San Francisco: City By The
Bay
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FEATURED ATTRACTIONS Alcatraz Island can
be reached via ferries that leave Pier 41 at
Fisherman’s Wharf. Alcatraz was
a former maximum security federal penitentiary that
once incarcerated such notorious criminals as Al
Capone, Machine Gun Kelly and Robert Stroud, the “Birdman
of Alcatraz”. A self-guided trail, cellblock
tour, slide show and ranger programs are available.
Wear comfortable shoes and warm clothing.
Cable Car Museum and Powerhouse Viewing Gallery contains
models, photographs and relics of San Francisco’s
first cable car, built in 1873. A video about
cable cars describes how they work, and an underground
viewing room enables visitors to observe the
huge sheaves that guide the vehicles from under the
street.
Carmel was established in 1904 by a group
of artists and writers as a bucolic retreat. As
the settlement
grew, its founders fought the encroachment
of paved streets, gas, electricity and other modern
amenities,
and stringent zoning ordinances have preserved
Carmel’s
village flavor and individuality. Carmel is
an architectural conglomerate of international
styles,
reflecting
the whims of the residents.
Chinatown More Chinese live in this “city
within a city” than in any other place in the world
outside of China or Hong Kong.
Fisherman’s
Wharf with its picturesque sights and
pungent smells, attracts millions of visitors
annually. Along the waterfront are many restaurants,
markets, import houses and souvenir shops.
Fresh seafood and sourdough bread are favorite
buys.
Ghirardelli Square is within walking distance
of Fisherman’s Wharf and the Cannery.
The 2.5-acre site comprises a complex of crenellated,
white-trimmed
brick buildings of the old Ghirardelli chocolate
company, a woolen mill, apartments and other
buildings that have been refurbished to house
specialty shops,
bakeries and international restaurants.
Golden Gate Bridge With a length of 8,981 feet
and main span length of 4,200 feet, it is one
of the
longest single-span suspension bridges ever
built. Its two massive towers are the world’s
highest bridge towers, at 746 feet above the
water. A clearance
of 220 feet allows passage of the largest oceangoing
vessels.
Golden Gate Park John McLaren, a Scottish
landscape gardener and park superintendent 1887-1943,
transformed a barren wasteland into this lush
oasis with
a dozen artificial lakes and a collection of
trees and other
plants of worldwide scope.
Lombard Street is
often referred to as “the
crookedest street in the world”. The
street is so steep that they had to have a
way to slow
traffic down, so they made it crooked. Mission Dolores The
oldest building in San Francisco, it was founded
June 29 and opened
Oct. 9, 1776,
by Father Juniper Serra. Masses are still held
in the
original Mission building, which features 4-foot
thick adobe walls, redwood beams lashed together
with rawhide to support the roof, and a ceiling
painted with vegetable dyes. This building
survived the 1906
earthquake, which destroyed much of the surrounding
area.
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Houses more than 500
species of marine life in more than 100 galleries
and
exhibits. Included is a million-gallon tank
whose denizens,
including sunfish, barracudas, tuna, sharks
and green sea turtles, are visible through
an acrylic
panel
54 feet long, 15 feet high and 13 inches thick.
Muir Woods - Redwoods Over
the Golden Gate Bridge and less than an hour
from San Francisco,
you
will find the tallest living things-the redwoods.
One
tree is 252 feet tall and 14 feet wide. Most
are 800-1,000 years old. The trees have matured
and survived
fires due to their thick bark, anywhere from
6-12 inches.
Nob Hill was
the center of luxurious living in the last
half of the 19th-century, when
men who
had made
fortunes in railroading and gold mining built
their houses in this territory. This place
is full of history
and lore.
Pier 39 at the foot of Stockton St. on the
Embarcadero and two-blocks from Fisherman’s
Wharf, is a festival marketplace with postcard
views of the
Golden
Gate, Bay Bridges, Alcatraz, the San Francisco
Bay and skyline. The pier has numerous fun-filled
attractions.
Presidio served
as an active military garrison almost continuously
for 218 years. The Presidio
was closed
as an Army post in 1994, and its 1,480 acres
transferred to the National Park Service. Within
its boundaries
are Fort Point, San Francisco National Cemetery,
Fort Winfield Scott, Letterman Hospital and
Crissy Field. The higher hills offer spectacular
bay
and ocean vistas.
Seventeen-Mile
Drive is the scenic route
from Pacific Grove to Carmel and a highlight
of
any visit to
this coastal region. Points of interest along
the way
include Seal Rock, Cypress Point and Lone Cypress.
Among the six golf courses on the route are
Pebble Beach, Cypress Point, Spy Glass Hill
and Monterey
Peninsula, scene of the AT&T Pro-Am Golf
Tournament at the end of January and the beginning
of February.
Telegraph Hill rises near the east end of
Lombard St. and provides a panorama. Coit Memorial
Tower, built roughly in the shape of a fire
hose nozzle,
memorializes volunteer firefighters. |