I'm coming to San Francisco...

[Teflon Billy]

Can any residents recommend stuff for my wife and I to do?

We already have Alcatraz and the City Lights bookstore on the list.

Any other Suggestions?

 

[Shadowdancer]

Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair.

 

[Teflon Billy]

Won't that look kind of, you know, gay?

 

[Maerdwyn]

When, and for how long, will you be here?

Chinese New Year celebrations start the first week of February, and you should eat Dim Sum in Chinatown at least once while you are in town, regardless.

I have a lot more food-related suggestions, should you want them.

Fisherman's Wharf/Ghirardelli Square has some nice shops and pleasant strolling. (Ghirardelli Chocolates is there. I also happen to like "Lark in the Morning" a music/instrument store where you can buy just about any kind of weird instrument. I get my bagpipe reeds there.)

Haight-Ashbury is the former hippy area of the city - much less so now, but still definitely has its own character, and is home to tattoo/piercing parlors and the like, as well as some good restaurants (Massawa is a good, but very cheap Ethiopian restaurant there, for example.)

If you'll have access to a car, I suggest heading north and east from the city to visit wineries in Napa or Sonoma. Sonoma, especially, is less than an hour from SF. I can sugest some specific wineries if you want.

Edit - just realized you're from Vancouver, and probably have really good Dim Sum there anyway. Still, it's one of my favorite SF activities.

 

[Teflon Billy]

Thanks very much Maerdwyn. You suggestions all sound good (but my wife insists I'm tatooed enough already )

I will likely email you in the next few days to get more specific info after I talk to Mrs. Teflon Billy

Thanks again

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Damm. ShadowDancer was faster...

 

[Hecatæus]

You can also visit:
The Cliff House...an old hotel/resort now a museum of sorts. Over looks the beach

Presidio...there are lots of nature trails here, and just under the GG Bridge is a Civil War era fort/museum.

North of the bridge are WWII fortifications to gawk at.

Japan town will be having the Cherry Blossom Festival shortly...not sure when.

Golden Gate Park ...boat rides in the lake!

There is a neat Tea Garden near the Park as well.

A gazillion museums

Pier 39...WAAAAY too touristy, but fun if you like that.

There is the Zoo, but it bites...last I heard.

 

[Kichwas]

If you're here on the first tuesday of a month most of the museums are free. Not all of them though.

If you get desperate in mid visit there's a game shop at 333 Divisadero.

Chinatown is fun but the prices all go down by about 50% or more one two blocks to the sides of it. For the same goods.

If you were still single I'd tell you to visit Japantown on a weekend...

The restaurants do the same thing and their food quality is inversely porportional to the level of cleanliness and price. A lot like a greesy spoon joint.

The Mission is an interesting place to see. It's in a transition these days between the old hispanic culture and a newer crowd of yuppies from the dot-com boom. Many of whom are now as poor as the original locals... It has a lot of very colorful shops along it but can be risky at night. Also has the best burrito joints (save for one on Haight Street) in North America (and yes I include Mexico in that challenge. )

Castro street is worth a visit too. Unless men in leather chaps makes you just a bit too nervous.

 

[Nikchick]

Can any residents recommend stuff for my wife and I to do?

Any other Suggestions?

When and for how long? Knowing Mrs. Billy, I'm guessing a tour of fine gaming establishments is out of the question?

Pramas and I hit a very cool asian museum when we were down there shilling GR stuff at a show last year, but I don't remember if it was a permanent exhibition or not. It was cool, if that kind of thing is your bag.

 

[Gizzard]

Theres a lot of first rate dining in the city itself; something like citysearch.com should be able to hook you up with some reviews etc, if you are into food.

I like the Exploratorium, it has a bunch of cool science exhibits like "Build your own Tornado", "Blow a Giant Soap Bubble" and "Inertia, Spinning, Vomiting and You."

On the night of the big Chinese New Years Parade is also the Chinese New Years Treasure Hunt where participants run around the Chinatown area on a clue-based scavenger hunt. What better way to see the city than by flashlight as you scamper from clue to clue. Knowledge of the city helps a lot, so make sure you latch on to an existing team who needs a couple more members.