I've pretty much grown up in small towns. For thoes of you who beg to differ with this statement, its only because I remember very little of the 'big' towns for them to count. Life pretty much happened in Oak Harbor, WA and Ridgecrest, CA. These towns consist of around 25,000 people and Wal-Mart. Going to a big city is somewhat of a treat. I've been to Seattle, they have a very nice airport. I've been to Los Angles, its a bit to dirty and mexican for me. I've been to San Diego (and am there now), its small and I've done a lot of what there is to do. I've been to New York, their Macy's is huge and they sell scarves in their train station. Never before have I been to such a large city and thoroughly enjoyed it all or remembered it all for that matter. San Francisco has fit the bill. I must say that I love that city. There is so much to do and so much to see. It is fairly clean (Seattle is the cleanest city I've even been to), and the shopping is just short of fabulous. I really liked using public transportation; crazies and all.
Day one was a surprise day. We didn't originally plan to see or do anything. As it turns out not only did we leave San Diego, arrive in San Francisco, and take a tour of our hotel - the Hilton on O'Ferrell - but we also gained our barrings, walked around the Financial distric, and did a walking tour of Union Square. Our first stop was an Irish pub just down the street from the Hilton. It's sign read 'It's Time for a Pint.' After a weary day of travel, that sounded nice. We were hungry. Even though alcohol has some food value, food has no alcohol value. To counter balance this unfortunate tale, we settled on an order of fish and chips, two pints of a local ale, and a Roy Rogers (can't drink just yet).
(sign that entised us to enter the Irish Pub)Our first real sight to see or rather do was to ride the glass elevators at the Westin St. Francis Hotel. After some very confusing looks and many wrong turns, we finally realized that the actual elevators of the hotel were the glass elevators. Luckily we weren't the only tourists in the hotel seeing as we shared our elevator with a young couple who also came to see the views. The elevator shoots you up like a bat outta hell to the 40-somthing floor where you are given a brief view of the spralling city below. Of course all 5 of us agreed that just one look up wasn't enough. On our third time down a few of the hotel's temperary residents joined us. We decided that the third time was the charm, and proceded to the exit which was a one of the rotating, turny doors.
(view of the city from the glass elevator)
Our stop was Union Square itself. The National Geographic Travelers book of San Francisco describes this site as follows: "Across Powell Street Un9ion Square Park, a central place to rendezvous with friends or just to rest your weary feet and do some people watching. Once a san bank, the 2.6-acre park was set aside as open space in Jasper O'Farrell's 1847 plan of the city. Named when pro-Union rallies were held here just before the Civil War, the park has provided a soapbox for public expression since the 1930's labor demonstration. In 1958 beatniks in sandals and beards paraded here to a bongo-drum beat on the 'Squaresville Tour', designed to express wry annoyance at having become tourist attractions in North Beach. In 1987 a group of gay activist called the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence protested Pope John Paul II's visit. The park's Dewey Monument honors Adm. George Dewey for his 1898 vicotry in Manila Bay during the Spanish-American war. Atop its 97-foot Corinthian column stands Robert Aitken's 1903 bronze figure of 'Victory'. Beneath the park is a pioneer underground parking garage built in 1942."
(Union Square Park with monument in center)Lucky you I won't be writting much out of the book. I just found that interesting. Unfortunately we veared off of the recomended walking tour (not really) after getting a great view of the man on Macy's. Anna doubed this man as David Beckam, this of course, was after a bit of red wine.
(man sporting his underwear on the front of Macy's)
Regaining the trail we viewed the beautiful stain glass dome in the postmodern Neiman Marcus. This 2.600 piece stain glass dome depicts a ship which is the emblem of Paris, France. It was preserved from the 1909 City of Paris store.
(stain glass dome of the Neiman Marcus)
We then continued up Maiden Lane. Though now it is a nice, quiet pedestrian only shopping street, it once was lined with women beckoning from windows, naked from the waist up. They would charge passing men a dime to fondle one breat, or two for fifteen.
(present-day Maiden Lane)
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