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City Guide - San Francisco - Key Attractions | ||
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Key Attractions Golden Gate Bridge The beautiful Golden Gate Bridge, which connects 'Frisco' to Marin County, is not gold, of course, but a vivid orange that stands out even through the frequent thick fogs. Spanning nearly 1981m (6500ft), the bridge is one of the wonders of the modern world - and one of five bridges that span the Bay. The best views of it are from Fort Point in the Presidio (Long Avenue and Marine Drive) and Visa Point on the Marin side at the north end of the bridge. A walk - or at least a drive - across is essential (walking takes about 30 minutes). The two pivotal cables contain enough steel wire to encircle the equator three times. The concrete alone would provide enough material for a pavement from the city to New York. Highway 101 Tel: (415) 921 5858. Fax: (415) 457 2892. Website: www.goldengate.org Transport: Bus 28. Opening hours: Daily 24 hours (roadway and bicycle access); 0500-2100 (pedestrian east sidewalk). Admission: Free; US$3 southbound-only toll for cars. Golden Gate Park The 411.5 hectares (1017 acres) of Golden Gate Park encompass meadows, lakes, rose gardens, an arboretum, a rhododendron dell, an open-air music concourse, a children's playground, a buffalo paddock and the tallest artificial waterfall in the West. The park is also home to the Asian Art Museum, the California Academy of Sciences (including the Natural History Museum, the Morrison Planetarium and the Steinhart Aquarium), and fronts onto Ocean Beach, which affords spectacular sunset views. Some 7000 plant species flourish in the Strybing Arboretum and Botanical Gardens, while the Japanese Tea Garden is a haven. The Presidio, the land and buildings surrounding the approach to the Golden Gate Bridge, was formerly one of the oldest military installations in the country, and now houses a forest, a Civil War brick fortress and a museum. Tel: (415) 750 7145. Tel: (415) 831 2700 Fax: (415) 221 8034. Website: www.parks.sfgov.org Transport: Bus 5, 21, 44 or 71; N-Judah Streetcar. Opening hours: Daily 1000-1700 (museums). Admission: Free (park). Admission to attractions around US$8.50. Planetarium shows US$2.50. Alcatraz Looming menacingly in the Bay near Fisherman's Wharf, Alcatraz, known simply as The Rock, was the site of the USA's toughest maximum-security prison from 1934 until 1963. Al Capone lodged there as did birdman Robert Stroud, although his infamy is based more on Hollywood legend than fact: he never did keep birds here. Alcatraz, which imprisoned convicts as much by the Bay estuary's lethal currents as by manmade bars, opened to a curious public in 1973. Now part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, its on-island activities include trail walks, audio cassette tours narrated by former inmates and guards, and ranger-led tours. The frustration of being able to witness the natural beauty and bright lights of the Bay communities from just a mile away is palpable. Alcatraz Island was also the site of the first lighthouse built on the Pacific Coast. Visitors are advised to book early and wear warm clothes. Alcatraz Island Tel: (415) 705 5555 (advance tickets) or 773 1188 (24-hour information). Website: www.nps.gov/alcatraz Admission: US$8.75; US$12.25 including audiocassette rental. Transport: Blue and Gold Ferries from Piers 39 and 41. Fisherman's Wharf In the daytime, visitors throng the sidewalks and piers of Fisherman's Wharf, centre for tacky souvenirs, Bay-view restaurants, shops, attractions and the spectacle of some 400 resident sea lions crowded onto pontoons to sunbathe. But in the early hours of the morning, the ambitious visitor can get quite another view: that of a busy fish distribution centre sending out seafood locally and further afield from dawn until 0900. Dylan Thomas once waxed lyrical to his wife, Caitlin, about the quality of the lobsters, clams and crabs here and small wonder: oysters, chowder, crab and shrimp cocktail are never far away on the wharf. Much else is sugar-coated and geared to the tourist trade. Pier 39, on the corner of The Embarcadero and Beach Street, is actually one of 29 curiously numbered piers on the waterfront, and is now the city's biggest attraction. It is home to the sea lions, but also many other attractions, such as the impressive aquarium Underwater World (tel: (415) 623 5300). The wharf is also home to a number of old ships and the National Maritime Museum. Sightseeing boats leave from Pier 39 and the neighbouring Pier 41, and the Bay views are sublime. The Cannery, on Jefferson and Leavenworth Streets, houses 30 specialty shops; Ghirardelli Square, former chocolate factory turned chic shopping centre, can also be approached from the wharf. Hyde Street Pier provides a little more in the way of maritime history: the Eureka, an 1890 paddlewheeler, the schooner C.A. Thayer, a number of other ships and the Art Deco National Maritime Museum, Beach and Polk Streets (tel: (415) 556 3002), provide insight into life a century ago. The Embarcadero Tel: (415) 391 2000. Fax (617) 960 9216. Website: www.sfvisitor.org Transport: Bay Street; Beach Street; Powell-Mason cable car; streetcar F-line. Cable Cars One of San Francisco's principal attractions is its network of century-old cable cars, America's only mobile National Historic Landmark. The system was opened in 1873 when Andrew Hallidie guided the first car down Clay Street near Portsmouth Square to replace horsedrawn street cars and was refurbished in the 1980s. The ride (US$2.50) and the views can best be enjoyed standing on one of the outside platforms but hold on tight and watch out for traffic. The cars operate along three routes: the Powell-Hyde and Powell-Mason lines beginning at Powell and Market Streets, and the California Street line, running from California and Market Streets to Van Ness Avenue. The cars are turned by hand on turntables at the end of the line: all part of the experience. In the San Francisco Cable Car Museum, visitors can view the cable-winding machinery as it reels 17km (11 miles) of steel at a steady pace of 15km (9.5 miles) per hour. Washington and Mable Streets, Nob Hill Tel: (415) 474 1887. Fax: (415) 929 7546. Website: www.sfcablecar.com Transport: Chinatown. Opening hours: Daily 1000-1800 (Apr-Oct); daily 1000-1700 (Oct-Mar). Admission: US$2.50. Museums Two key museums that cannot be missed are the Cartoon Art Museum and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. The Cartoon Art Museum is the only one of its kind on the West Coast, displays rotating exhibitions of art from cartoons, comic books and animation. The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, designed by Swiss architect Mario Botta, opened in 1995 to great acclaim. It houses twentieth-century sculpture, painting, photography and new media installations. Cartoon Art Museum 814 Mission Street, South of Market Tel: (415) 227 8666. Fax: (415) 243 8666. Opening hours: Wed-Friday 1100-1700; Sat 1000-1700; Sun 1300-1700. Admission: US$5 (concessions available). San Francisco Museum of Modern Art 151 Third Street, South of Market Tel: (415) 357 4000. Website: www.sfmoma.org Opening hours: 1100-1800 Friday to Tuesday; 1100-2100 Thursday. Admission: US$8 (concessions available). |