TWO DAYS IN SAN FRANCISCO

If you have two days in San Francisco, you can cover a good amount of grounds.

When you travel to San Francisco, you’ll realize how spread out the city really is. Actually, there are 36 neighborhoods in San Francisco, some of them divided into smaller districts.

If you are spending a few days there, it will be easier if you concentrate on a different area each day.  This way, you won’t wear yourself out too much.  That being said, we still ended up walking 20km on average per day. Call us crazy!

San Francisco Tip: If you plan to travel to San Francisco during the Summer and want to visit Alcatraz, you’ll need to book your tickets at least 2 months in advance.  I had looked at the tickets and decided to purchase them 1 month prior to our trip. Unfortunately, everything was booked for the whole 5 days we were there.  You can learn more about where to purchase tickets HERE. Blondie Bear was so disappointed that we couldn’t go to visit it.  However, you can somewhat make up for it.  Find out how in our article Day trip from San Francisco.

Below is what we did in one day on foot in San Francisco. However, when you have two days in San Francisco you can either add our Day 1 or Day 3 itinerary as you like. Use the Bart from where you are staying to get to your first stop and then only use it to get back to where you came from at the end of the day. This is a good way to save some money.

Areas covered: Mission-The Castro-Haight (23 km)

San Francisco has long been a hotbed for environmental, labor and women’s rights activism. The city gained a reputation for welcoming gays and lesbians. One neighborhood in particular, the Castro District was a center of the gay rights movement. To this day, it remains a neighborhood of great pride.

Stop 1- Mission District (Bart 16th St-Mission)

The first stop of our two days in San Francisco itinerary was to check out some street art in the Mission District. Personally, I loved the neighborhood.  We were greeted by Latino music on the way out from the Bart 16^th St-Mission station.  

This part of town is covered by murals depicting woman’s rights, equality and any other kind of rightful activism from different minorities.  The murals are vibrant in their colours and their statements and are odd and out of place at times.  Most of them can be found on garage doors in alleys such as Balmy Alley or just by walking around Mission.  Women depicted naked or giving birth made Blondie Bear cover his eyes.  The birth of life was maybe a tad bit graphic for him, but I think he is over it now.

However, we did see a photograph in the street of a lamb being castrated and even I was traumatized.  I can’t believe that it’s not only one’s job but that we actually practice it this way. According to Big Boss who was aware of this practice it doesn’t hurt them….eurk

Pirate Store

Moving on to a happier place, we stopped by a Pirate store at 826 Valencia and saw fishes behind a curtain or as they call it the Fish Theatre.  This is how I will describe it as that is all it was, an aquarium with a smiley fish behind a curtain…ODD.  It was a cute pit stop for Blondie Bear but not memorable.

Other landmarks

During our walk, we stopped by the Women’s Building. It’s the nation’s first women-owned and operated community center with a beautiful mural covering it representing women trailblazers.  We then made a halt in Dolores Park.  You not only get a great view of the city but it also has a huge playground that Blondie Bear enjoyed.  I would suggest hitting Whole Foods on Market St and Dolores for food and picnicking in this park if you ever plan to go to that area.  Dogs are unleashed unless they are unfriendly, so be warned if you are pet sensitive.

Making our way to The Castro, we stopped by Mission Dolores, a Hispanic style building. It is the oldest in San Francisco and is extremely beautiful with a basilica adjoining it.  Unfortunately, we didn’t go in as you had to pay and by that point, we were starving.

Stop 2- The Castro District

Unfortunately, we didn’t see too much of this neighbourhood because by the time we got there we were dramatically looking for a place to eat.  The place we had picked while planning our day was jam packed with a waiting line. We find it ridiculous to have to wait in line for food. Since we don’t do it Montreal, there was no way in hell we would start doing that in San Francisco, especially for an overly priced meal. So that is why we ended up walking around starving.  Restaurants aren’t scarce in San Francisco, but it was a Saturday, and everyone was out for brunch waiting in long long lines.  

During our walk through The Castro we did see guys wearing dresses or skirts and transgenders. Blondie Bear didn’t seem to care nor notice. I think he was still recovering from the birth of life mural and the lamb getting castrated.  We had long conversations throughout the day about diversity and open-mindedness which when you travel to San Francisco with kids you’ll definitely need to have.

