SAN FRANCISCO – The walk-in gingerbread house at the Fairmont Hotel was a big hit. Likewise the barking sea lions at Pier 39.
But the thing that our almost-four-year-old grandson loved the most about his first-ever visit to San Francisco was the same thing as many visitors; the cable cars.
As someone who grew up a half-hour from the city, I have been in San Francisco hundreds of times. But yesterday marked only the second time I had visited with a grandchild, and the first time with one who could walk and talk and understand what they were looking at and express an opinion on their surroundings.
Being a little boy who has always loved looking at buses and streetcars in Toronto, and loves riding the subway, we figured he’d enjoy a cable car ride. Our daughter showed him some photos a few months ago, and he was instantly hooked.
We woke up at my Dad’s hillside place in the East Bay Area on Saturday morning in the dark and couldn’t enjoy the usual view he has of the bay and the city.
“Why can’t we see San Francisco,” our grandson asked. I explained it was still early and that it was foggy. Luckily he didn’t ask for an explanation of Northern California weather patterns.
The Tony Bennett Cable Car in San Francisco at Christmas time. JIM BYERS PHOTO
We loaded up the car and zipped across the Bay Bridge in record time. I had figured that we could probably find reasonable parking in the financial district on a Saturday morning between Christmas and New Year’s, and we managed to find an underground spot for a measly $3 an hour just a block from the California Street cable car terminus.
We soon spotted a cable car that was not only festooned with Christmas ornaments and green wreaths, but was also the official Tony Bennett car, with his name on the side, a sign on the front that said “Halfway to the Stars,” and even a short description of the origin of the song, which was written by a couple who moved to Brooklyn in the early 1950s and were homesick for a city that sits above the blue and windy sea.
His eyes were as wide as saucers as we waited for the cable car to get moving and for more passengers to arrive. We grabbed an outside seat (of course) and soon started to rumble up California street, which allowed him to hear the ding of the bell and the grinding of the gears, and to admire the passing scenery.
We rode all the way to Van Ness Avenue and clambered over to the other side of the car so we could get a different view on the way back. I showed him some of the levers and gears, and we took off back towards the Bay.
Near the top of Nob Hill we told him we had a surprise. We got out and walked towards the front entrance of the regal Fairmont Hotel, passing the Tony Bennett statue out front, which was surrounded by white reindeer for Christmas.
Here’s a link to a story about things to do in SF; some old and some new. Note that the giant Ferris Wheel has moved from Golden Gate Park to Fisherman’s Wharf.
We got inside and showed him the Fairmont’s famous walk-in gingerbread house, which apparently takes five months to build every year. Naturally, he asked if he could have a bite. I looked around and could see holes gouged into the interior walls, but my wife told him we should leave the house in one piece so other kids could enjoy it.
We briefly toured the gingerbread house and looked around the hotel for a minute. We couldn’t find a place to buy gingerbread cookies, so we went back to the lobby.
“Do you want to back in the gingerbread house?”
“No, I want to go back on the cable car!”
We went back out to California Street and waited eight or ten minutes in a light rain. The car arrived and we once again grabbed a prized outdoor bench and cruised down the hill, passing regal apartment buildings and the gates and colourful red lanterns hanging over Grant Avenue in Chinatown.
We decided a cookie for our grandson and some coffee for his mother and grandmother and grandfather was a good idea, so we ambled over to the Ferry Building and grabbed cookies and a delicious jam biscuit and coffee at Acme Bread Company. There was no place to sit so we stood over an overhang and looked out at the bay.
A big ferry boat was unloading its passengers, and our grandson wanted to watch. Then he wanted to see the new passengers get on board. Then he wanted to see the boat leave. Then he said he wanted to watch the boat “until it disappears.”
Looking to splurge on a great San Francisco hotel? Here’s a story I wrote about an overnight stay at the lovely Ritz-Carlton on Nob Hill.
It wasn’t exactly a morning when San Francisco’s golden sun shone down on us, but he didn’t mind the drizzle.
