My wife, our daughter, and I took our annual vacation last week, this year to San Francisco and Monterey.I've always had the sense that San Francisco is not a city suited to sightseeing by car, with very limited parking and excellent public transportation. We stayed two nights free at the Marriott hotel at San Francisco International Airport by signing up for the Marriott Rewards visa program, and we had the problem of how to get to the city, and then get to the places we wanted to go.
Luckily, the subway/monorail system (BART) that serves the San Francisco Bay Area has been extended to SFO airport, with a stop in Millbrae just a short drive from our hotel. So on Sunday morning, we parked our car for free at the Millbrae BART/CalTrain station, and rode for half a hour, emerging at Powell and Market streets, just a few blocks from Union Station.
Powell and Market is also the terminus for two of the city's famed cable car lines, both ending near Fisherman's Wharf. For our train-obsessed daughter, standing on the seat at the front of the cable car (with my wife holding her up), staring out the window as we went up and down the steep hills, was probably the highlight of the trip.
Once there, we strolled around the Hyde Street Pier, Ghiradelli Square, had lunch overlooking the marina, and saw the sea lions at Pier 39. From there, we caught the Muni bus line 30 to Chinatown, which impressed my wife by its size (compared to Los Angeles' Chinatown). It's also interesting how Chinatown has its tourist-oriented stores and restaurants along Grant Avenue, and one block away, stores and restaurants for the locals on Stockton Street.
We walked back through the Grant Avenue gates to Chinatown to Union Square, and did some shopping in the massive Macy's department store overlooking Union Square. We then walked back to the BART station, and ended up having dinner at the In 'N' Out burger restaurant (a Southern California institution) which has found its way to Millbrae.
