Going to EGA Seminar in SF? Some Ideas to Get You Away from the Hotel

It’s no secret that I love San Francisco. My husband has lived here all his life, he was born a stone’s throw from Golden Gate Park. And I fell in love with it the moment I saw it, in 1978.

But if you are coming to Seminar at the Marriott, it’s highly likely that you won’t know about the wonderful things just a stone’s throw from the door. I know it’s really hard to get out when there is so much stitchy goodness inside, but, you are in one of the world’s great cities in one of the flat areas, so take some time to explore.

If you are a quilter or sewer, you owe it to yourself to visit Britex Fabrics, on Geary, just down from Union Square. Four floors of amazing fabrics. Just up Stockton, a short block away is Needlepoint, Inc, with an entrance on Post Street. They moved upstairs a floor recently and the shop is sleek, beautiful, and has the most amazing and colorful wall full of their silk.

If shopping for other things is a big deal for you, go to the San Francisco Center, half a block away with entrances on both Market (the main entrance) and Mission. There are lots of unique shops there, and the Food Court in the basement is gourmet (trust me I know) with nary a chain in sight. I could spend hours shopping here.

A charming urban park, Yerba Buena Gardens, is across Mission. In fact I’m pretty sure the arial shot on their home page was taken from the Marriott.

There are several museums nearby, most of them quirky. SFMOMA is our museum of modern art. There is Zeum, an interactive children’s museum with a charming carousel. The Museum of the African Diaspora is close by .The Museum of Craft and Folk Art and The Contemporary Jewish Museum are less than a block away. Last but not least, The Cartoon Art Museum has an unusual collection of cartooning and illustration.

San Francisco is an amazing foodie town and even attempting to mention s few restaurants is crazy, so I won’t. BUT if you want to have some fun, go up to Market Street and catch one of the historic street cars and take it down to the Ferry Building. It’s a food market hall with fine and standup restaurants, food purveyors, and cookware shops. A couple days a week there is a big Farmer’s Market as well. Since the ferry lets me off there, I like to visit.

And if all this hasn’t been enough to tempt you, our fine art museum, the De Young, which is in Golden Gate Park has a wonderful exhibit of Impressionist paintings from the D’Orsay Museum in Paris. The exhibit closes September 12, and tickets are hard to come by, but there are walk up tickets you can reserve 24 hours in advance as well as some advance tickets available. I’ve been to it three times, most recently last week. This is not in walking distance, so you will need to take the bus.

This is only a tiny, tiny portion of suggestions I could make,so please use the contact form to let me know what you need to know. I’m also open to meet people in SF during the Seminar or to host lessons here on Mare Island, just let me know.