San Francisco, California

Updated January 2009

We spent a few days in San Francisco April 2003. A truly world class city, full of great food, great sights, and full of activity. Our weather was mixed - some periods of sun, but a full day of rain as well. Our recommendations include the Fisherman's Wharf, any restaurant in Chinatown, the North Beach area (Italian section) and the MITA transit passes - well worth it if you plan on riding the cable cars more than once. We didn't even come close to covering it all though, but don't worry - We'll go back!

And we were. We were able to spend another 6 nights in San Francisco in January of 2009. This visit included Alcatraz, the Modern Art Museaum, and 5 full days of sun.

We've added our newest pictures to the top

	Back in San Fransisco, looking down Powell towards Union Square (January 2009, Lumix FZ-30)
	Back in San Fransisco, looking down Powell towards Union Square (January 2009, Lumix FZ-30)
	Inside a cable car (January 2009, Lumix FZ-30)
	The TransAmerica Building (January 2009, Lumix FZ-30)
	Karen on the Cable Car (January 2009, Lumix FZ-30)
	Karen on the Cable Car (January 2009, Lumix FZ-30)
	"Take Rope" (January 2009, Lumix FZ-30)
	On the Cable Car (January 2009, Lumix FZ-30)
	"Let Go" (January 2009, Lumix FZ-30)
	"No Step" (January 2009, Lumix FZ-30)
	"Car #3" (January 2009, Lumix FZ-30)
	Coming out of the Car Barn (January 2009, Lumix FZ-30)
	The worky bitz of the Cable Car business (January 2009, Lumix FZ-30)
	San Francisco - Cable Cars, Golden Gate Bridge, and gaslights. (January 2009, Lumix FZ-30)
	"NO" (January 2009, Lumix FZ-30)
	Alcatraz Island (January 2009, Lumix FZ-30)
	Alcatraz Island (January 2009, Lumix FZ-30)
	Alcatraz Island (January 2009, Lumix FZ-30)
	Alcatraz Island (January 2009, Lumix FZ-30)
	Alcatraz Island (January 2009, Lumix FZ-30)
	San Francisco from the Water (January 2009, Lumix FZ-30)
	San Francisco from the Water (January 2009, Lumix FZ-30)
	The Mighty Seagull of Freedom. (January 2009, Lumix FZ-30)
	Alcatraz (January 2009, Lumix FZ-30)
	In the Museum of Modern Art (January 2009, Lumix FZ-30)
	In the Museum of Modern Art (January 2009, Lumix FZ-30)
	In the Museum of Modern Art (January 2009, Lumix FZ-30)
	"The Money Gap" (January 2009, Lumix FZ-30)
	The Powell Hotel. Fantastic location, fair prices, recommend it strongly. (January 2009, Lumix FZ-30)
	Sam Wo - great hole in the wall Chinese. (January 2009, Nokia Cell Phone)

2003

	The entrance to China Town (April 2003)
	Guardian lion, China town gates (April 2003)
	This was a fantastic restaurant that we had lunch at. The sweet and sour soup was to die for. (April 2003) We visited this on our return trip in 2009, and the food was horrible. We would not recommend this again.
	The Transamerica Pyramid (April 2003)
	Yeah, we found the Fisherman's Wharf! (April 2003)
	The harbor area of San Francisco (April 2003)
	It was full of these stinky, loud, sea lions. They're cute, and apparently only moved in about 10 years ago. (April 2003)
	Alcatraz. We didn't visit this trip, you need to make reservations at least a week in advance. (April 2003)
	The nice thing about the wharf area was the "to-go's" Here your hero has his concealed cleverly in a small, brown paper bag. (April 2003)
	We had dinner at the restaurant marked with the orange sign, Scopas. Great seafood, located right on the pier. (April 2003)
	Even at night, the wharf area was happening (April 2003)
	Fisherman's Wharf at night (April 2003)
	San Francisco is smart, and besides the famous cable cars, they have a fleet of old restored street cars. These old cars come from all over the world; we rode in one from Boston, Milan, and San Francisco. (April 2003)
	This was our hotel, the Westin St. Francis, located right on Union Square. (April 2003)
	The Westin St. Francis (April 2003)
	Naturally we rode the cable cars! Here's one about to get spun around on the end-of-the-line turntable. (April 2003)
	It's hard not to have fun (April 2003)
	San Francisco has a really cool aquarium, consisting of a large glass tunnel that allows the fish to swim over, around, and next to you (April 2003)
	I really like these small bait fish, it was fun to watch their school whisk over the tunnel (April 2003)
	It's hard to see, but that's a 8 foot octopus! (April 2003)
	Don't worry San Fran - we'll be back! (April 2003)