Ritz-Carlton Magazine - Fall 2012 - (Page 38)

FA L L I N G I N L O V E W I T H … You might want to start your day with a walk or bike ride across the Golden Gate Bridge. In celebration of its 75th anniversary, the Bridge Pavilion is now open to visitors. Afterward, indulge in antique shopping in Jackson Square, perhaps followed by a dim sum lunch at popular Yank Sing. If you want to visit Alcatraz during your stay, secure tickets before your arrival, as they can sell out days or weeks in advance. If Alcatraz is not on your “must” list, then head to the magniﬁcent mansion and gardens of Filoli in Woodside, 30 miles south of San Francisco. Do leave time for a visit to Gump’s. World-class shoppers have found that there is something for everyone at this remarkable shop on Post Street in Union Square, just a few blocks from The Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco. Gump’s has an international point of view and its jade and pearl jewelry is legendary. For a grand ﬁ nale, have a handcrafted cocktail and sumptuous dinner at Parallel 37 (see page 116) at The Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco, renowned for its contemporary American cuisine. Options include black trufﬂe risotto and local black cod. ROBERT SPINR AD To take a photographic tour of San Francisco, visit . / CHIEF CONCIERGE THE RITZ-CARLTON, SAN FRANCISCO 38 W W W. R I T Z C A R LT O N . C O M FROM TOP: ALEX FRADKIN; AMANDA MARSALIS. ILLUSTRATION BY WARD SCHUMAKER But throughout the windfalls of wealth, somehow San Francisco hasn’t lost its spiritual longings or its irrepressible quirkiness. I love Sunday mornings at Glide Memorial, where the congregation spends most of the hourlong service standing up and dancing to the terriﬁc music from the jazz band and the gospel choir. On Wednesday nights I’ll visit Trinity Episcopal for the Taizé meditation service, when the old stone church is lit only by candles and ﬁlled with a soprano’s hauntingly beautiful, repetitive Latin chanting that sets a contemplative mood for quiet reﬂection. I love taking friends to see the Latino street murals in the 24th Street corridor in the Mission District and especially on Balmy Alley, where fantastic art covers nearly every house’s back fence and garage door. I still love exploring the city’s dozens of hidden outdoor stairways that ascend steep hills, sometimes providing the only access to houses hanging perilously over the sides. In an era when other cities have lost their single-screen movie palaces and independent bookstores — a trend that has threatened even San Francisco — I exult in seeing a film at the ornate old Castro Theatre, which still has a house organist who plays before screenings, or browsing the bookshelves at Green Apple or City Lights. And even now that good cof fee is available at seemingly ever y corner in ever y downtown of ever y medium to large city, I still confess that, for me, nothing ever matches the pleasure of an espresso at an old Nor th Beach joint like Caf fè Greco, where I can squint and pretend I’m back again at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club. Even as the Bay Area has become the constant focus of global attention for its young technocrats who hasten our high-tech future, San Francisco itself remains curiously — and gloriously — attuned to preserving the pleasures of our low-tech past. While its residents are likely to carry the very latest iterations of the coolest gadgetry, they still seek transcendence in all the venerable old ways, through nature and art and food and drink, just as they did back when their city was a mere provincial outpost rather than the renewed epicenter of nearly everything new. WIGGLE ROOM From right: The city’s many cyclists can be seen along The Wiggle, a one-mile bike route that zigzags across the city with minimal hills; the view from atop the de Young Museum. A PERFECT DAY IN SA N FRA N CISCO http://www.ritzcarlton.com/magazine http://WWW.RITZCARLTON.COM

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Ritz-Carlton Magazine - Fall 2012

Ritz-Carlton Magazine - Fall 2012
Contents
Contributors
Editor’s Letter
President’s Letter
Falling in Love With ... San Francisco
Design
Technology
On the Boulevards
Shopping
Jewelry
Watches
Art
Gourmet Travel
Wellness
Golf
Okinawa
Culinary
Let Us Stay With You
Heritage

Ritz-Carlton Magazine - Fall 2012