![](icerinkwFerryBldg.jpg) |
Across
from the newly restored Ferry Building, go for a holiday
skate at the Kristi Yamaguchi open-air ice rink |
Destination San Francisco:
Making the Ferry Your Connection to Holiday
Cheer!
Season’s Advantages
Whether enjoying Kwanzaa,
Christmas, Hanukkah, "Festivus" (for the rest of us!) or
trying to ignore the holidays why not avail yourself of all that San
Francisco inevitably has to offer during the month of December?
Avoid the fuss and muss of holiday
traffic and expensive garages by arriving in the City via ferry.
Ferries offer a unique travel experience, which can be doubly
rewarding if you’re entertaining guests and vacationing school
children. And, during the time of year when most people forget about
personal care, taking a ferry instead of driving can be fun!
Landing by Boat
Most boats from Marin,
Oakland/Alameda, and Vallejo land at the Downtown Ferry Terminal,
with some boats arriving a little further along the Embarcadero at
Pier 41 (Fisherman’s Wharf). Either way, passengers are a
hop-skip-and-jump from December’s main attractions. All of the Bay
Area ferry terminals are accessible by many transit options and at
least some parking if you decide to drive from home. Though not
entirely necessary, having a vehicle on one end may allow greater
flexibility for transporting children or goodies on the return trip,
or may make sense for carpooling to the ferry.
Once you’ve reached San
Francisco, landside connections range from the historic streetcar
– another unique travel experience that runs along the Embarcadero
and up Market Street - to buses to BART to taxi to pedicab. Of
course, bringing your bicycle (and a warm pair of gloves!) on the
boat with you gives the greatest flexibility of all.
Sail and Skate
From caroling to ice-skating,
holiday parties, movies or seasonal entertainment, San Francisco is
a smorgasbord of activities to share with friends and family.
Although the City lacks snow - and
some would say that that’s a good thing - it makes up for it by
offering two ice-skating rinks, a winter wonderland within easy
walking or transit distance of the ferry. Just across from the
Downtown Ferry Terminal, facing Embarcadero 4, you will see the
open-air Kristi Yamaguchi Holiday Ice Rink, open from 10 a.m. until
after the last ferry has departed every day of the week.
![](Pier39Flags.jpg) |
Pier
39 gets in the spirit with a giant decorated tree to greet
visitors |
San Francisco’s second
ice-skating rink, located indoors at the Yerba Buena Center and open
year round is within easy distance. Catch the southbound historic
F-line streetcar toward Market Street; de-board and walk south on
Third Street; enter the Yerba Buena Garden just across from the
Museum of Modern Art, another destination that also features a gift
shop and café. To reach the ice-rink, located in Moscone Center
South, go up the stairs on the west side of Third Street and
continue south across Howard Street on the overhead walkway.
The Yerba Buena complex offers
many options for kids, including a carousel, playground, and the
Zeum participatory art gallery. Closer to the corner of Mission and
Fourth, northwest of Yerba Buena Center, lies the Metreon, complete
with a multiplex cinema, shops, eateries, and a tribute to Maurice
Sendak’s In the Night Kitchen, an interactive fantasy play space.
![](Pier39Boats.jpg) |
Arrive
by ferry to avoid traffic and garage costs |
Finding Culture
Whether entertaining children or
rekindling your own inner child, the performing arts are a yearly
constant for such favorites as the Nutcracker or A Christmas Carol.
Sugar plum ferries
From the ferry terminal, take the
streetcar up Market Street, deboarding at Van Ness. Walk north to
the west side of Van Ness at Grove Street, kitty-corner from the
beautifully restored and gilded City Hall, to find the Opera House,
otherwise known as sugar plum fairy central. San Francisco Ballet’s
Nutcracker performances run through December 31st, with afternoon
performances every Sunday at noon and 5 p.m. the last two Saturday’s
of the month at 2 p.m., and additional afternoon performances the
week of the 21st to accommodate a commuter’s schedule. See http://www.sfballet.org/performances
/nutcracker for a full schedule. Prices run from as low as $12 up to
$96 a ticket.
