Our San Francisco Trip

May 3 through 11, 1998

Have you ever had to endure your friends' vacation slides, projected onto a screen in a dark room after the dinner which was really only a ploy to lure you into the trap? We believe that this is a kinder way to subject you to our vacation photos!

The photos which have a blue border are actually "links" to larger (usually about 800 X 600) photos so you can "click" on them to view the pictures close-up. We hope you enjoy the show!

Since this is an internet site, some strangers may venture here, as well. For you, and for our family and friends, we also hope to provide information which may help you if you are planning a trip to the Bay Area. We found a lot of helpful information at sanfrancisco.sidewalk. The visitor's guide there contains a wealth of useful infomation about the city and the area. We made our hotel reservations through San Francisco Hotel Reservations. One of the front desk folks at our hotel (The Grosvenor House) said he had never seen any of their guests get such a good rate!

The hotel where we stayed, The Grosvenor House Suites, is located on Nob Hill, and is within two blocks of the nicest hotels on the west coast. While not exactly up there with those $400-per-night hotels, ours was quite comfortable and, in fact, nicer than some in the Colorado Springs or Denver areas where we have spent as much!

This is actually a mirror-image view of the room where we stayed. The building is 19 stories high. We were on the 9th floor. There is a kitchenette behind those doors on the left. Although we didn't cook, the refrigerator and the microwave were handy!

On our first full day in town, we (naturally) went to Fisherman's Wharf. Several firms offer hour-long boat tours of the nearby bay, including Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge. That's where we started!

Our favorite photo here was taken by a fellow-tourist who offered to photograph us together with the Golden Gate partially engulfed in a cloud.

No, we didn't eat at "Bubba Gump's". It is apparently a tourist trap with mediocre food and high prices. We DID take this picture, though.

Chinatown is very close (walking-distance, if you can handle the hills!) to Nob Hill. We ventured there several times for some really good food. A favorite of Paul's was House of Nanking at 919 Kearny Street. The entree's there were $5-8 (cash only) and with beer, wine, and tip you can eat out for $20.

The areas of Napa and Sonoma counties, north of the Golden Gate, produce arguably the finest wine in the world. No trip to the area would be complete without a visit to (at least) one of them!

We chose The Benziger Family Winery because we had read about their tour, and it sounded interesting. Indeed, there turned out to be more information in this hour-long tour than we could soak in (especially since we had done some "tasting" beforehand). We both fell in love with their 1996 Chardonnay Carneros. It is really quite a lot different than most California Chardonnays, a little less dry and with a unique "buttery/oak" flavor. The '95 (available locally) isn't quite the same, but it is still good! If you can find a bottle of the '96, try it!

We, of course, purchased some, along with a reserve, estate grown Cabernet, a rare Petit Sirah, and some other nick-nacks.

They also grow hops in Sonoma, so we naturally visited a microbrewery there, too.

Speaking of restaurants, did you know that San Francisco is the 3rd most expensive city in the world to dine-out? London is #1, and New York is #2. So it really helped to have planned ahead and gotten a good idea of where some "gems" could be found. For our (belated) 20th wedding anniversary, we selected a place across the Bay called Hong Kong East Ocean. The view of the Bay from our table window was spectacular. The dinner was under $65 (for two) with drinks and tip.

This is inside the restaurant. The aquariums behind us house our dinner (temporarily!!!).

Let's see, what was next?

Oh, yeah! Next day was our trip south of San Francisco along Highway 1 (Pacific Coast Highway). Kathy says this was her favorite day of the entire trip.

There are a lot of redwood forests in the area. We visited a small State Park (Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park) to enjoy some of the best!

My meeting, "Advances and Controversies in Clinical Pediatrics", started the next day at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel (two blocks away from where we stayed). We would have stayed there for one night, just for the experience. But alas, there was no room at the Inn (whew!).

Another famous nearby hotel was the Fairmont. Kathy wanted a photo of it because she liked it better than the Ritz-Carlton. Because of the flags.

Actually, a "local", who came to the area often from his home about 150 miles south, assured me that the "Ritz" and the Fairmont were "about the same".

During those days when I had to attend the meeting, there was less time to explore the city and it's surroundings. There was still time to eat, however!

With absolutely no question, our most enjoyable dining experience was Tadich Grill.

This 150 year-old restaurant owned by Americans of Croatian descent was absolutely the peak of our dining experience in San Francisco! The cioppino (one of Paul's favorite dishes because his Aunt Sue used to make it for special occasions) was truly remarkable! Don't bother with the overpriced cioppino at Fisherman's Wharf - go to Tadich instead!

After the meeting, we finished our sight-seeing over the weekend starting with the obligatory cable-car photos.

And Lombard Street, "the crookedest street in the world" (that's Kathy driving our light-brown Ford Escort rental car down the hill).

And, of course, Haight-Ashbury (Kathy thought it would be "too typical" to give a "peace" sign, so she is rendering a Vulcan Salute ("Live long and Prosper") here.

Our trip through The Presidio was the most memorable view of the Golden Gate, especially those shots from Fort Point.

Nearby, in Golden Gate Park, is the famous Japanese Tea Garden.

Of course, there was North Beach still to see.

We hiked up to Coit Tower atop Telegraph Hill (so named because in the 1850's a semaphore signal from the hill notified local merchants of arriving ships). Although we would have preferred to drive, the hike was worth it!

The photo of the tower below has Kathy at it's base.

Also in North Beach was the Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church, noted for the fact that Cecil B. DeMille filmed part of his original The Ten Commandments (1922) at it's construction, and that Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio were married there.

Yes, that is Kathy on the stairs.

Kathy saw an unusual tree she wanted me to photograph. Does anyone know what this tree is?

Finally, we drove up to Twin Peaks, on the south end of Market Street, for a great view of town!

But no view of town really surpassed that from our room at night.

So there it is! We hope you enjoyed revisiting San Francisco with us!

If you have any questions or comments, please e-mail us.

To return to the main menu click here.