For sweeping views of San Francisco Bay...

​The sights and sounds of San Francisco are best to be explored by staying at a hotel in a great location. The Argonaut Hotel is in the Ghirardelli Square area of the San Francisco waterfront.   The hotel has some great views of the Bay.

The Argonaut has a nautical theme and is in a great location to begin your adventure in San Francisco.  The hotel is located near the Powell & Hyde Street Cable Cars at the Friedel Klussmann Memorial Turnaround.   A ride on the cable cars is a San Francisco tradition, and they pack as many people on the cable car as they can. We were able to ride standing up hanging on to the cable car poles. A ride on the cable cars is a little nerve racking as we went up and down the steep hills of the city. You can also visit the San Francisco Cable Car Museum to see how the cable cars shaped the city through the years. The cable car system takes you to many of the famous sights in San Francisco.  The first stop was Lombard Street, the crookedest street in the world. Lombard Street has 253 steps on one side and 249 steps on the other, along with eight switchbacks, twelve flower beds, and over 2000 blue and purple hydrangeas.  Even though this is a famous landmark, it is still a residential neighborhood, and there are signs around to please be respectful of the residents who reside here. Another fun stop is visiting China Town.  There is always so much to see and explore in this neighborhood.  From the many food shops where, unless you can read Chinese, you do not know what you are looking at.  Some items are more recognizable than others. In one market there were bins and bins of small dried fish, you could only tell from the little eyes on the creatures.  Another great find is the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory.  Before we arrived, I thought it was going to be a large factory, but it is a tiny factory with several Chinese women hand-making the fortune cookies.  It was interesting to see each cookie made individually.  

In addition to the cable car system in San Francisco, another excellent tourist mode of transportation is the streetcars. The streetcars have been a public transportation landmark in San Francisco since the 1930’s and are another fun way to explore the city.  

These sights are just a few of the many fun places and sights to explore in the Bay area.