PLENTY TO SEE AND DO

San Francisco is always a good time

] LEARNED a few things about San Francisco fast weck.
First, on two previous visits, both mid-summer, | close to
froze. Not only was the city chilly, but a nasty, icy wind
made me long for my winter coat.

This time, 1 took my winter
coat, a thick sweater pius a wool
jacket. This traveller believes in the
Boy Scout motto. / nearly cooked.

San Franciscans explained. It's a
little-known fact that the city ex-
periences some of its best weather
at the most unlikely times — right
now, for example.

Next, on previous visits, mobs
of tourists blocked the streets.
Fisherman's Wharf resembled a
refugee camp and the queues for
boat rides, cable cars and restau-
rants made my arches ache.

Not so in February! The Wharf
was almost deserted, the sightsec-
ing boats half empty and we got
Seats on the cable cars.

Now, let's talk about cable cars.
For excellent reasons, i'd never
ridden one. (Explanation: On my
first visit I was hugely pregnant.
On the second visit tne system was
shut down for repairs).

If I hadn't the sense to stay off
cable cars when pregnant, one of
our. daughters . would probably

- have ‘Place of Birth’’ listed as San
Francisco.

A cable car ride is downright
scary. You can never appreciate
the hills of San Francisco until you
see them. from a cable car, teeter-
ing on the edge of forever: with the
driver fighting wi h a massive hand
brake. foo re
__ Take a gravol :

“are anything like: ‘mine, and try not .

to look. back; Tickets: are’ $1.50 for’:

. two hours. and: purchased. from.a

os machine: at the turn-around points.“

“We: boarded at- ‘Market Street; rode.
‘to Fisherman's :. Wharf: (about 20 -
_minutes), prowled the Wharf and
- Yode the cable car. back. as’ far. as
. Chinatown welll within our” two
_ hours. .
” : Fisherman's: Wharf. has. ‘grown.
There are two enormous shopping
centres adjacent™.to each ‘other
_ featuring lots of small boutiques
for, the shoppers in the crowd. The

“Cannery’’ was there in the early « ..

70s, but, the’ “‘Anchorage’’ .has
been added since my Iast visit... .
“The huge vats of steaming crabs
“(hold your nose_as you pass!)‘are
-Still;there and so ‘are the famous
: restaurants, such as. Tarantino’ 'S,

* joined- by a host’ “of. new. (to me). :

eateries... =
. The fattest, harbor seals lve: ever
seen: ares frolicking’ and , honking

around ‘one of the wharves, trying -.
to outwit the gulls for chunks of":

squid ‘tossed’ by tourists..An en-

trepreneur has set up shop selling - |
small boxes of. raw squid ‘for ‘$2 °:
and those? seals need ‘Weight Wat- 9

. Chers...

-Fisherman’s. Wharf is the ‘place .

to catch the tour boats, for the bay

blocks of shops and restaurants.
Shop carefully — [ found the
prices very high.

Now J’m going to give you a
restaurant tip. In fact, anyone who
likes Italian food and doesn't visit
Caffe Sport has missed the meal of

travel
wise
Barbara McCreadie

a lifetime. Without'a doubt it has
the best Italian. (Sicilian) food I’ve
ever tasted and that includes mon-
ths spent in Italy.

The restaurant decor is dreadful

— and the service is worse. The

. patrons seem to enjoy being ig-
‘nored or insulted and the seating

- fesembles a cattle round-up.

’ Customers line up at the door

' for the ‘‘seatings'’.— the first at

6:30 p.m. (second at 8:30 p.m.)

‘Eventually everyone gets pushed or

jostled into a seat and a plate is
heaved in your general direction.
The food arrives boar-

‘ ding-house-style on. massive plat-

ters and the luckiest diners are

. those in a large group.

There were about 14 of us and
we sampled = almost the entire

classic airline ‘‘cuisine’’

menu. If | were there in a twosome
I'd order the Pasta with Basil and
the Mixed Seafood (clams, prawns
and squid steamed in a wonderful
tomato broth). Prices are fairly
teasonable and you could probably
get by on about $30 with wine.

Reservations are essential —
telephone 981-1251. The address is
$74 Green St.

The talk of the town for the past
14 years has been a stage pres-
entation called Beach Blanket
Babylon at the Club Fugazi, about
a block from the Caffe Sport (678
Green St.) Our group waddled up
the street right after dinner — the
performance starts at 8 p.m.

I'd like to be able to explain this
production, but words fail. Jt's a
musical with outrageous costumes
and constantly changing content to
keep up to date with current pop
stars and politics.

The voices are tops and the
songs familiar. There is absolutely
no point to the story — currently
it’s Dorothy of Oz looking for a
boyfriend.

Tickets are, I think, $23. Wine
and beer are sold and smoking
permitted, Reservations are essen-
tial — 421-4222.

eo

Cathay Pacific Airlines has a
non-stop flight to San Francisco.
This was the:first time [’'d flown
with this airline'and I must: admit I
was impressed. }

Just now they're doing a promo-,,
tion to raise the standards: of”

approach is unique. They turned

the job over to five famous San
‘Francisco chefs: who were told to

“ect on with it’? with no restric-
tions except the limitations of in-
flight presentation,

The results are amazing. ] never
expected to be sampling ‘‘Terrine
of Eggplant with Goat Cheese and
Red Pepper Mousse’’ at 35, 000. |
fect but what the hell?

The other thing I neted about.
Cathay Pacific is that they seem to
have more cabin attendants than
other airlines — or maybe it just
seems that way because’the service

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while the bay cruise is $9.95 adults,
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Alcatraz takes” two hours and
includes a guided tour if you want

-it. With tour: $6.50 adults, $4.50 | |

_ kids.

_ cell tour, is just $4.50 adults, $2.75

- for kids, but you're ‘wasting your
money :if- you.don’t taxe the cell
tour. Be sure you wear flat shoes
with gripping soles — they don’t
call this ‘island. ‘The. Rock’? for
nothing. Bring a windbreaker,
even in July.

Chinatown is big. The cable cars
make two stops here — take the
first one if you’re coming from the
Wharf. That will give you the op-
portunity to walk the entire length
— about seven blocks.

The whole area is about 14

The boat tour alone, ‘minus ‘the |

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39 ~ Sunday, February 14, 198% - North Shore News

took off on time and landed

But what truly amazed me — we EARLY.

EVERYBODY LAUGHED!

Doar Me Titty
Last year? went satmen fishing at Rivers iniet, BC
Everybody faughed al my Tilley Hat This year } went
bach and nobody laughed atte I landed ths 62 'b
Chinook | had numeraus otters In Duy my fuciry fishing
hat but | wouldnt sed
imay mount the Hat beside the fish”
sm McCallum, DMD. Peterborough, Ontano
The Tiny Hat floats (it's used in Amercas Cup. but t
doubt they 90 back for if), ties on with tuckaway
cords (iore and aft, as an inteitgent hat shoutd!).
repells rain, won't shrink (machine washable HOT}
comms in EVERY aize fas a clatter of principle, there's
nO afalt we Cannot ht}, has a four-page owner's
manual (because the Harts NOT perfect — no matter
what they say') and a lifetime free replacement
Qguaranton A r
We're 2 Movies March 1, 1988 ver Tey
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732-4287

Both locations closed Fab. 29th

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1559 Pemberton Ave.
North Vancouver

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