What's there to do in San Francisco?

Yes, you can pack up and leave San Francisco
The Golden Gate Park is worth visiting

Go down that windy part of Lombard Street.

You need to buy two loaves of sourdough bread. One for yourself and one that you can send to me.

Good luck! I know a good massage therapist in the city if you need a massage after the marathon. I’ll give you his number if you are interested.

I lived in San Francisco for 12 years. My favorite places are Ocean Beach, Golden Gate park (horse riding, buffalo, museums, arboretum, Japanese Tea Garden, etc). The huge China Town is interesting.

Also go for a jog at Baker Beach (nude beach). A lot of women go topless there. Also beautiful view of the surf, cliffs and the GG Bridge.

Don’t forget the SF Zoo!

Pier 39 is pretty happening, too. They have a store for lefties.

OMG, @bob_, San Fran is one of my very favorite cities! You can climb Coit Tower, you can have Italian food or better yet Italian seafood in North Beach or dim sum in Chinatown. There are so many great museums and wonderful views of the bay! You could have a drink at Sunset at The Top of the Mark hotel. If you have time, take a run across to Sausalito, a very cute little artsy town, or go see the giant redwoods at Muir Woods.

San Francisco is a great city. I would saunter around the hills, Chinatown, take a trolley, go down to the wharf, go to Candlestick Park.

Rent a car and drive down to Pacifica and see the beach and the cliffs. Check out the skydivers. Go up to Muir Woods and see the redwoods. Plan to spend a day there just being in the presence of the huge trees and their spirits.

If you really have time, when you’re headed south, go to Carmel, the 17 Mile Drive, and then onward to Big Sur and the Hearst Castle. The west coast is so incredibly beautiful, you should really take some time to see it when you’re there.

There is a great exhibit at the de Young this summer, on Modernism, and a great exhibit at the Legion of Honor, Intimate Impressionism.

The windy (wind-y as in wound around, not windy as in breezy) part of Lombard is closed to cars on the weekends this summer.

Get tickets for an Alcatraz tour now, because if you wait until you are here they’ll be sold out.

What type of music do you like? Lots to enjoy of just about any taste.

If you like to walk/hike, go out to the Cliff House, look at the ruins of Sutro Baths, then follow the Lands End Trail, best views anywhere, on the outside of the Golden Gate.

If you need to get in a run to keep flexible, try running along the Marina to Crissy Field all the way to Fort Point. There is even a runner’s turn-around touch spot under the Golden Gate Bridge (two painted hand prints). Also, check out the Warming Hut at the end of Crissy Field.

Rent a bicycle and ride across the bridge to Sausalito, take the ferry back.

For neighborhood wandering, North Beach is fun, but so is the Mission and Valencia Street.

I second Pier 39, Golden Gate Park and Muir Woods.

if you like chocolate go to Ghirardelli and if you like seafood go for sunset dinner at Tarentino’s at Fisherman’s Wharf, get a reservation.

I wouldn’t go to Tarantino’s. its a tourist place, and it really doesn’t have a good view, it is overpriced and not great quality.

For really good seafood, visit Tadich Grill on California Street, a seafood grill for over 160 years. Best in town by far.

The women?

There are tons of great restaurants in San Francisco.

The first place I would go to is the upscale, farm to table, vegetarian restaurant The Greens

This place sounds very interesting, it’s vegan food meets inventive fish dishes at Dante’s Weird Fish in The Mission district.

If you like ice cream and you have an adventurous palate, check out Humphrey Slocombe

For Mexican tortas and breakfast, at reasonable prices, you might like La Torta Gorda

This place sounds like fun, Foreign Cinema dinner and a movie.

If you’re into photography, This Site gives you some ideas about the best places in San Francisco to take photos.

Walk across the Golden Gate Bridge. It’s truly amazing. You’re up there so high in the air and it’s very windy, and the views are spectacular. Great photo ops.

And like some of the others have said, do not miss visiting Muir Woods

There’s lots of Public Art to be seen.

Take a free, self-guided tour of Chinatown

Put on your love beads and Burkenstocks, put some Doors music in your ipod and head to Haight Ashbury

Visit Coit Tower

Go for Coffee

Sample some Sourdough Bread

Take a ride on a Cable Car

Have afternoon tea at the Fairmont Hotel

Go to a Show

Have a great time!

The thing you will find yourself doing most in the city is watching your money vanish. Run as fast as you can from the schlocky tourist cash extracting regions such as Fisherman’s Wharf & Pier 39, and head straight to the mission for superlatives in affordable (relatively) food. Tarantino’s is indeed set up for the tourist trade, but if you crave Italian food, walk 5 blocks up Columbus to North Beach, where the streets are literally crammed with Italian Restaurants, 8–10 to the block. The town itself is chockablock packed with so many good restaurants, that I will concentrate on noshes, and most of the city’s best are concentrated in the Mission district. Unless you are on foot, it’s best to pick this stuff up and take it home to eat. That means a car with 2 people, because parking is impossible. If you are planning on restaurant dining, the town is like Paris, it’s easiest to find seating early (before 7), and crowds are thinner earlier in the week (Sunday-Wednesday). Back to the Mission. Pizza: Little Star. Both locations are always packed and quite noisy. If you have access to an oven, you can order your pizza “half baked” and can complete the process at home. The “large” deep dish pizza appears deceptively small, but lifting one will help convince you that the thing will feed 5 linebackers. Bakery: Tartine. If you’re with a group, plan the night before. You and a wheel man arrive at 7:30 AM. Walk in and buy everything you see, depending on the size of your group. If you have misgivings about buying everything, at least pick up one of the football replica ham & gruyere croissants. Pay and go home. By 8;30 the line in the place winds through the bakery, out the door and halfway down the block. If you arrive late and the line is there, don’t make the mistake of thinking it might be shorter later. When you get home, throw the football in a hot oven for 3 minutes. The aroma alone will result in your companions cursing you for your shortsightedness in buying only one. Ice cream: Bi rite. This time cram the group in the car. Leave the wheel man behind, and read him the menu over your phone. Buy “doubles” in cones or cups, because you will only leave wishing you’d done so. If the line is too long, divert to Xanath——same routine, bigger scoops and nearly as good. Shorter lines. Taquerias: literally dozens in the Mission, but my favorite is actually in the Bayview district where there’s nearly always parking across the street. It’s called El Azteca. Pm me for my take on the best sandwich shop, cookie store, French restaurants, wine bars, Irish pubs with great food, Jewish deli etc. Oh, and don’t forget Mission Pie for both dessert and savory pies, as well as tortes and gallettes. Too bad you’re gonna miss the peach season.

Thank you all very much!

<smirk>

Don’t be a stranger, @bob_.