We walked back to our bargain parking spot (I think it was under the Embarcadero Center’s Building 3) and made the short drive to Pier 39 to see the sea lions. The sun began to peek out as we arrived and we grabbed a spot near the railing so he could see them stretching and climbing on top of one another on one of the floating docks that have become a huge tourist draw in the past few decades.
The sea lions at Pier 39 in San Francisco, California. JIM BYERS PHOTO
They barked and fought and scratched themselves. Our grandson was beyond delighted when one jumped off the dock and into the water.
“Where is he going, Pops?”
“He’s probably going to have lunch.”
“What do sea lions eat?”
“Mostly fish.”
“Why do they eat fish?”
It’s probably a conversation that gets repeated 1,300 times a day at the Pier, but I found it delightful.
After enjoying a 15-minute interlude with San Francisco’s barking ambassadors we strolled through Pier 39 to look at the shops. His grandparents indulged him by buying a Grinch Christmas tree ornament, and we admired the beautiful carousel.
If you’re on a budget, here’s a piece I wrote about great things to do in the city that cost less than $50.
HER LINK
We grabbed the last open table upstairs at the Eagle Cafe and enjoyed hamburgers, fish tacos and clam chowder served in a hollowed-out bowl of sourdough bread. Yours truly indulged with a patty melt, which they serve with toasted sourdough instead of rye bread, plus a burger, swiss cheese and optional Thousand Island dressing.
We wanted to get back to my Dad’s place but had promised ice cream. We thought about Ghirardelli Square but the adults were getting tired, so we opted for a tasty but pricey gelato from the pier instead.
Sufficiently suffancified, as my late mother-in-law sometimes said, we headed back to the car, and made a 26-mile trip back to the East Bay in less than half an hour. Our grandson was sound asleep before we reached Oakland, his Blue Jays cap at a full 45-degree angle as he slumped in his car seat.
Crissy Field Beach in San Francisco. JIM BYERS PHOTO
It was only a five-hour visit, but I can’t remember a finer day in the City by the Bay. Seeing any city through a child’s eyes is a lovely thing; seeing your almost home town, and a glorious one at that, through the curious eyes of a grandson.
I hadn’t given it that much thought before, but San Francisco has to be one of the great cities of the world for a child. You’ll find not only cable cars and sea lions (and seasonal gingerbread houses you can walk into), but also the Golden Gate Bridge, endless beaches, curvy Lombard Street, a vibrant Chinatown, Alcatraz, ferry boat and boat tours, the Exploratorium science center, major sporting events, Fisherman’s Wharf, Coit Tower, Pier 39, Ghirardelli Square, a Civil War-era fort that’s tucked under the Golden Gate Bridge, and one of the world’s best urban parks, Golden Gate Park, with acres of open fields and a windmill and live bison. Not to mention the San Francisco Zoo, the SkyStar giant Ferris Wheel at Fisherman’s Wharf, the Walt Disney Family Museum, the California Academy of Sciences, and so much more.
If you’re a hiker or outdoors enthusiast, check out this story I did on great hikes around the SF Bay Area.
Given it doesn’t rain much, and that it’s almost never too hot and definitely never really cold, and given the amazing array of things to see and do, I honestly don’t think there’s a better city on the planet for a kid to visit. You could also make the case that there more great things to see and do within two hours of San Francisco than any other city in the world, both for kids and adults. That includes Monterey Bay, Carmel, the rides at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, the Redwood Forest Steam Train near Santa Cruz, Napa and Sonoma, Six Flags amusement park in Vallejo, magnificent redwoods in Muir Woods, the Charles M. Schulz (Peanuts) Museum in Santa Rosa, and the old west-style buildings and wonderful train museum in Sacramento.
GETTING THERE: San Francisco is easily accessed from major airports around North America, as well as Asia, Europe and Australia/New Zealand. Air Canada operates flights from Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal and other Canadian cities. I recently booked a Toronto-San Francisco trip with Flight Hub, which offers excellent value on trips around the world.
