Agreed on Alcatraz. Not something I would have chosen to do, but I was escorting out of town adolescents who'd seen the movie (this was 9 years ago). Really worth the trip. I hear they have a "gardens of Alcatraz" tour now, featuring naturalized roses and geraniums and weird hardy perennials from the days when prison guards & wives kept gardens.
If you care about museums then of course get to the Palace of Legion of Honor; also the Asian Art Museum in Civic Center has a world clbutt collection of Asian art.
The Ferry building is a must for foodies, any day but of course Saturday includes the Farmers' Market. THere's another market on Tuesdays *I think*. And Wednesdays in Civic Center (that one serves the Asian community more and has interesting veggies you won't see at the Ferry Building)
Go to any good bookstore or library branch in SF and look at Patricia Unterman's "Food Lover's Guide to San Francisco" for more ideas once you get there.
Then there's the whole ice cream thing. Local SF types - can you advise on ice cream? I know there's a great place in the Mission that features red bean and green tea and mango ice creams, home made; there's one out in the Richmond, too, where the proprietor is an obsessive Japanese immigrant who makes and packs amazing flavors by hand. Heck if I remember names or locations. I do like the one at the corner of Union and Hyde Streets, where the Union STreet bus meets the cable car line - what's the name of that one? It's been so long...The ice cream parlor at the top of the world.
For coffee: I like Peet's. Branches everywhere.
If you're in Golden Gate park (eastern end) and get hungry, you can either go north to Geary and the ethnic restaurants along there (I ninth and surrounding blocks, where there is a strip of restaurants and bookstores with outposts or originators in the East Bay. As an Oaklander I always feel at home on Irving Street - Naan-n-Curry, great tandoori, naan and Indo-Pakistani food; Peet's coffee; Black Oak Books; a bakery, a really good MIddle Eastern kebab-n-tabbouli place, lots of other ethnic restaurants.
Leila
