Sunday, November 16, 2008

Just a few spots in San Francisco




While the Marketplace in the Ferry Building in downtown San Francisco is considered a tourist attraction – it is a rather impressive one. Store-like stalls line the massive, renovated 1898 landmark building and are filled with organic and specialty foods and products. The local chocolatier, Scharffenberger, and Stonehouse Organic Olive Oils are some of the delicacies available. Farm Fresh to You is a deli and gourmet food store full of local and organic foods.

Farther down the waterfront at Pier 39 you can hear and see the Sea Lions sunbathing on the docks. The Sea Lions chose the docks as a favorite hang out after the 1989 San Francisco earthquake. Today hundreds choose Pier 39 as their “home”. The sea lions are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and the Marine Mammal Center, a non-profit organization, rescues and rehabilitates injured marine mammals. They have an information center and shop at Pier 39.

The ruins of the Sutro Baths are a fun place to visit in the city and then you can head out along the beaches and parks for walking or biking. Once a bathhouse in the tradition of European Thalassotherapy (seawater) spas, the Sutro Bathhouse now looks more like a Roman ruin with nothing but cement and rock foundations by the crashing ocean. The site is now under the auspices of the National Park Service.

www.marinemammalcenter.org

www.stonehouseoliveoil.com

www.farmfreshtoyou.com

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