TWILIGHT IS ONE of my favorite times. Like many hills dwellers, Ilove the way sunset paints the sky over San Francisco. But it occursto me, as I take in this celestial sight, that I've been neglectingone of the greatest cities on earth. I spend time every summer inplaces that can't hold a candle to San Francisco. Like a neighborI've taken for granted, I see her -- but don't really know her.
That's going to change. I'm spending the weekend in SanFrancisco, and using one of the city's great hotels for my basecamp.
The Palace Hotel (sfpalace.com) has been a San Francisco jewelsince 1875. Imagine a splendid seven-story structure rising up fromthe dusty streets of a town that still had wooden sidewalks. TheTranscontinental Railroad was bringing travelers by the droves andThe Palace rivaled the great inns of Paris and Vienna, according toa famous visitor of the time, Gen. William T. Sherman.
When the original hotel burned down in a wall of fire thatconsumed Market Street after the 1906 quake, an even morespectacular structure replaced it in 1909. This is the Palace Hotelthat stands today, as a testament to San Francisco's ingenuity andspirit. She's 100 and fabulous -- and the perfect place for aweekend 'staycation,' or even just lunch in the celebrated GardenCourt.
Here are five fabulous things to do, in and around the PalaceHotel:
-- Take a free hotel history tour, led by San Francisco CityGuides (sfcityguides.org). Offered Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdaysthroughout the year, this 90-minute tour will transport you throughtime with tales of the people who stayed at the Palace. My favoriteis President Warren G. Harding, whose death at the Palace wasshrouded in mystery.
-- Dine like royalty in the hotel's Garden Court. Widelyacclaimed as one of the world's most beautiful public spaces, Istill get goose bumps when I see the soaring glass ceiling andcrystal chandeliers. Take the City Guides tour and you'll be able toorder from the Garden Court's anniversary menu, where executive chefJesse Llapitan's elegant two-course lunch is just $19.09. (Thecioppino is succulent and brimming with seafood.)
-- See and be seen in the Pied Piper Bar. The Pied Piper and itscompanion restaurant, Maxfields, have been headquarters for the hipand connected since the early days of the hotel. It's all about theambience here, with the warm wood and marble mosaic floors and apriceless 1909 painting of the Pied Piper behind the bar. Sip avodka martini (Herb Caen's favorite drink) and nosh on fresh sushi(a deluxe plate made on site is just $20) -- giant prawns, oystersand one of my favorites, calamari french fries. Everything is topnotch at this San Francisco hot spot. There's no need to dineanywhere else.
-- Grab an antique streetcar or cable car and soak up the sights.The Palace is at Market and New Montgomery, one of the city'stransit hubs. Use the San Francisco City Pass (citypass.com) to getaround and get unlimited rides on Muni for a week. In fact, onecould spend hours just riding the cable cars and meeting visitorsfrom around the world.
-- Use that same City Pass to see the new King Tut exhibit at thede Young. Tut at Twilight is especially eerie as you descend intothe catacombs of one of the world's great museums to see treasuresfrom the tomb of boy king Tutankhamen. (And if you haven't alreadyseen it, go early and visit the new California Academy of Sciencesacross the street. Your City Pass is good for both.) Then take inanother must-see venue -- 'Wicked' at the Orpheum Theatre(wickedthemusical.com). Launched in San Francisco in 2003, this is amind-blowing production that celebrates the adage, 'There's no placelike home'.
This summer, especially, I couldn't agree more.
Ginny Prior has a weekly syndicated travel radio show on SportsByline USA. If you have a travel destination you'd like to share,drop a note to The Happy Wanderer at ginnyprior.com.
