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• Home: World Cities - !. SAN FRANCISCO
  google1bd0710480758d71.html From its magnificent bayside vistas to the intimate cafes, San Francisco offers a visit par excellence. Fisherman's Wharf and the Golden Gate Bridge may be the city's two most well known attractions - and well deserving of their reputations - but the city at the lower edge of Northern California offers much more. Rides on the famed cable cars may not be the fastest way to get around (they never go more than 10 miles per hour), but they are one of the most fun. Up and down the steep hills near Pier 39 and through Union Square, they provide a wonderful glance back at history while seeing the latest sights. Opera and ballet second to none are here, but the artistic delights don't stop there. The Legion of Honor and the M.H. de Young museum provide all the fine visual art one could take in during one vacation.But the city offers young scientists something rare and delightful as well. The Exploratorium inside the Palace of Fine Arts has over 650 interactive and hands-on exhibits. Ranging from tornadoes you can touch to electrical experiments you shouldn't, kids and adults both will find something of interest here.
  
  
  • The Exploratorium & The Zoo
    EXPLORATORIUMFounded by Frank Oppenheimer, the brother of J. Robert Oppenheimer and himself a physicist, the Exploratorium contains over 650 exhibits that can't be properly described - they have to be experienced.Almost all are interactive and hands-on. THE SAN FRANCISCO ZOOThough smaller than some of the more well known zoos, such as those of San Diego or the Bronx, the San Francisco Zoo is well worth a visit. Home to over 1,000 animals of 220 species, there are excellent displays and the 100-acre grounds are cool and easily walked over.
    
    
    • The San Francisco Aquariums
      Visitors to San Francisco have a choice of three major options when seeking an aquarium. Aquarium by the Bay;The Steinhart Aquarium;Monterey Bay.The Aquarium by the Bay, houses dozens of exhibits holding thousands of animals. The Steinhart Aquarium downtown is home to a similar variety of species, but with some delightful variations. Everything from poison dart frogs to alligator snapping turtles to penguins find a home here;Two hours south by bus from downtown is the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The jewel of the San Francisco area aquariums, the site is both a tourist exhibit and scientific research center. Here visitors can see thousands of near-transparent jellyfish floating gracefully around a tank or go outside and see live seals sunning themselves on the rocks.
      
      
    • Fisherman's Wharf
      Down on Fisherman's Wharf there's much more to do than eat shrimp. Ghiradelli Square houses the famous chocolate factory and ice cream shop that continues to pack them in a hundred years after its founding.Shopping is still one of the most popular reasons for a San Francisco visit. And, of course, down on the pier there's more fish than even locals or residents can consume.
      
      
    • Golden Gate Bridge
      The brainchild of Joseph Strauss, he outlived his creation by only a year. At the time of its construction it was the largest suspension bridge in the world erected over a body of cold, swift-current water 400 ft (122m) deep. The bridge towers remained the world's tallest until recently.
      
      
    • Alcatraz
      Opened as aU.S. Federal Penitentiary in 1934 .Alcatraz' most famous figure was Al Capone,Long isolated, the island a few miles off the coast of San Francisco housed a military prison beginning in 1907. In the early 1930s Federal prison system officials decided to use the location to hold its most hardened criminal detainees. It was thought that the cold, rapidly moving currents off the coast would discourage escape attempts.
      
      
    • Cable Cars
      The cable cars go back to San Francisco's heyday in the 1870's. Though long recognized as an inefficient means of transportation, the cable cars have survived several attempts at ecommissioning. And, fortunate it is too. They're huge fun.
      
      
    • China Town
      In an area near North Beach, bound roughly by Grant Avenue and Bush Street, Broadway and Larkin Street, lies a population of the ancestors of 19th century immigrants from China. They arrived literally by the boatload, seeking freedom and fortune during the post-1849 Gold Rush and the building of the Transcontinental Railroads.Home to the largest Asian population outside China, the exact number is virtually impossible to state.
      
      
    • Golden Gate Park
      At over 1,000 acres Golden Gate Park is larger than Central Park in Manhattan;visitors can enjoy archery, basketball, biking, skating and a host of other activities. There are tennis courts, a golf course, even flycasting pools. simply relax and enjoy viewing the many sculptures, bridges and flowers and let the dogs do all the running around.Since 1879 the Victorian Conservatory of Flowers has provided visitors with a refreshing view.
      
      
    • Union Square
      San Francisco is a tourist's delight for those seeking a mixture of old and new. Built in 1847, the square was designated from the outset as a public plaza. A $25 million renovation, completed in 2002, has brought the area to its current high point.The piazza retains a monument of the goddess of Victory built in 1903 and still dominates the square from atop a 97-foot Corinthian column.There are dozens of shops, art galleries, restaurants and - of course - hordes of people.
      
      
    • Haight Ashbury
      From an area uptown near the corner of Haight and Ashbury streets sprawls "The Haight". Several blocks of record shops, restaurants, antique stores and more, it still bears the look and feel of the mid-60s 'Hippie Revolution'.Parts of The Haight have changed little since 1967 and the Summer of Love. The restaurant names have changed and there are now tours where once there was just wandering. But if you're looking for an original Jefferson Airplane or Grateful Dead album on vinyl, this is the place to come.
      
      
    • The Legion's Honor-ART
      The California Palace of the Legion of Honor is an art experience inside and out. Housing a fine collection, the museum is located on a stellar site with breathtaking views of the San Francisco Bay. Re-opened in 1995 after a two-year, $35 million renovation, even the building itself is a work of art. Inside there are over 4,000 years of art, including paintings, sculptures and ceramics mostly of European style.See Rembrandt's lesser known works or see Rubens, El Greco or David. Renoir, Degas, Pissaro, Seurat and many others. The permanent collection covers 20 rooms and there are several rotating
      
      
• New York City, USA
  
  
  • New York - The Bronx Zoo
    
    
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• PARIS- City of Love
  
  
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• London-Kew Palace & Gardens
  
  
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