Frommer's San Francisco 2012 - Matthew Poole [140]
ESPECIALLY FOR kids
The following San Francisco attractions appeal to kids of all ages:
• Alcatraz Island
• Cable Car Museum
• Cable Cars
• California Academy of Sciences
• The Exploratorium
• Golden Gate Bridge
• Golden Gate Park, including the Children’s Playground, Bison Paddock, and Japanese Tea Garden
• Maritime Museum (San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park) and the historic ships anchored at Hyde Pier
• Metreon Entertainment Center
• San Francisco Zoo
In addition to the sights listed above, a number of playgrounds are of particular interest to kids. One of the most enormous tricked-out playgrounds for kids is in Golden Gate Park, where you’ll find a fantastic kids’ playland just west of the Stanyan Street entrance. Other playful park areas include Stow Lake’s boats and the bison paddock. Apartment buildings surround the Cow Hollow Playground, Baker Street between Greenwich and Filbert streets, on three of four sides. The landscaped playground features a bi-level play area fitted with well-conceived, colorful play structures, including a tunnel, slides, swings, and a miniature cable car. Huntington Park, Taylor Street between Sacramento and California streets, sits atop Nob Hill. This tiny play area contains several small structures particularly well suited to children 4 and under. Julius Kahn Playground, West Pacific Avenue at Spruce Street, is a popular playground inside San Francisco’s great Presidio Park. Larger play structures, a trickling canal, and forested surroundings make this area attractive to children and adults alike. Go to www.parks.sfgov.org.
SELF-GUIDED & ORGANIZED TOURS
The 49-Mile Scenic Drive ★★
The self-guided, 49-mile drive is an easy way to orient yourself and to grasp the beauty of San Francisco and its extraordinary location. It’s also a flat-out stunning and very worthy excursion. Beginning in the city, it follows a rough circle around the bay and passes virtually all the best-known sights, from Chinatown to the Golden Gate Bridge, Ocean Beach, Seal Rocks, Golden Gate Park, and Twin Peaks. Originally designed for the benefit of visitors to San Francisco’s 1939 and 1940 Golden Gate International Exposition, the route is marked by blue-and-white sea gull signs. Although it makes an excellent half-day tour, this mini-excursion can easily take longer if you decide, for example, to stop to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge or to have tea in Golden Gate Park’s Japanese Tea Garden.
The 49-mile drive’s inspiring views may spark some romance.
The San Francisco Visitor Information Center, at Powell and Market streets, distributes free route maps, which are handy since a few of the Scenic Drive marker signs are missing. Try to avoid the downtown area during the weekday rush hours from 7 to 9am and 4 to 6pm.
A BART Tour
One of the world’s best commuter systems, Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) runs along 104 miles of rail, linking 43 stations between San Francisco, Millbrae, and the East Bay. Under the bay, BART runs through one of the longest underwater transit tubes in the world. This link opened in September 1972, 2 years behind schedule and 6 months after the general manager resigned under fire. The train cars are 70 feet long and were designed to represent the latest word in public transport luxury. More than 3 decades later, they no longer seem futuristic, but they’re still attractively modern, with carpeted floors, tinted picture windows, air-conditioning, and recessed lighting. The trains can hit a top speed of 80 mph; a computerized control system monitors and adjusts their speed.
The people who run BART think so highly of their trains and stations that they sell a $5.20 “Excursion Ticket,” which allows you, in effect, to “sightsee” the BART system,