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With only 36 hours to explore we began our adventure soon after arriving and checking into our hotel central to the Civic Center, as we were attending the Imagination Convergence at the Bill Graham Auditorium in the evening. Walking along McAllister from Market we passed City Hall, with it's huge dome and Baroque stairs. We walked along Van Ness Avenue to California Street, climbed Nob Hill, then descended upon Chinatown. After a few hours of impulse buying, and a quick refreshment at Red's Bar, we began our walk back to the Renoir. We wandered through an art show at Union Square, and continued along Market Street. As we readied ourselves for the Imagination event, we were kept entertained by the goings on outside our hotel room window. San Francisco does offer many types of views, ours was of the back entrance to the police station. We started early on Sunday. We decided time-wise the best thing to do was book a tour. As we awaited our ride a Phillipine parade commenced down Market Street, we took a few photos. Our guide Lyle soon arrived and we were off. On the way to the tour office at Fisherman's Wharf, we passed by some very interesting Victorian buildings. The Victorian architecture in San Francisco amazing. Lyle took us through the Marina and North Beach areas, pointing out the Stinking Rose, a restaurant for the garlic lover. He told us that all of this area was once waterfront and was filled in to make more land. We passed by Coit Tower. At the top of Nob Hill we saw Grace Cathedral, modeled after Notre Dame in Paris. It took 53 years to build and was consecrated in 1964. The Doors of Paradise by Ghiberti were taken from the same mold used for the doors of II Duomo in Florence. The Flood Mansion was originally built in 1886. It is one of the great landmarks of San Francisco. It was the only Nob Hill mansion built of stone rather than wood. This was one of the few buildings to survive the earthquake and fire of 1906. The house of Flood's mistress is across the street, it is rumored there is a tunnel leading from the Flood Mansion.
We continued through Chinatown, the Financial District and then into the Tenderloin and Civic Center. There was quite a bit of renovation going on, apparently City Hall, the Library and other surrounding buildings were damaged by the earthquake in 1989. Heading away from the city center we drove through the Mission District, pointing out Mission Delores. We passed through Haight-Ashbury, Lyle told us most of the hippies had given up the lifestyle to become, computer programmers, accountants and tour bus drivers. Still, this was quite the place in the sixties. Next stop was Golden Gate Park. The park is huge, with a large variety of plants, trees, waterways. We stopped at the Cliff House, and took a look at the ruins of the Sutro Bath House. Near the Presidio we took some great pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge. The bridge was named Golden Gate be cause it was the gateway to the California Gold Rush. We drove through Pacific Heights, and then Lyle kindly let us off at the Exploratorium. During Imagination Brian Eno convinced us that we must visit the Exploratorium. The Palace of Fine Arts was originally built for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915. Presently it houses a terrific hands-on science museum. After a few hours of play and creativity we started back to the hotel. We walked along Marina Blvd., took a photo of Alcatraz then up to Van Ness Ave. Along the way we saw a motorcade with President Clinton. San Francisco Travel Resources Return to Table of Contents
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