Cafe Flore

We walked up Castro Avenue which I found to be very colorful and passed by The Castro Theatre. We finally found a resting place for our feet and food for our bellies at Cafe Flore.  The food wasn’t amazing, but the service was great.  You can either sit outside or inside.  It has a cozy neighborhood vibe and the music is AWESOME.  Come happy hour the place must be jumping, and it has free WIFI!  

Blondie Bear was a little skeptical when we told him we were going to The Castro, the ‘gay’ area.  We have gay friends, so I didn’t understand what his apprehension was.  Turns out he didn’t even realize when we entered this neighborhood and when we left it.  

We had to tell him that pretty much everyone in Cafe Flore was gay because he didn’t even notice them.  After all, it’s not like people walk around with a tag saying: gay, straight, bisexual, trans…  I think this day will have been very eye-opening for him.  

Stop 3- Haight District

Our final neighborhood to hit was Haight.  We went to Alamo Square to see the Painted Ladies.  Honestly, we were disappointed, it is overrated.  We saw more beautiful Victorian houses on our walk than those.  Also, the entire park in front of them had been turned upside down for renovation.  This park dates back to 1856.  Frankly, if you travel to San Francisco and are cramped in time, you can skip this.

We hiked up Buena Vista Park because we thought we weren’t getting enough exercise.  That is a pretty steep hike but worthwhile.  You get another great view of the city and you can even spot the Golden Gate Bridge from up top. Take Buena Vista Ave West downhill to check out the beautiful Victorian houses all the way down to Haight St.

Using our Lonely Planet guide book, we stopped by the house where Patty Hearst was held captive, the Grateful Dead’s house where the band lived until a drug bust and one of the many places Janis Joplin supposedly lived.  It was cool but disappointing.  They are just regular houses now, as if the past has just been swept away.

Haight Street

Blondie Bear and I got some Ben & Jerrys on the corner of Haight-Ashbury, the corner of the summer of love.  Not much is left from that era unfortunately and the vibe is certainly gone replaced by yuppies and/or tourists and chain stores. My hypothesis is that all the Haight hippies sold their homes, made a buck load of cash by doing so, and moved to Pahoa on Big Island and raised their kids there (see article Once upon a time in…Big Island). Nonetheless, few stores remain where you can buy ‘commercial’ tie dies and Grateful Dead memorabilia.  There are some thrift stores but as a tourist, you can’t really afford the luggage space.  We did go into one where the clothes were organized by era.  Pretty awesome!

Souvenirs from Haight

I wanted to get a bedspread for our home so we went into a big Tibetan store.  Actually, there are quite a few on Haight Street.  I did find happiness there.  People also come to meditate in the fake tent in the back (no shoes allowed and total silence) with a little altar and lots of incense.  

Blondie Bear got his last shock of the day there.  Two men were shopping completely naked inside the store aside from a golden sock and a red one covering their penis.  Yes, I looked, wouldn’t you? Mind you the red sock didn’t cover much…not that the penis was imposing…sorry is that too much detail?  They were going about their business, chatting away with vendors as if everything was normal.  At first, Blondie Bear did not want to enter the store, but I told him to get over it and to accept diversity (I really wanted my bedspread!).  I understand that it could make him uncomfortable, I respect that, but we all need to be open minded, especially while in Haight.  Besides, they weren’t bothering anybody up front. The one man had TRUMP written on his backside.  He was obviously protesting something….

I ended up spending a little more in Haight as we checked out the awesome sock store and a beautiful store for women where I got myself an oversize bag perfect for the beach, and a sparkly sundress.

We finished our day by having dinner at Whole Foods and walked all the way back to Bart 24th St-Mission.  

This was yet again another beautiful day in San Francisco. It was full of shocking surprises, to say the least.  Blondie Bear was left a little traumatized by all of it…bah it builds character!

San Francisco food tip

If you are traveling on a budget and especially with kids in tow, check out the supermarket chain Whole Foods. It’s an organic supermarket.  They have a cold and hot buffet set up in all of their stores, and it will cost you less than eating out in a restaurant.  Also, their bakeries are delicious and are perfect for breakfast on the go.  Don’t forget to grab their freshly squeezed OJ.  Also, while there, you get FREE WIFI for 2 hours.

So that was how we spent two days in San Francisco if you read also read our Day 1. Hopefully, this overview will have helped you figure out what you can see in San Francisco in one day or two and make you want to hang out a little longer there. If you need travel tips for San Francisco, we got that covered in Once Upon a Time Travel to San Francisco.