Great Way to Tour the City

I did 4 detours in San Francisco in February 2016. Im from Denver and Im visiting San Francisco while my wife is in meetings. I was looking for ways to walk the area and get information as I went. I didnt want to be tied down to group walks.

I really enjoyed the "Architecture" detour. It was compact, very informative and took me to places (roof gardens, bank basements) that I would not have found. It could have gone on longer for me.

The "Beat Generation" detour was more rangy. This would have been difficult for someone in marginal health. Im 61 years old and was able to walk the hills, but for many it would have been a challenge. There were a few points along the way where the order of the stopping points didnt make sense, You could have stopped at Russell Court, then gone to Lombard street and then described the movie scene, then the Alcatraz view. Getting off at Lombard, walking down to Russell and then back up again was confusing. The music and poetry readings while walking were great. I would try to keep the dead space to a minimum.

I did the "Painted Ladies and Beyond" today. There was much about this area that I didnt know. The walk up Fillmore was very interesting. The topic is difficult but handled well. The Jim Jones part of the story was quite a surprize. This is not the most scenic part of SF, but interesting. I thought the tour might have included more of the architecture of this area, especially the Victorians and Edwardians in the area. I had some technical difficulty at the end of the tour. I lost the location and couldnt pick up the every end of the tour. Not sure what happened.

I also did the "Castro" detour. Fascinating. This was the best tour guide, perhaps because of who he is and how he lived through the history of this area. Funny, friendly, heartbreaking, historic. Glad I did this one.

We are going to Berlin in June 2016. Im hoping the Berlin tours will be ready by then.

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