Only one who has never actually 'lived' in San Francisco could question that San Francisco is walkable.

My dear, you must be visiting the wrong parts of town. MOI is a walker, and has spent many a day just walking about San Francisco.

Stop watching the telly and venture out and really see what you are missing in San Francisco, the next time you require your 'fix'.

Last time MOI looked the really best shops are located in a part of town that is quite level and should only place a strain on your pocketbook and not your heart.

Granted, there are hills there, but I doubt that there's a city west of the Mississippi that's easier to get around without a car.

On one memorable visit, I parked my car on the north side of the city (where you could park free all day), and walked down to the Embarcadero area, past the Palace of Fine Arts, Ghirardelli Square and Fisherman's Wharf, thence up the hill to Market Street. Having never ridden a subway, I caught BART to the Civic Center, then walked back to Union Square, where I had a cup of cappucino (the real kind) at a sidewalk cafe.

Then, after exploring the Market Street/Union Square area for a while, I caught a cable car back to Fisherman's wharf. By then it was evening, and found it fascinating to watch locals get on and off the cable car as part of their daily routine, and observe the street life of a real city. It was such a different world than Fresno.

If I had my life to live over again, I'd spend a few years living there while I was young and single, just to soak up a "big city" experience you probably won't find anywhere else on the West Coast.

Even at my senior age, I would like to live in San Francisco. But I can't afford it. Never again
would I live in a two story house, and to get a house like I am having in Fresno, I might just as well ask for the price of the Tai Mahal. Yet around here my house is nothing special.

Love those SF stories. Rob, an actual former resident -- share your tips -- where are your favorite places?

I'm just kiddin' really, I've tromped all over downtown a jillion times looking for shoes and prom dresses for our exchange students. I've walked across the Golden Gate Bridge with the kids and hoofed it through Golden Gate Park (ah, Japanese Gardens -- exquisite!) gone up and down the embarcadero so many times I could do it with eyes closed. Adore walking around Chinatown, it's like being in a movie.

The Europeans adore San Francisco, because it feels like a real city; it feels like Europe.

I love SF but am not able to enjoy the walking around the whole city being not as able bodied as I once was. It is actually quite painful for me. I am not real fond of large crowds but love the city.

MOI has many stories of San Francisco.

What was the old "City of Paris" store is now Neiman Marcus, but one can still see some of that grandeur was the 'City of Paris', at one time they sprayed Chanel#5 in elevator, how posh is that.

Union Square is always a place to stop and check out the locals, and it is surrounded by many smart shops.

City Hall is another place to go, and to also check out the other building around. Very grand, and they used to run the brilliant fountains in the middle.

MOI was a cheeky bugger, and had been known to call out to packed cable car that today was "Resident Day" forcing visitors to hop off for MOI.

MOI remembers catching the ferry to Sausalito and andering around the old Ferry Building(remember when there was not a freeway blocking the view of the front.

aaaaaah, what what remembers.

I waited for someone else to mention that San Francisco is a scary place
for driving and to parallel park on a steep hill.

Most European visitors love the city because it is civilized, and it is what it is...SAN FRANCISCO. And unless things have changed, people dress up when
going out. It would look silly to wear hat and gloves with nightgowns. Though today's nightgowns are very stylish and modest. It's the daywear around here that has nowhere to go but the skin. And that it is not sexy because it is....in
your face...nothing left to the imagination of the ever roving male eye.

I found my way around Market Street, but I got lost around the parochial
women's college and some residential neighborhoods. And the staircases inside those charming, narrow houses were a nightmare to me in my high heels.

Anyone remember the top of the Emporium at Christmas? They had an ice rink where you saw Santa and a full fledged carnival on the roof. The ferris wheel took you near the edge. Great memories.

Yo also dressed up when shopping. Ooops, I just gave away my age.

Remember when ladies wore gloves, and the Saint Francis Hotel washed coins, to spare ladies from getting gloves dirty? They also replaced worn bills with brand new ones. Remember the huge Christmas Tree in Union Square?

5.10 in heels, 37-24-37 was not conducive to passing out flowers. Walking around Haight-Ashbury would not have been my "walker's paradise."
Though I am positive that today I would be very safe, lest my purse might
generate some interest.

The City of Paris tree was worth the entire trip to SF. However, the fun times at the zoo and Playland come in a close second.