the five-hour SF tour starter pack

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Manuel spent a weekend with my family in March. It's his first time in the Bay Area and he wanted to see San Francisco. In building Man's SF half-day itinerary, I looked back on my first ever visit to the City, in 2005, with Donnell being the tour guide. Val also chose a few must-sees in his SF list. Anna, on the other hand, made sure we took photos because without them, Manuel's first trip to SF did not happen! 

Because we commuted to SF via public transportation, we only visited three locations; Manuel has to return so we can continue our exploration.

Golden Gate Bridge

It took us a long time to get to the Golden Gate Bridge because we used a mix of BART and MUNI to reach the Golden Gate Park and Uber to reach the bridge. Lucky for Manuel, it was cloudy when we arrived... because when Vernon was with Anna and me, it was raining! 


Coit Tower

Val said that each time he's in San Francisco, he stops by the Coit Tower... except last year when we didn't go there because of time constraints. It's been 14 years since I was at the tower so it's a real treat to go and see it again.


Coit Tower sits on Telegraph Hill, the best place to get a 360º view of the San Francisco Bay Area. On our visit, thankfully, we had a clear view of the city. Manuel was taken aback by how compact SF is. Perhaps, Seattle is more spread out?









From the tower, we walked down the hill and caught a MUNI streetcar, having a sightseeing tour of the piers and Fisherman's Wharf in the process.

Ghirardelli Square

Our last stop for Manuel's introductory SF experience was Ghirardelli Square, the former headquarters of the famous Ghirardelli Chocolate Company. These days, it's a retail and hotel complex that preserves the original 1890s brick architecture. Before Manuel had to go to the airport, we took some time to drink up Ghirardelli chocolate milkshakes.


And just as he left, Ate Maddie arrived. It's now Val's turn to get a tour, Cuevas cousins style.

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