Perhaps I still have Olympic fever, but I am starting to believe Lombard Street should be the next training ground for Olympic bobsledding teams. Look at the crazy zigs and zags the street has. Who else in their right mind would tackle it but the bobsled teams? What a great way to increase tourism by having an international bobsled race down Lombard. All of the best california hotels would be packed full. I can hear the Swiss ringing their cow bells already as their team starts the initial push. Bet they could push some serious Gs going down that hill!

Located in the exclusive Russian Hill district, Lombard is lined with some seriously expensive real estate, mostly Victorian beauties. Everyone says it is best to start at the bottom and walk up but you had better be in shape to master that many stairs. While trekking up what’s known as America’s most crooked street, be sure to stop and smell the flowers. On the crest, at the Hyde Street Cable Car line, expansive vistas open to include Ghirardelli Square, Fisherman’s Wharf , the Bay Bridge and Telegraph Hill.

Oh yes, mentioning the Wharf made me want to scarf down some delicious San Francisco treats. Why not go from a crooked street to The Slanted Door, widely praised for its fresh Vietnamese cuisine. Yum. Better than dining on Alcatraz. Let’s get back to Lombard. The street runs east and west. East will take you up Telegraph Hill where you will see Coit Tower and west runs through the Marina toward the Golden Gate Bridge. I just can’t get the treats out of my mind. One of the best restaurants in the Russian Hill area is Frascati, a tri-level Mediterranean style bistro. Always busy, you’re guaranteed a fun night dining there.

So it’s doubtful there will ever be any bobsled teams training on Lombard, but it offers a good challenge for people like me and you.

Bobsledding on San Francisco’s Lombard Street is a post from: Color Burn

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The first time I saw San Francisco, I was about five years old, with my parents, visiting for the day from Sacramento, California.  Even then, I knew this city was one of the world’s great cities — the Golden Gate Bridge, the San Francisco Bay, Fisherman’s Wharf — all of it formed an immediate impression on me, but it wasn’t until twelve years later, that I went again.  The second time, I was actually in a traveling church choir, where we had stopped in San Francisco literally for the afternoon, enabling us just to spend some time exploring Chinatown.  I remember going into a downstairs Chinese restaurant, where the food was served family style, dishes brought out for the entire, large rounded table.  I remember hearing a funeral procession pass by, and then, perhaps oddly, because I now associate this more with New Orleans funerals than anything on the West Coast, the funeral music seemed to abruptly change from a dirge to something jazzy and joyful.  The third and my last time there, was nearly fourteen years ago.  I had moved away from home and lived now in the city of Los Angeles and had flown into the Bay Area to see old friends, now living in San Jose, Redwood City, and in the City itself.  Taking in the sights of San Francisco as an adult, rather than as a teenager or child, made for a completely different experience, but one no less impressive.

We traveled easily by BART into the Market District, we crossed over to Haight-Ashbury or The Haight to walk the campus at UC Berkeley.   We rode cable cars and I ate again in Chinatown, walked the hills, and simply explored.  But that trip, too, lasted only a day or two.  Since those first two trips, I’ve been to other great cities of the world — Paris, London, even Moscow — and San Francisco is at the top of the list for me.  I have a friend now, who wants to make a quick two day trip from Los Angeles to the City, and I can’t see spending that small amount of time there.  Instead, I’d rather find a San Francisco cheap hotel, and, for a change, linger in this terrfic place for as long as I possibly can.  I’ve been there three times to date, but maybe maybe the fourth time will be the charm and I’ll stay.

Four Trips to San Francisco is a post from: Color Burn

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