A week of Sports and Sightseeing in San Francisco

The Bay Landing Hotel in Burlingame is an excellent place to stay. Its best feature is location. It is located just south of the San Francisco airport. It is easier to find than it looks from the map. Millbrae avenue is well marked on the 101 highway and it leads right onto the Bayshore highway. Having good access to the 101 is key as this is the main highway you will take if you are going to San Francisco or to San Jose. The hotel is nicely located on the water. There is a walking trail right along the bay that was very popular with walkers and joggers. You can sit outside on the deck and watch the planes take off and land at the airport - you are close enough to see but far enough so there isn't a lot of noise. The workout room also faces the bay for the same view.

We would sit outside every morning while eating our complimentary breakfast and watch the airplanes. The breakfast had the usual buffet items, including my favourite - make your own waffle.

The hotel room was clean, although not perfect. The fridge and microwave came in very handy, especially when we didn't feel like eating out one night. We picked up snacks at the front desk which were very reasonable in price - about $2.50 for an individual pizza.

There is a computer in the lobby that is free to use with a posted 15 minute limit, although we rarely had to wait.
The hotel's website, www.baylandinghotel.com, gives a little information about the hotel but it is not as elaborate or informative as other hotel's websites. The biggest thing missing in this hotel is a restaurant inside the hotel. There is one next door and at some other nearby hotels, although you will likely drive to go to eat.

Located within a group of unique shops is this Californian surf - themed restaurant. There is both indoor and outdoor seating available - I do not recommend sitting on the very edge next to the walkway as you will be hounded by people begging for money. Sitting outside also means you can get dive-bombed by birds (which you are not supposed to feed).

There is surfing to watch on the TV as you check out the surf decor. The food was good, although pricey. The root beer float was excellent. If you choose to dine here it is for the atmosphere and location (near the sea lions and the Alcatraz ferry isn't too far away).

Alcatraz is a National Park located in San Francisco bay and is most famous for being a prison. It is a very fascinating place that you will easily spend several hours touring.

First things first, how to get there. You have to take Alcatraz Cruises from pier 33. In the fall of 2006 the ferry service changed to Alcatraz Cruises from the Blue and Gold Fleet so make sure if you are getting directions that they are current (although the Blue and Gold ferry location is not too far away). If you know what day/time you want to leave, it may be a good idea to purchase your tickets ahead of time. Since we are not used to all the traffic we were not sure so we just walked up to purchase tickets - and the next few ferries were sold out! We had to wait an hour and a half for an available ferry - although we used the time to check out Fisherman's Wharf which is within walking distance. If you have less time than that you can still check out some nearby shops or the sea lions.

The ferry is a short ride but gives an excellent opportunity to take pictures of both San Francisco and Alcatraz. You can purchase beverages on the ferry, or there is just water at the dock on Alcatraz.

Make sure you dress for the weather and wear comfortable shoes. There are quite a few areas that are wheel chair accessible. I was surprised that they have left some of the buildings in ruins and there are piles of rubble that are even marked on the map. The audio tour of the Cellhouse was most interesting and will likely take you longer than the 45 minutes mentioned, as we paused the tour several times to take pictures or to let crowds of people go by.

It was a very interesting place to visit, even for my husband the sports fanatic. I highly recommend it. Try to go on a nice day, as you spend a fair amount of time outside.

We attended two San Jose Sharks hockey games while in California. Since we love hockey we both found the games to be very exciting. The games are held in the HP Pavilion which is a fairly new and very modern facility. It is located downtown and is easily accessible by several freeways, as well as public transit. We parked in a parking garage several blocks away and didn't actually know which direction to go - so we just followed the stream of people in Sharks jerseys walking to the game. It was comforting to have a group to walk with as there were some construction sites to go by and bridges to go under which were a little scary.

There are some restaurants a short walk from the stadium. Inside the stadium there is typical sporting arena food at typical prices ($5 for soda for example). I do recommend the all dressed nachos - but only if you can find a fork as they were swimming in chili and cheese sauce. Definitely a full meal.

