San Francisco A2K Gathering - April 9-12, 2004

I saw a bunch of seafood restaurants when I was posting those links, both from the SF chronicle a day or two ago and
as I was looking through the SF Access book.
But I need help on this, I am just about pooped out.

Still, pooped out or not, I remember the Caprice in 'Tiburon, which we'd have to drive to, it's on the other side of the GG, was said to be quiet and have good seafood and does look over the water. So does the Tadich Grill have seafood. But I bet there are interesting new places, including some chinese places or vietnamese.....

But there were lots of others, in town, and the lists mentioned crab... (is that still crab season?)

Sigh, someone should buy a new Access book, either Wurman's or Fodor's. I'll look through the 1999 one I have, and revisit the SF Chronicle site. Remember, I didn't write places down that were noisy... and we might choose to deal with some noise at some point.
I also skipped some that said slow service...
and skipped lots that had $$$ or $$$$ instead of $$, mostly picking $$'s.

SF has some of the best restaurants in the world... it's a very food smart area.

Normally, I would demand total control of the phone data. But under the circumstances, it may be better to have a duplicate list with CI as I'm having no small difficulty getting a couple of the characters fleshed out for my present project...it's a musical, set on a Mennonite dairy farm, tentatively titled "Heifers For Jesus"...lots left to do.

I thought it was "Heifers for brother Bill: ewes for me."

what, CI? are you talking about the friend I mentioned who moved there months ago? We haven't been much in touch, she is dealing with a sick mother back east. I'll catch up with her another time. (or maybe I'll check if she is there when I'm there and she could join in. She would certainly add to the fray.) Well, I'll call her SF.

The other friend who I also mentioned, whom I'll name LB, who had volunteered to have an event if Cav would cook, is off in... eek, Spain, right now. I never pushed it, Cav got sick, and even if not it was toooo complicating for a first meet here, adding tension re scheduling (she and hub are always off flying hither and thither). I'd put it off in my mind for the 2nd or 3rd SF a2k meet.

Still, when I hear they get back from Istanbul and Spain I'll 'grill' her on seafood restaurants and quiet wonderful places.
She and husband took me to Oliveti, a reallllllly good place.
These are the people I gave good knives to as a wedding present, sort of a strange gift, but appreciated. Wrapping 'em was tricky. She said it was their best present... they were forged locally in my area. Humongously horrible looking knives... wrapped in tissue, and done up with one of my collage-y extravaganza concoctions, which often as not look dumb.

Edit to say that sounds very weirdly braggy to me, sorry, but the last people I mentioned are very tuned into SF area restaurants re food and ambiance, across the scale of low money to high.

c.i., you can give my number to Blatham......I don't mind. (that's a yea). But I think we should make my cell phone the one to call. Blatham's is Canadian and therefore requires international rates. More expensive for everyone. Also, perhaps we should make up a master list and share all with everyone. If there are some of us so secretive about our personal data........ummmmm, well, that will make it difficult to get to know that person anyway. Surely we can all share our cell phone numbers.

PDid wrote:


This is good reason enough to be staying nearby. Could the "Di and Dys" faction be convinced to stay closer to the other contingent of a2kers? That way we'll all save our legs or eliminate taxi fares. Plus my travel agent has warned me against the Nob Hill Motor Inn. He thinks it's in a part of town that may not be safe. But he may be simply a snob. He doesn't trust the $79.00 a night rate. I tried to explain that my friends would be staying there, but he wouldn't listen.

I'm looking forward to this.

In my younger days, I used to take frequent trips to San Francisco, because that's where I met my wife. She lived and worked in the city, and I lived in Berkeley. But those days are long gone, when I used to walk any part of the city without fear. I think it would be prudent to take the necessary precautions as you would any "big" city. When my wife and I went to see the Lion King last month, we walked through the Tenderloin district back to our hotel, and I didn't feel we were unsafe. I'd probably not do the same walk an hour later. I have walked by myself in many large cities in this world, but they were generally during daylight hours. I've walked in London late at night without any fear. I always read the State Department travel warnings for any destination I travel to. They provide pretty good guides on do's and don'ts. You can probably find one for San Francisco.

The following link provides some info on warnings and dangers in San Francisco.
http://www.virtualtourist.com/vt/b870f/8/3072/

Agreed.

I don't know either to whom you refer.

I don't have any friends that I know of in the Bay Area, save for you people.

c.i., you received my PM with my personal data previously, yes? Is there anything else you need?

PDid, Don't mind me none, my memory isn't all that dependable. I thought you were one of the people who said earlier there would be the two of you, but as you can see my senility has already taken hold. Received your PM. Thx, c.i.

