Wednesday, October 13, 2010

THE MOST VISITED PLACES


ALCATRAZ ISLAND

Alcatraz Island is an island located in the San Francisco Bay, 1.5 miles (2.4 km) offshore from San Francisco, California.
Today, the island is a historic site operated by the National Park Service as part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and is open to tours. Visitors can reach the island by ferry ride from Pier 33, near Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. In 2008 the nation's first hybrid propulsion ferry started serving the island. Alcatraz has been featured in many movies, TV shows, cartoons, books, comics, and games.

FISHERMAN'S WHARF

 Fisherman's Wharf gets its name and neighborhood characteristics from the city's early days during the Gold Rush when Italian immigrant fishermen settled in the area and fished for the Dangeness crab. From then until the present day. It remained the home base of San Francisco's fishing fleet from Ghirardelli Square or Van ness Avenue east to Pier 35 or Kearny Street. The F Market streetcar runs through the area, the Powell-Hyde cable car lines runs to Aquatic Park, at the edge of Fisherman's Wharf, and the Powell-Mason cable car line runs a few blocks away.

PIER 39

Pier 39 is a shopping center and popular tourist attraction built on a pier in San FranciscoCalifornia. At Pier 39, there are shops, restaurants, a video arcadestreet performances, an interpretive center for the Marine Mammal Center, the Aquarium of the Bay, virtual 3D rides, and views of California sea lions hauled out on docks on Pier 39's marina. The marina is also home to the floating Forbes Island, restaurant. A two-story carousel is one of the pier's more dominant features, although it is not directly visible from the street and sits towards the end of the pier. The family-oriented entertainment and presence of marine mammals make this a popular tourist location for families with kids.


CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

The California Academy of Sciences is among the largest museums of natural history in the world. The academy began in 1853 as a learned society and still carries out a large amount of original research, with exhibits and education becoming significant endeavors of the museum during the 20th century.
Steinhart Aquarium - which takes up most of the basement area, as well as four-story dome that emulates a rain forest. Morrison Planetarium - devoted to things astronomical. Kimball Natural History Museum - which, in addition to African Hall and a Foucault pendulum.

PALACE OF FINE ARTS

The Palace of Fine Arts in the Marina District of San Francisco, California, is a monumental structure originally constructed for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition in order to exhibit works of art presented there. One of only a few surviving structures from the Exposition, it is the only one still situated on its original site. It was rebuilt in 1965, and renovation of the lagoon, walkways, and a seismic retrofit were completed in early 2009. In addition to hosting art exhibitions, it remains a popular attraction for tourists and locals, and is a favorite location for weddings and wedding party photographs for couples throughout the San Francisco Bay Area



Saturday, October 2, 2010

BEAUTIFUL VIEW

THE FINANCIAL DISTRICT

 is a neighborhood in San FranciscoCalifornia, that serves as its main central business district. It is home to the city's largest concentration of corporate headquarters, law firms, insurance companies, real estate firms, banks, savings and loans, and other financial institutions.
The area is marked by the cluster of high-rise towers in the triangular area east of Grant Avenue, south of Washington Street, west of the Embarcadero that rings the waterfront, and north of Market Street. The city's tallest buildings, including 555 California Street and the Transamerica Pyramid, and many other tall buildings, such as 101 California Street and 345 California Street are located there. Montgomery St

LOMBARD STREET

The worlds most twisted street. Lombard Street is an east-west street in San Francisco, California. It is famous for having a steep, one-block section that consists of tight hairpin turns.
Lombard Street is best known for the one-way section on Russian Hill between Hyde and Leavenworth Streets, in which the roadway has eight sharp turns that have earned the street the distinction of being the crookedest street in the world.

GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE

The Golden Gate Bridge

 is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening of the San Francisco Bay into the Pacific Ocean. The structure links the U.S. city of San Francisco, on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, to Marin County. It is one of the most internationally recognized symbols of San Francisco,California, and the United States. It has been declared one of the Wonders of the Modern World by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
 Before the bridge was built, the only practical short route between San Francisco and what is now Marin County was by boat across a section of San Francisco Bay. Ferry service began as early as 1820, with regularly scheduled service beginning in the 1840s' for purposes of transporting water to San Francisco.
 The Sausalito Land and Ferry Company service, launched in 1867, eventually became the Golden Gate Ferry Company, a Southern Pacific Railroad subsidiary.
 Irving Morrow, a relatively unknown residential architect, designed the overall shape of the bridge towers, the lighting scheme, and Art Deco elements such as the tower decorations, streetlights, railing, and walkways. The famous International Orange color was originally used as a sealant for the bridge. The US Navy had wanted it to be painted with black and yellow stripes to ensure visibility by passing ships, the largest ferry operation in the world by the late 1920s' Once for railroad passengers and customers only.