Hey, San Francisco, 49 Hours isn't nearly enough - Part 1

You can be a good skate at the Holiday Ice Rink Embarcadero Center
(Activity #11 - open thru Jan. 8, 2012) (Photos: Terry Gardner)

San Francisco is happening for the holidays.  In a two and a half days last week, I barely scratched the surface of 49 holiday things to do.  Here are highlights from several Activities I checked out during my brief visit.

Only in San Francisco - a night with drag queens followed by an evening at the Symphony

L to R: Manuel Caneri (Diego), Pollo Del Mar (Rose), Cookie Dough (Sophia),
Heklina (Dorothy), Matthew Martin (Blanche) & Laurie Bushman (Clayton)

Activity #13 - Revisit the "Golden Girls" as they are re-imagined in a high camp, "all drag" extravaganza at the Victoria Theatre, 2961 16th Street. Heklina plays Dorothy (the Bea Arthur role) in this special presentation of two "Golden Girls" episodes.  Most of the audience had seen the "queens" present the Golden Girls last Christmas.  And theatre is usually fun when you get to drink beer or wine during the show.  On December 22, local San Francisco celebrity, Jan Wahl, will have a cameo appearance.  Her hat has yet to be announced.  The last two shows are Dec. 22 and 23 at 8:00 p.m.  Advance tickets are sold out, but you may be able to get a last minute cash ticket at the door. www.trannyshack.com

Exterior of Davis Symphony Hall

Activity #18 - Davis Symphony Hall - After spending the previous night with men who are more comfortable in high heels than I am, Davis Symphony Hall was quite a contrast.  Instead of seeing queens, visions of angels danced in my head.  After trying to see as much of San Francisco as possible that day, it was soothing to listen to the strings of of the San Francisco Symphony accompanying the San Francisco Chorale as they performed Handel's "Messiah."  The Symphony turned 100 this year, and a hearing a concert in Davis Hall was definitely a highlight of my trip.

Although you'll have to wait until next year to hear Handel's "Messiah," there is a Christmas carol sing-a-long this week ("Twas the Night") and a New Year's Eve Masquerade ball.

We parked across from City Hall for the Symphony.
The Ferry Building glows red at night during the holiday season.

San Francisco Hotels offer houses of Gingerbread, a Castle of Sugar or Snow Thrice daily 
(Activities 16, 29, 31 and 35)



 Fairmont San Francisco

The Fairmont San Francisco boasts a full size
Gingerbread House during the holidays (Activity #16)

The Palace San Francisco

The Palace Gingerbread competition included Gumps, the Four Sisters Houses, the Golden Gate Bridge, Elvis and Hound dogs, the Farmers Market and more (voting is activity #29)

Carolers may sing while you dine in the Garden Court at the Palace

For more details on the Palace, please visit my earlier post about my stay at the Palace along with a Palatial holiday post by my travel writing colleague, Dick Jordan, on his Tales Told from the Road blog.

The Westin St. Francis

The Westin St. Francis boasts San Francisco's largest holiday sugar castle.
It weighs over 1,200 pounds (Activity #31)

The Hyatt Regency San Francisco

Hyatt Regency San Francisco has snow fall three times a day during the holidays (Activity 35). 

I didn't get to see any snow while I was there learning about chocolate on a Gourmet Food Tour. 

Stay tuned for Part II - SF SPCA Pet adoptions, a gourmet chocolate tour and more.

San Francisco: Sleeping like a royal at the Palace Hotel

I went to San Francisco to absorb some holiday spirit San Francisco style.  I slept like a queen at the Palace Hotel in a double bed that I hated to leave behind.  My bed's allergy-free comforter and pillows were heavenly.  (I wonder if Tony Bennett ever sang "I left my bed in San Francisco" following a stay here.)

Room 805 at the Palace Hotel
 (All photographs by Terry Gardner)

Opening in 1875, by the time the Palace turned 31, Oscar Wilde and presidents Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, Teddy Roosevelt and Ulysses S. Grant had slept there. Actress Sarah Bernhardt checked in with her baby tiger.   I had written about the Palace last December for the Los Angeles Times in a story about Grand old California hotels.  (The original Palace burned in the San Francisco fire which followed the 1906 earthquake.  The new Palace opened in 1909.)

Swimming at the Palace was my #1 San Francisco holiday activity.  The Palace has an  indoor heated lap pool on the fourth floor, which was added in 1989 when the hotel was restored and updated.   Except for Saturday morning, I had the pool and jacuzzi to myself between 8 and 9 a.m.  I may not have slept in the Presidential Suite, but I felt like a VIP enjoying an amenity that neither Winston Churchill or Mark Twain were able to enjoy.

The lap pool is heated at just the right temperature
unlike some heated pools where it feels like you're swimming in bath water.

Free historic tours of the Palace are offered on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.  The tour can also be booked with a prix fixe lunch at the Garden Court for $25.  (Reservations are required: (415) 546-5089.)

Here are some photographic highlights from my stay at the Palace.  

The Palace exterior, decked out for the holidays

Visitors judging gingerbread competition

Gumps gingerbread house pictured

L to R: Hound dog Christmas, Farmers Market and
Gingerbread House with Reindeer that bring vino.

 I not only voted for the Best Gingerbread House at the Palace, I fell hard for the Bloody Mary's served at both the Garden Court restaurant and the famed Pied Piper bar (noted for its "Mad Men" style Martinis). 

Hopefully, it was the flash and not the Bloody Mary that turned my eyes red!
The Maxfield Parish "Pied Piper of Hamlin" painting is well worth a toast or two.
My waitress snapped this.

Next up, a look at my  49-plus hours in San Francisco.

[Disclosure: my stay was complimentary at the Palace, but I was responsible for all meals, internet charges, etc.]