A Christmas Carol: Bah, Humbug
Though not actually about
caroling, this classic has left a lasting imprint on colloquialism,
allowing kids clamoring for gifts to claim their parents have turned
into "Scrooge." Find the true holiday spirit in this play
that reminds us all to remember the people less fortunate than us as
told by the American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.), near downtown
San Francisco’s Union Square. A.C.T.’s theater is accessible by
taking the F-line to Powell, transferring to the cable car for $2 or
walking the four blocks or so to Geary and one or two blocks east.
Matinee tickets range between $19-68. Full information can be found
at: http://act-sf.org.
Special
Trip Tips
()
Plan your trip:
http://transit.511.org/tripplanner/index.asp
()
One-stop-shopping for Bay Area ferry schedules and fares: www.watertransit.org
()
Insider’s parking tip: at Oakland’s Jack London
Square, park for free at the Washington Street garage
adjoined to Yoshi’s and just across the street from the
Jack London Cinema. Validate your ticket onboard the ferry.
()
Skate sessions: Kristi Yamaguchi outdoor rink
(415-956-2688) sessions last for 90 minutes, starting at 10
a.m. and every even hour thereafter. Yerba Buena sessions
begin at staggered times; skate rental is free on Wednesdays
(415-777- 3727; www.skatebowl.com). Depending on the venue,
cost is either $7 or $7.50 adult, $3.00 or $3:50 child.
Skate rentals run either $3.00 or $3.50. Arrive early to
rent skates.
()
Larkspur travelers: Catch a fast boat on weekdays!
For instance, a high-speed ferry departs Larkspur at 10:10
a.m., with high-speed return options available at 3 p.m.,
4:20 p.m. or 5:50 p.m. The latest return by high-speed ferry
is at 8:15; but, if you miss that boat, a slower boat will
take you home at 9:10 p.m. |
Shopping Near the Shore
Whether window-shopping or looking
for a present for a good boy or girl on your holiday list or seeking
portable food or drink to share at a party, you can start at the
Ferry Building. Filled with gourmet delicacies and unique
knick-knacks, the newly restored Ferry Building is a delicacy in and
of itself. All of those things we don’t really need but that make
life on Earth that much more enjoyable can be found here, from a
variety of olive oils to cheeses from around the world to
world-famous chocolates to every kitchen implement known to man or
woman to historic ferry postcards and prints.
Just across the street at the
Embarcadero Center, the shopping experience takes on another
dimension in the evening as the December lights outlining the five
buildings dramatize the night sky. Rich in shops ranging from
Crabtree and Evelyn to Banana Republic, you’re likely to find
something for everyone within these four buildings. Or, escape to a
movie at the Embarcadero Cinema.
Increase your shopping options as
well as your enjoyment of the seasonal decorations by scooting down
to nearby Union Square. Here, you’ll find Macy’s, Nieman Marcus,
and designer stores like Gucci. A short couple of blocks away, at
Powell and Market, you can visit the closest thing to a mall in San
Francisco’s downtown, San Francisco Center.
![](ZeumCarousel2.jpg) |
Zeum’s
carousel in Yerba Buena Center offers rides every day of the
week for $2 |
Hungry?
From high tea at the St. Francis,
the Fairmont, or other big downtown hotels to gourmet menus at the
Ferry Building to those necessary warmers like hot cocoa, mulled
cider and pumpkin pie, options between the ferry and the Civic
Center are plentiful. Of special note: Mo’s Diner, an old
fashioned burger joint tucked away above the Yerba Buena Center
ice-rink offers giant ice-cream floats and sundaes suitable for any
season. Count on not being able to walk through any of the shopping
areas mentioned above without encountering enough sustenance to keep
you going through ice-skating, shopping, finding culture, and
spreading and enjoying cheer.