There will be two, c.i.; myself and Mrs. Diddie. And we are looking forward to meeting you and everyone else.

Our plans call for arrival at the Oakland airport on Friday the 9th at about noon-thirty PST; we'll proceed to the King George by hotel shuttle. We'll be ready for a late lunch or a grand supper or both.

Could we count heads for the Friday evening meal and consider making a reservation somewhere?

PDid, You didn't include the Mrs name in your PM. Is she to remain a mystery woman?

Have PM'd you the missing data, including cell #s, c.i.

OK, we've changed our reservations to the King George. PDiddies, watch out!

Lola got me worried about the area at the Nob Hill Motor Inn, so I started looking through the others that had been on my list. By going directly to the King George instead of hotels.com, etc, I found that they have a choice of coupons, depending on your needs. One is a parking package that totals $106.00 per night. That's a very good deal for us; plus, we are more centrally located.

C.i., I'll send you both our cell numbers.

Yay!! No very long now. As for walking, Bob still needs a little extra time and, as JJorge and Osso said, we are more interested in visiting than in touring. For Bob and I, there are other places in SF we would rather tour--probably just a half-day tour of the city itself.

It's a shame my uncle isn't still alive. His father was the chaffeur for a newspaper magnate in the early part of the 20thury and my uncle would ride in the car whenever he wasn't in school. He learned the city like a native taxi driver. Even though I lived there for three years, I didn't know some of the places existed until he took me on his own tour. There was a restaurant he pointed out that had no sign and no prices on the menu. One of those "If you have to ask, you can't afford it" kind of places.

I am especially interested in the architecture and in the GG Park Japanese tea room, the Conservatory of Flowers and (is it the DeYoung museum?).

Osso, seafood is a must and I've always loved Tiburon. Is Saucilito still a good place to go or is it too overgrown?

Bernie, if you want Dys in your play, you'll have to add a part for a cowboy.........and a nun gone bad. Giddiup little dogies.

Ah, San Francisco, one of the most exquisitely beautiful cities in the world. This is fantastic!!

The DeYoung museum is being replaced with a new one. A temporary Asian Art museum in close to city hall. If you enjoy modern art, MOMA would be a good choice. I'm looking forward to having osso provide us with a walking tour of the art galleries in the city.

OK, I changed my reservation to the King George too. Excellent rates, good discount packages. Goody, now can we appeal to the others to stay at the King George, unless of course they are staying in their second homes (or first) or with relatives?

It's fine with me to make a reservation for the first night. I'm arriving on April 8, at 4:20 pm. Will anyone else be around at that time?

blatham, I'll be at my brother-in-law's starting that evening. I'm going to drive into the city earlier in the day, because the commute traffic starts about 3PM, and I don't wish to get caught up in that misery. It'll be about 6:30PM by the time you're settled in your room. You can give me a call if you wish, and I can come to pick you up to go out for dinner if you like. BTW, my car can take up to four passengers if we squeeze three in the back.

I arrive at my hotel, given no tacky delays, around 4:30 on Friday. I already changed hotels once (there was a date change for the meeting) and now the hotel is connected to my plane reservation. I'm staying this time. But it's only two blocks away from KGeorge, and hey, gives us another lobby, plus the balcony looked interesting..

Yes, lets go out to dinner on Friday night and absolutely we need a reservation.

Would people please go look at what I posted from the Chronicle on the Union Square area? or maybe the Financial District? You might click on the site itself and look at all the Union Square area restaurants, in case you find something more interesting. By now that long restaurant post is two or three pages back on this Topic, or even four pages.

I bought a good map at my travel book store today. It's by Compass Maps company, gives an overview of the whole bay area and a street guide that is very clear, if tiny since the city is extensive.

I also looked at guide books and still liked the Wurman SF Access book best since it has neighborhood maps and describes most of the interesting places in the neighborhoods. (just my own opinion..)

On giving out information by pm to those going, fine with me.

On an art tour, CI, we'll see if anyone wants one. What I have in mind is just a couple of buildings with several galleries each in them. That doesn't always take a long time, people sometimes know when they put their head in the door that they don't want to see what's on the walls one second longer.. there is a good photography gallery I bet people would like (that's where I saw an amazing Irving Penn photo of children in Cuzco, price tag $48,000.) and a serious old book purveyor tucked in one of those buildings as well as regular galleries. Anyway, I'll be back with more specifics on that.

Will have to check if galleries are open Sat or Monday. I know they are closed on Sunday.