Travel Recipes – I Left My Heart in San Francisco

Erica Ehm

After reading a book about Escaping Alcatraz, my eight year old son was intrigued. Just around that time my hubby and I were trying to decide what to do over the holidays. With friends living just outside San Francisco and Alcatraz top of mind, we booked our trip and hoped for the best.

Since having kids I haven’t been much of an adventurer. This would be our first foray into sight seeing, playing it by ear and seeing a bit of the real world with my kids. At eight and five, they were ready for some real travel.

Hotel:
I searched online and discovered Hotel Diva – a very hip boutique hotel a couple of blocks away from Union Square (can you say shopping?!). What sold me was their “Little Diva’s Suite” – two rooms, one comfy Queen sized bed for me and hubby, and the other room was Kid Heaven. Get this: bunk beds, a computer with DVDs, drawers full of blocks, costumes, toys and a CD player. When we had enough of hitting the Streets of San Francisco – my kids were only too happy to stay in their room and play. For mummy – a Starbucks on the main floor of the hotel. Highly recommended by this discerning Yummy Mummy.

Transportation:
Cabs were fantastic. The drivers were happy to chat with us and give us some touristy background info about the city. But the highlight was the cable cars. I was charmed how the city is preserving these old fashioned trams – the best to experience the huge dips and climbs of the famouns San Francisco Streets

Restaurants:
Traveling with little ones (especially one with a fish and nut allergy) makes finding the right restaurant a challenge. Two special ones come to mind.

Crepevine on Fillmore Street is a very casual creperie in lovely Pacific Heights we happened upon. The food was delicious, fresh and plentiful. The decor is simple and casual – nothing for kids to break. Right around the corner is one of the most beautiful little playgrounds for kids I’ve ever seen. We actually drove across the city TWICE just to let our kids play in the park while we sipped delicious lattes.

LarkCreekSteak was a great find. I searched on the net from my Hotel for a kid friendly restaurant and this upscale eatery kept on popping up. Intrigued, I phoned and sure enough they were more than happy to accommadate a couple of crazy kids (and their allergies). The food was delicious all around; service – spectacular.Our waiter James was perhaps the most patient server I’ve ever had the pleasure of dining with. If you’re looking for fancy, check this place out for sure. And ask for James.

Tomasso’s in North Beach (the Italian District) was closed while we were in town. But it came highly recommended if you’re looking for delicious pizza in a family friendly setting. Apparently this is where Francis Ford Coppola eats when in town. If Frankie thinks its good, it must be good!

Here are our “must visit” family destinations in San Fran:

Zeum Museum is awesome. In fact, it’s awesome even before you go into the museum. Just outside there’s a fantastic old fashioned carousel enclosed in glass. What kids can resist spinning around on those magical horses from yesteryear. It’s like being in Mary Poppins.

Now, inside the Zeum is the opposite of the carousel. This a museum of modern art and technology for kids and their parents – an amazing place to expand your brain and your potential. We spent hours there and only experienced about half of what they offer.

Here’s what we did:
1. Played with this supercool interactive maze that is actually a projection on the floor. No idea how it works but it was amazing.

2. Learned about “green screen” technology by acting out scenes in costumes in front green screen and playing back the clip with the superimposed backdrop. My son loved reinacting the fire scene in which he rescues his trapped sister from a blazing fire.

3. Created plastercine characters and then created a stop motion film. Fab for the family as each of us made our little people blobs, the kids dreamnt up the blob storyline and of course, the hubby directed.

4. Made masks from paper bags. Actually my daughter turned hers into a crown but it kept her busy for half an hour.

Alcatraz was amazing. How could visiting the worlds most “legendary prison” be anything but? Experiencing this old jail was thrilling for my son who had just finished reading about the great escape from Alcatraz. The whole experience was enjoyable and educational for all four of us – even my five year old daughter. Taking the boat to the island was cool (and cold). We were immersed in a huge clouds of fog and suddenly the jail pops into view. The tour includes headsets with stories and sounds from back in the day. The narrator guides you through the rooms and really brings history to life. At one point my daughter Jessie was sure she saw real blood on the cement. (It was rust!), but the experience was that vivid for her.

Being able to walk into A REAL JAIL CELL and see what happened to “bad people” is probably a good lesson for my kids. Stay in school kids or you could end up here…On the way out in the mandatory Alacatraz Gift Shop, one of the original inmates was actually there hawking his book! He wasn’t very nice, but my hubby bought his book anyway.

Russian Hill, according to our cab driver is the curviest road in the world. It is so steep that in order for horse and buggies not to slide down the hill in the “olden days”, they created this tiny S shaped road to cope with the incline. Today tourists line up to walk up and down this little paved street. We saw footage of it on American Idol today and my kids screamed with recognition. My world travellers!