DK Travel : San Francisco

San Franciscans will, rather candidly, admit that they are the most fortunate people on earth, the occasional earthquake notwithstanding; and most visitors, after a few days of taking in the sights and sounds of this magnificent city, will agree. Ask anyone who has been here and they will tell you it’s their favorite US city. The geographical setting evokes so much emotional drama, the light seems clearer, the colors more vivid, the cultural diversity of the ethnic neighborhoods so captivating and inviting, that it’s a place almost everyone can fall in love with at first sight.

Bullitt

Probably the most famous car-chase ever filmed, due to the city’s infamous hills (1968).
Burning Man

One event that defies description. It is group performance art on a behemoth scale.
Cabernet Sauvignon

This full-bodied red, with overtones of blackcurrant, is a Bay Area favorite. Try the Robert Mondavi Winery.
Cable Car Museum

This brick, warehouse-like structure houses the nuts and bolts machinery that keeps the entire cable car system operating. Don’t miss a look downstairs at the giant, spool-like sheaves winding the fat cables round and round.
Cable Car Museum

I lived in San Francisco for 6 years, and never visited this museum until last weekend. Big mistake!

Located on Nob Hill in the Washington-Mason line powerhouse and carbarn, this museum is a working piece of history. Amazingly, admission is free!

Your kids can watch the cables running on huge wheels, ring a real cable car bell, and see photos and exhibits of the 1906 earthquake.

There is a particularly poignant video exhibit that tells how the cable cars were saved from "modernization" in the 1940's. It seems funny in retrospect that the cable cars almost fell victim to the lower operational expenses of buses. Tourists don't exactly throng to San Francisco to ride the buses.
Cable Cars

San Francisco’s little troopers have endured technological progress, and are now the only system of the kind in the world that still plays a daily role in urban life.
Café

Something – and somebody – for everybody here at this camp, cruisy Castro old-timer that attracts gays, lesbians, and straights in equal doses. The outdoor balcony is great for people-watching.
Café Claude

The owner actually bought Le Barbizon Café in Paris and shipped it over piece by piece. That accounts for the authentic French feel of this back-alley bistro-like spot near Union Square, where francophiles rendezvous to imagine themselves on the Left Bank. The food, too, is suitably Gallic, and the waiters appropriately brusque.
Café Flore

Gay-central, this place, with patio seating and cozy indoor tables, has been an institution for decades.
Café Flore

Not just a daytime cruising and coffee venue, but also by night a hopping spot. Lots of gay party people meet here first before heading out for the really late-night dancing, dark-room clubbing, and what-not that goes on all around the area.