Bringing a friend from Europe...

We are bringing a friend from Germany to San Francisco. Since we are not familiar with SF ourselves..we would love suggestions from someone who has visited from or those who have had visitors from other countries. What highlights do you think we should show him?? We are all 50 but don%26#39;t ';think old';. I think he would like fun bars, cafes, loves art, music... We want him to have a great American experience...thanks!

Bringing a friend from Europe...

I would make sure they see the perspective of riding the cable cars, visiting the hills in Pacific Heights if you%26#39;re on your way towards the GG Bridge and visiting GG Park and the de Young museum new tower with the panoramic view; check out Haight Street for the Amoeba Records vast collection of music, DVDs, concert posters. Go to some concerts or classical performances depending on your preferences. Twin Peaks always fascinates people -- seeing it from afar then right there under the giant towers. Check out a cruise around the bay and Alcatraz. If they%26#39;re a movie buff, they may enjoy some of the sites where Dirty Harry movies were filmed, Hitchcock movies; Tosca Cafe was in the Wim Wenders film called Until the End of the World which is across from City Lights Bookstore on Columbus and Broadway on the edge of Chinatown and North Beach and near the Beat Museum. Looking downhill outside of Tosca you can photograph the Transamerica Building and still frame it with the Zoetrope building (Coppola%26#39;s building)--the copper green triangular building on the fork of Columbus %26amp; Kearny between Jackson and Pacific. There are various infamous locations -- see www.mistersf.com to get some ideas.

Bringing a friend from Europe...

I think ObsidianSnow%26#39;a list is excellent. It gives you the tourist sights but also gives you a sense of all of San Francisco.

I would stay in the Union Square area, which gives you fun bars, cafes, and the atmosphere of a sophisticated city. It also has all of the public transportation available, which is excellent in San Francisco.

The Golden Gate Bridge is a must. There are great views from the city on the waterfront, but crossing it and then looking at it and the city from the viewpoint on the north side of the bridge is an ABSOLUTE must.

How you cross it, by driving, walking, bicycling or bus is another thing to think about.

Showing someone from Germany around will be different than showing an American around. Is this their first time in the US? If so, they will probably be interested in seeing typical American things. Some things that may be fascinating to you may be blas茅 to them. The museums in SF are must sees for Americans, but not exceptional on European standards. Show them instead things that they can%26#39;t get at home. Take them to West Marin, show them the ocean. Explore the neighborhoods (Haight, Chinatown, Clement St, etc). Have some great Asian or American food. Things that seem gimmicky to you may just make their day. I took some Hungarian friends to Mel%26#39;s Diner, which I normally consider a blot on the San Franciscan landscape, but they just loved it to pieces. It was just like in the movies. They also made a mad dash for the camera every time a yellow school bus went by!

San Francisco is noted in Europe for being the most ';European'; American city, so this is a tough question. Where to start?

Diversity.

This is something that certain European areas lack.(Especially especially especially Germany. If I have to eat another breaded veal schnitzel with unsalted fries I will have to scream.) San Francisco is the golden-star-dream of diversity. Play up the neighborhoods, skip the awful Fisherman%26#39;s Wharf, skip the IMHHHO awful awful awful (!!) Alcatraz. North Beach, while extremely fun for American tourists, is a very pale imitation of the real thing. Your friends have probably already been to Italy. Why take them to an imitation of it?

So, skip the Italian food, skip the French food, skip all the wonderful European-style things that make SF so extra-nice. Try instead some real Thai or real Asian or real American food. The ubiquitous Chinese restaurants here (in Switzerland) are all adjusted to the German sensibilities. That means that everything tastes like boring breaded schnitzel. Bah!

Your friends have surely never in their lives tried a burrito.

Take them to the Castro theater, take them to some jazz clubs, take them to Ocean Beach and Golden Gate Park. Walk the Golden Gate. Look through the SF Weekly or Guardian and find some concerts to see.

Skip Sausalito and its faux-chic caf茅s with T-shirt stands across the street. Go to West Marin. Take a few days to go to Yosemite.

Oh, and have cocktails. I guarantee that your friends have never had a cocktail more complicated than a Gin%26amp;Tonic. Have an extremely chic cheeseburger.

Hope it helps.

I would ask your guest if Alcatraz interests them because it is a nice ferry ride and, if they%26#39;re at all interested in it because of the Clint Eastwood movie, as my out-of-country friends were, then they should take time to see it. My friends really enjoyed the variety of architecture, visiting Coit Tower; overall they love the outgoing nature of people. It wasn%26#39;t until they visited San Francisco that they learned to use chopsticks for the first time. They absolutely loved the fact that the hills had stairs on the sidewalks, that the GG Bridge can be photographed so well from the Marin Headlands, then they loved running in the waves at Ocean Beach and then having a drink at the Clift House. They liked the restaurants we went to but food was not on their mind as much as drinking was on their mind.

All of your ideas are terrific...my worst fear was doing a blind leading the blind tour..haha. He has only been to the US once and it was to New York City. He does travel a lot..all over Europe for medical conferences and sees quite a bit of good art along the way. I go over to Germany once a year and cook Mexican..which the whole family goes crazy for...so yes a burrito would be a big hit. We have a lot of cowboy places here in Oregon so will take him there before we hit SF. How about a Union Square hotel...something not too traditional but also not bare minimulist??? Love the cocktail idea...he will be slurping those up for sure!

Thank you, sanfrancisco-basel. Your perspective provided some surprises for me.

Bitte sehr, nuttin%26#39; to it.