One interesting note about the stadium is where the visiting team's goalie has to sit. Unfortunately for him, there is not enough room for him on the bench, so he gets a chair by the entrance to the dressing room.

Sharks fans are most definitely there to have a good time, regardless if they know anything about hockey. Any good Canadian will be most annoyed at the lack of knowledge of the people around them - asking questions like "What is offsides (sic)?" and "What happens if they get 3 penalties - do they only have 2 guys on the ice" and constantly asking why the referee blew the whistle. They are enthusiastic fans and the most fun is when the Sharks have a powerplay and everyone uses their arms to pretend they are jaws.

If you are a hockey fan I definitely recommend going as they have a very nice stadium with nice seats that are spaced and angled so that you have a good view. If you go to a game that isn't sold out, you also may be able to move to better seats closer to the ice.

If you want to see the Sharks schedule go to www.sjsharks.com

Individual game tickets can be purchased through ticketmaster. If you sign up for the San Jose Sharks newsletter, they send you out a promotional code that lets you get your tickets (from Ticketmaster) before the general public.

There is nothing better than an NFL game. Football fans in the United States are great. There is always energy and excitement, even hours before the game starts.

The 49ers currently play in Monster Park - which is on Candlestick Point just off the highway. Parking is a complete nightmare - it cost us $25 to park in a dirt lot that had broken glass you had to drive around. There are not a lot of options. There are buses but they were very hard to figure out if you were not local. BART doesn't seem to go anywhere near the stadium so we drove. Traffic after the game is awful - so be prepared to spend at least 2 hours hanging around after the game waiting for the traffic to be bearable (it will take 5 or 10 minutes to drive one block).

I recommend arriving early for tailgating. Everyone was extremely friendly and several people offered us food and beverages even though we didn't know them. In the main parking lot there was also a fan area set up with games for kids, and free pictures with 49er backgrounds.

The stadium itself is quite old. Compared to other NFL stadiums, Monster Park is lacking some of the finer things such as cupholders and adequate bathroom facilities. Hopefully they will get a new stadium soon. There is typical arena food available at typical prices ($7 for a burger, $3.50 for water or bottled pop). Once you see the food inside the stadium that is available, you really appreciate why fans set up such elaborate food at their tailgating parties.

Definitely arrive early to catch all the action, and be prepared to take awhile to not only get out of the parking lot, but sit in a traffic jam on the highway as well. Going to a football game is definitely an all day event, so get to know your neighbours in the parking lot.

If you are wearing a jersey from the opposing team - be prepared to take a little flak, but in our section everything appeared to be in good fun. If it is nice out don't forget your sunblock. Our neighbours in the parking lot also recommended taking a light jacket as it can get cold really fast.

The atmosphere was great, the stadium was not so great.

Gilroy Premium Outlets is about an hour south of San Francisco. All you have to do is take the 101 south from San Francisco (or San Jose) and drive until you see the outlet mall. You can see the mall from the highway so it is very easy to find. There seemed to be plenty of parking.

There are four separate buildings of stores (A,B,C,D) in a strip mall format (so dress for the weather). It has 145 outlet stores which gives an excellent variety. My favourite stores are located there: Kenneth Cole, Tommy Hilfiger, Banana Republic, etc. The mall was neat and clean. I did find some bargains, although it didn't seem as good as some other outlet malls I have been to. We spent about 6 hours in Gilroy, which left me enough time to hit all my favourite stores and check out a few new ones. If you have never been to an outlet mall before plan to spend at least one whole day shopping.

If you plan to go make sure you go to their website www.premiumoutlets.com, as they have good coupons for additional savings. Before I go to any outlet mall I always go online for coupons, especially to get a coupon for a free coupon book for additional savings, available at the mall services. If you are pressed for time you can use the map online to check out where the mall services is, as well as any stores you plan to go to. There are also maps available at mall services, as well as directories located on the walkways.

The stores are open 10am to 9pm, Monday through Saturday, and 10am to 6pm on Sundays. The phone number is (408) 842-3729. The mall itself just has a deli cafe to eat at, although there is an Applebee's restaurant located very close to the mall.