Freak")
struck out 10 Braves on route to his second victory of the young
season. Another fan favorite is slugging third baseman Pablo
Sandoval, known as "Kung Fu Panda". The Giants' closer is Brian
Wilson. God only knows how many saves he'll get this season. On the
way out of the park I met a group who were walking to Russian Hill,
a neighborhood that's not too far from my hotel. With their help I
learned the way (on foot) from AT&T Park (South Beach) to Union
Square, Chinatown and the east shore Piers (Telegraph Hill/The
Embarcadero). This knowledge came in handy throughout the rest of my
stay. After some more Chinese food (I can't get enough Asian
cuisine) at a take-out near my hotel I went back to my room for the
night.
Monday, Day Four - Wine Country. This was one of the
highlights of the trip. After years of being known for their "jug
wines" (cheap, mass produced swill), California vintners began
dedicating themselves to the perfection of "boutique wines" that
eventually compared favorably to their French and Italian
counterparts. Northern California, especially the Napa and Sonoma
regions, has a climate and soil content that's very similar to the
Tuscan region of Italy and the Champagne and Burgundy regions of
France.
As was the case with my tours on Saturday, I was picked up by a 13
passenger van. Our driver/guide for the day was Buddy. Buddy was
funny, personable and intelligent. Buddy's fluent in four languages.
Today he only needed English, and not much by day's end. In the
morning our tour stopped at Viansa Winery and Cline Cellars, both
located in the Carneros District of Sonoma County. Viansa produces a
wide variety of reds while Cline concentrates mostly on their
renowned Zinfandels. These wineries are beautifully maintained and
their wines are outstanding. If you were blindfolded and taken here,
you'd swear that you were in northern Italy. Our group sampled about
a half dozen wines at each stop. After the equivalent of about 2
full glasses of red wine before noon, we needed a meal.
Thankfully this tour included lunch in the quaint town of Sonoma.
After a salad, burger, fries and some interesting conversation, we
were taken to Napa Valley's Domaine Chandon Estate. There, we had an
intensive tour of their grounds and manufacturing facilities
followed by a tasting of about six of their dynamite sparkling
wines. Domaine Chandon is owned by Moet Chandon, the world famous
French champagne makers. Technically, only sparkling wines made in
the Champagne region of France can rightfully be called champagnes.
Otherwise, they're known as sparkling wines. We were allowed as much
sparkling wine as we wanted and I took full advantage.
After all that wine (the seven deadly Zins killed me) and the huge
lunch I decided to skip dinner this evening. Or did I venture out
for more Chinese?
Tuesday, Day Five - Kim. I slept in this morning and met my
friend Kim for lunch at Kan's in nearby Chinatown. As you might
imagine, there are dozens of marvelous restaurants in Chinatown.
Back in the 60's, 70's and 80's Kan's was THE place to eat in
Chinatown. Both Kim and I had dined at Kan's with our parents a
long time ago so we decided to return. Our dim sum was very good but
Kan's has certainly lost a bit of it's luster over the years. It's
still a fine restaurant but next time I'm gonna try some place new.
Chinatown is a must see for tourists but it's a bit overwhelming and
a couple of hours (including a meal) is about all you'll need there.
 Kim
and I walked to her car which was in a nearby parking garage and she
then drove me to some superb spots for photos. The highlights were
definitely Crissy Field and Fort Point, situated at the foot of the
San Francisco side of The Golden Gate Bridge and Twin Peaks. Twin
Peaks offers a spectacular view of the city, rivaled only by the
view from Mt. Tamalpais which is on the other side of SF in Marin
County. Thanks Kim.
Tonight I returned to AT&T Park to see The Giants take on the
Pittsburgh Pirates. I had a hot dog ($3.50) and a Coke ($4) for
dinner and a beer ($9) for dessert.
Wednesday, Day Six - The Rock. This was my last full day in
San Francisco and I wanted to make the most of it. After breakfast
at The Hilton, I took a cab to AT&T Park for one more game. Today's
contest started at 12:45 and it was a warm and sunny afternoon, the
best one since I arrived. With The Giants ahead 6-0 in the 8th, I
decided to leave in order to see more.
I jumped in a cab and told the driver "Pier 33". That's where the
ferry to Alcatraz Island departs. The ferries go back and forth
between the pier and the island every 30 or 40 minutes. Alcatraz is
a tiny, isolated mass of soil and rock in the middle of San
Francisco Bay. You can stay on Alcatraz as long as you wish. Some
people like Al Capone and Robert (The Birdman) Stroud stayed there
for years. Alcatraz was originally a fortress and jail for the US
army and then it became a federal maximum-security prison until it's
closure in 1963. It's now one of the Bay Area's most popular
attractions. There's a headphone walking audio tour that's included
and it's fascinating. I'm glad that I went.
After about an hour on "The Rock" I took the ferry back to the pier
and walked south on The Embarcadero, stopping to take photos of The
Bay Bridge and the cleanest and most beautiful public rest rooms
that I've ever seen. Even though my get-away sticks were sore, I
hoofed it the rest of the way from the base of The Bay Bridge to The
Hilton. I changed and met Susie, Kim and Kim's husband Dan for a
farewell dinner at Fino, a cool little Italian restaurant that's
located directly across from my new favorite SF bistro, Le Colonial.
By simply walking across the street, I discovered another great San
Francisco trattoria. Tonight's waitress Emily was beautiful, friendly and efficient.
After drinks and dinner we shared a dessert, said our goodbyes, and I
was back in my room packing at 10 PM.
Thursday, Day Seven - Goodbye San Francisco. I was already
out of bed when my 3:30 AM wake-up call came. After a shower and a
phone call to the desk to settle up, I took the elevator to The
Mason Street side of the hotel where a blue shuttle van departs for
the airport every 15 minutes beginning at 4 AM. I settled into my
seat tired, happy and clueless as to what was waiting for me in New
York City. My flight was fine until we approached JFK. As we began
our descent, the pilot announced that there were no runways
currently available so we would have to circle NYC for about a half
an hour. After 30 or 40 minutes he came back on the speakers saying
that we were going to be landing soon, IN HARTFORD! It seems that
there was still no room for us to land in New York and we were
running out of fuel. After refueling in Hartford, we took off again
and arrived at JFK two hours late. When we got inside the terminal
we found out why. A massive volcano in Iceland had sent an
enormous cloud of ash into the skies all over Europe, forcing the
closure of most of that continent's major airports. Commercial jets
that had already taken off for cities like London, Paris and Rome
were being forced to turn around and return to their points of
departure. Luckily. I still made my connection at Penn Station (my
train was 45 minutes late leaving) and I got home before 11 PM. All
things considered I was quite fortunate. This was one of the best
vacations that I've ever taken and long overdue. I really did leave
my heart, at least a piece of it and a little bit of my liver too,
in the city by the bay.
Story and photos by Rick Bedrosian
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