Many of our clients start their vacations in San Francisco and then after several days in that charming city come up to the warmer and more relaxed wine country. Being located in down town Sonoma, barely more than half an hour from the Golden Gate it’s not unusual for us to tour with them in the city and then bring them up to their hotel in wine country.
For example I picked up clients at the Inn at the Opera in San Francisco. When you come out the hotel’s front door the door the dome of City Hall is right down the street. This is a charming 45 room hotel with a bar and restaurant that is surprisingly reasonable. From there we went to Union Square, China Town, Nob Hill, Lombard Street, Little Italy, Coit Tower, the Embarcadero, Fisherman’s Wharf, they took a ride on a trolley to Market Street, then we went to the Marina, Crissy Field, Fort Point and then a tour of the Presidio. Finally we went over the Golden Gate to the Marin Headlands and lunched at the Spinnaker in Sausalito. Then we headed over the peninsula to Muir Woods via its wonderfully winding and steep road. It is amazing that there is so much to see and do in such a small area.
Over the years we’ve done a lot of San Francisco tours that include the wonderful nearby areas in the North Bay. For instance, doing wine tours I never thought I would get to know Sausalito so well, but I have. Did you know that when the Spanish first came in the Golden Gate that’s where they anchored their ships? Even today it is one of the favorite moorings for visiting sailors, the docks bristle with masts. Sausalito was also one of the Liberty Ship dock yards where Rosie the Riveter and her sisters put together the huge fleet of Liberty Ships that carried the bulk of the cargo throughout World War Two. It is easy to forget that during that period San Francisco was America’s most fortified city because the huge bay it guarded was so critical to ship building and supply.
Even today San Francisco has the second highest percentage of veterans in the country. A whole generation of young people grew up there seeing men and women in uniform and enlisted themselves in large numbers. The Presidio and Fort Baker were important stops to and from deployment to Pacific theaters during WWII, Korea and Viet Nam. Many soldiers who spent time there on the way back to the farm came under the city’s spell and returned to live there. That may account for the high percentage of Libertarians in the area. As I read the other day in the SF Chronicle ‘what’s a Libertarian but a Republican that smokes pot’. Boy, doesn’t that describe San Francisco. I’m an independent myself!
A popular stop on the way from San Francisco to wine country is Muir Woods, that stately grove of breath taking giant redwoods are remarkably close to the city. As I wait there for my clients I’m always amazed by the array of languages I overhear. Yesterday French and Brazilian Portuguese and Continental Spanish were prevalent; in fact I took a photo for two pretty French girls from Lyon, one of the hazards of the tour guides life. Of course there were plenty of Eastern European languages; that part of the world has emerged as a force in tourism. What’s great is that you can have breakfast in San Francisco, walk among these giants before lunch and be tasting wine in Sonoma and Napa in the afternoon.
Call 707-235-2648 for Tours, Books & Seminars Copyright Ralph & Lahni de Amicis 2011 All tasting fees, hours, wine lists, etc are subject to change.