I'm planning a trip to San Francisco both for work and artistic purposes.  Can anyone who's been there or lives there tip me on must sees, good photographic locations, best restaurants, museums/galleries and places to avoid.  Question 2, what specific cities make up silicon valley?

Heather,You've gotta go to the House of Nan King. Chinese food in North Beach area. (Unless you're one of those health food freaks.)It will blow you away.RC

Sharp post, ricechaser.Best Chinese Food The horrors of North Beach navigation and parking notwithstanding, the newly capacious House of Nan King continues to be a favorite of readers who like their Chinese restaurants to be, well, Chinese restaurants. And there's no more classically Chinese a restaurant than Nan King. 919 Kearny, S.F. (415) 421-1429.

http://www.britannica.com/eb/art?id=1053999&type=I

Scoma's Restaurant, Inc.  Pier 47San Francisco ,  CA  941331-800-644-5852/or/415-771-4383

Don't miss Ghiradelli (sp?) Square if you're like me and think of chocolate as a major food group.

Lustman, you've got the fish wired. And the view ain't so bad either.  RC

OC,Afterall, I am the ricechaser. (and you're right, parking is at a premium.)RC

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Heather - just an hours drive north will take you to the wine country of Napa-Sonoma.  It is really beautiful there and it's lots of fun visiting the different wineries.  Also, The French Laundry, considered the finest restaurant in the country is located there.  Have fun!  Sedagive.

Hi HB,I am a SF native and I know the City by the Bay very well. I lived there 20+ yrs and I return often. It is an expensive city to stay in, hotel rooms rates are the second highest in the US behind NYC. Traffic and parking are a major pain. Parking garages downtown can be as much as $5 for the first 20 minutes ( it adds up fast ) The city is just under 49 square miles and at it's widest and longest points is basically 7x7 miles. Surrounded by water on 3 sides and Daly City by land to the South, space is a premimum. The city is built on a total of 42 various hills and mountains, so everything is on top of, at the bottom of, the side of, some sort of hill. The 22nd st / Church st hill is the steepest in the city. Cars have to park perpendicular to the curb, not parallel and traffic is only allowed to go down the hill and not up. It's a one way street now ( used to be 2 way, too may accidents )Viewpoints: On top of Coit Tower ( hard to get to sometimes because of all of the tourists and very limited parking ) fantastic view of the bay, the Wharf, North Beach area. It's a giant phallic looking tower shaped like the end of a fire hose nozzle. The lady responsible for it was a fire buff.Twin Peaks / Sutro Tower: On top of Twin Peaks is a 360 degree view of the entire city, on a clear day not to be missed. You can see it all. The orange tower on top of TP is called Sutro Tower and is only 10 feet shorter than the Eiffel Tower in Paris. You can't miss it, it's almost 900 feet tall on top of TP. For fun, check out the Wharf, Pier 39, Chinatown, GG Park, and the museums ( they are terrific ) There is plenty of nitelife also, they go late into the night.Food : LOTS to choose from...Scoma's or A.Sabella's on the Wharf are both terrific choices and views. Scoma's sits out on the end of the pier and has a fantastic view of the GG Bridge / Alcatraz. A.Sabella's is 2nd floor over the Ripley's Believe it or not place. It has a fine view also from the big windows on the second floor. The seafood at both is great, shellfish is better at Scoma's, beef better at A.Sabella's.Any questions let me [email protected] fun, I wish I could show you aroundDD Hunter

The Silicon Valley area in general is just south of Redwood City ( 25 miles from SF south on 101 ) and just north of San Jose on the pennisula side of SF bay. Sunnyvale is just about the center more or less. HWY 101 cuts right thru it from LA to San Jose to SF.

Check out the Palace of Fine Arts built for the 1915 Expo to show how well the city re-built after 1906. There is also the 49 mile scenic drive all around SF, designed to drive around and take all kinds of photos. There are signs posted along the way to keep you one the right path, sort of like follow the Yellow Brick road. The museums in G Gate park and Steinhart Aquarium are first rate. Golden Gate park is the second largest park in an urban area in the US ( Central Park # 1 )They even have buffalo in there. The Cliff House and Land's End ( USS San Francisco Memorial ) are both terrific spots for pictures, they are on the map and easy to find.Hyde St hill: is the hill up from Aquatic park / Cannery / Ghird Sq area. It's the Rice a Roni hill you see on TV. The hill is on of the longer  / steeper ones. There are stairs built into the cement of the sidewalk to allow people to not fall and slide to the bottom when it gets wet and slippery like the Wild World of Sports Agony of Defeat guy.  At the top of the Hyde St hill on the left is Lombard St. The Crookedest ( sp) st in the world. The street has many hairpin turns on it and all of the flowers you see planted are where they burried the people who killed themselves trying to drive down it.Take a Hyde and Powell st cable car ride if you can. It's one of the best rides. There are only 4-5 different routes of the C Cars, and this one is fun. One end is at Powell / Market and the other is at the bottom of the Rice a Roni hill across the street from the Buena Vista bar ( famous local bar )OK enough from me already.....Have fun and take money, it not a cheap city.  As always in a big city...be careful !! Especially after dark. They got their problems too.

HBXXX!!!!Another cool place to check out is Yuet Lee seafood.  Sure its a dive, but the seafood is awesome!   Personally I prefer to go to Scott's in the Marina(its one of the first) for Euro seafood.Taqueria La Cumbre in the Mission is cool.Almost anyplace in the Castro is good as the boys do not suffer shitty food gladly!Also Everett & Jones BBQ is yummy on Divisadero St. south of Geary.But maybe I ought to come over and give you a guided tour....PS:   Use timeout.com as a helper too- they are good!

If you're gonna go to Wine Country, check out Tera. When you're there, have a bottle of Cakebread Reserve.And don't forget breakfast at Sears. (no not that one!) in SF.RC

Cakebread winery is a good choice and hard to find. Smaller winery so keep your eye out or you'll drive right by it. Nice pick