By Mary Swift-Swan

Holiday presents of money burning a hole in your pocket? After shopping for everyone else, it’s time to treat yourself. Shopping by ferry is a wonderful way to begin the year. Here are a few choices to consider:

San Francisco Scores Highest in the United States in Condé Nast Traveler’s 2004 Readers’ Choice Awards–Big Win for “Everybody’s Favorite City”

San Francisco received the highest score of any city in the United States in Condé Nast Traveler’s annual Readers’ Choice Awards, published at the end of 2004. This is the 16th win for San Francisco out of the poll’s 17 years, and the12th consecutive year that San Francisco has scored the highest in the poll’s “Top Ten US Cities” category. San Francisco received the third highest score for any city in the world, following Sydney, Australia and Florence, Italy.

In the category of “Top Ten US Cities,” San Francisco received a score of 86.6 (beating its own score from last year of 85.6), surpassing the next rated U.S. cities, Santa Fe, NM (82.9), New York (82.8), Charleston, SC (82.7), and Chicago (80.9).

Every year since 1988, a random sampling of Condé Nast Traveler 779,000 +subscribers have received the “Poll of Consumer Attitudes.” The 2004 complete poll received 30,000 completed surveys. Each city was judged according to specific criteria such as ambiance, friendliness, culture/sites, restaurants, lodging, and shopping.

The award to the city of San Francisco was presented to John Marks, president of the San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau, by super model Christie Brinkley during a ceremony at Lincoln Center in New York.

For information on hotel packages and reservations, events, activities, and transportation in San Francisco, visit www.sfvisitor.org. For lodging reservations by phone, call (888) 782-9673 toll free within North America or (415) 283-0155 elsewhere.

Wyland Gallery
At the end of PIER 39 is a very special gallery. The Wyland gallery, located on the upper level of the complex, looks out at the San Francisco Bay and the Whaling Wall mural, which was painted on PIER 39’s parking garage structure.

From humble beginnings in Hawaii, Wyland is now considered the world’s premier ocean artist. He has been a pioneer in the marine art movement since 1971, and is a renowned painter, sculptor, and muralist. He is one of the most prolific and celebrated artists of our time. There are over 25,000 collectors of his work around the globe. To date, Wyland has completed 84 of his landmark Whaling Walls around the world. His goal is to create 100 walls, which he hopes will raise awareness of the vanishing beauty and inspire people all over the world to take the needed steps to conserve and protect species that may otherwise become extinct. It is estimated that over 1 billion people see his art each year, but it is even more pleasurable to own a piece of his beautiful art.