2006.08.08
Playing the Tourist
Mom and Dad (and me)A large portion of my family is in San Francisco visiting and I’m getting a chance to play tourist. I’ve lived in many cities that are popular tourist destinations with loads of interesting places to visit but, because I live in them, I rarely do these things. So it’s nice to hop on a cable car or visit the Sutro Bath ruins. It’s very easy to take the place you live for granted, and that’s sad when it’s one of the best cities on Earth.
One of the places we visited that I’ve never done in the almost nine years I’ve lived here was to goto the Exploratorium. What a great combination of hands on science and interesting bits and bobs to play around with. I come from a family of geeky/nerdy folk (sorry, Mom, but it’s true) and this was right up our alley. I was quite jealous of their working miniature marine steam engine. Some of the biology exhibits were also quite memorable like the chick embryo growing or the mouse heart cells pumping. I definitely want to return!
Of course walking among the tall columns of the Palace of Fine Arts is its own reward.
We’ve also visited the San Francisco Zoo, which I haven’t been to in a very long time. The elephants are gone, but the steam train is there and so are all the animals. In the nice weather many of them were even out and wandering about. Except the koalas, which were just sleeping. Why does anyone like koalas? Stupid animals that sleep all day and are grumpy and violent when disturbed. Oh wait, that sounds like me in the morning.
Karma on the Cable CarEven something as simple as riding the cable cars at night was so nice. It’s kind of silly but I would ride those things every single day if I could. I wish this city had never gotten rid of all the trams and trolleys. My personal feeling is that was one of the worst moves they’ve made. Buses suck.
Of course we went to the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park (here’s an interesting history). This is one of my favorite places in the city. It’s unfortunate the fish are missing from the garden. For anyone who’s seen Memoirs of a Geisha you will instantly recognize many of the views. Of interest to note is that fortune cookies in America were introduced here, and are not Chinese at all but are of Japanese decent.
We’ve also run up and down the “new” China Town on Clement Street, run around in the water at Ocean Beach, eaten in North Beach, and dealt with the crowds at Fisherman’s Wharf. The best thing is their visit is only half gone. Hopefully I’ll get inspired to write more interesting stuff about the places we’re visiting so you don’t start thinking, “Oh god, here he goes about his boring freaking life again…”
2 Comments Categorized: family life san francisco
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2 Responses to “Playing the Tourist”
- NHK says (August 9th, 2006 at 13:00:30 )
I used to ride the cable cars every chance I got when I bought a Fast Pass every month. The best line is Powell outbound to the Wharf late at night during midweek. There are minimal passengers and the drivers often just tear around the corners at what seems (when you’re standing on the running board) like break-neck speed. Lovely. Alomost reason enough to move farther from downtown rather than nearer this Winter.
- douglas.nerad » Playing the Tourist Part Two says (August 14th, 2006 at 04:48:53 )
[...] A couple days ago I talked about a few places that I’ve gone with my family since they’re in town. Here’s the update… [...]
