Tag Archives: San Francisco

Fairmont San Francisco

Watching The Rock on HBO last night inspired me to write this post mainly because it was filmed in part at the Fairmont.

The Fairmont San Francisco is one of the grandest hotels that I’ve been to. We were given a tour of its Penthouse Suite, which occupied the entire eight floor. This extraordinary suite has three large bedrooms, four bathrooms, and a living room with a grand piano.

It even has its own two-story circular library with a ceiling featuring the night sky and constellations.

It also has a billiard room covered in Persian tile from floor to vaulted ceiling.

There’s a formal dining room too.

Isn’t t this so intricate?

And an expansive terrace with views of San Francisco.

This same terrace, of course, is where the “dangling scene” from the movie The Rock was filmed.

We were told that this particular suite was originally constructed as the private residence for John S. Drum, then the president of the American Trust Company. Since then, this $15,000 (gasp!) a night suite became home to some royalty and rock stars, including President John F. Kennedy, Prince Charles of Wales, Mikhail Gorbachev, King Hussein of Jordan, Mick Jagger, Elton John, and Tony Bennett.

Aside from its magnificent Penthouse Suite, The Fairmont San Francisco also has a Roof Garden, which I saw as a perfect wedding venue.

I also found the hotel’s Laurel Court Restaurant and Bar very nicely done.

On one corner of Laurel Court was a recreation of the San Francisco Bridge in Ghirardelli Chocolate. Wow!

But the restaurant that struck me most was Tonga because of its unique ambience. It’s a tiki bar featuring a bandstand on a barge that floats in a former swimming pool. It even has artificial rain and thunderstorms!

When we were there last year, these two cars at the lobby also caught our attention. Its signage says these Ferraris joined the visually spectacular September 2012 FOG Road Rally in Los Angeles.

Another trivia about Fairmont San Francisco: It is one of the historic hotels of America.

Here it is over the years:

For my last trivia, did you know that Tony Bennett first sang “I Left my Heart in San Francisco” at the Fairmont Hotel’s Venetian Room?

I’ll end this post with my “parting” shot of the hotel. I said “parting” since I took this onboard our car as we were leaving the hotel.

For more information about what is considered the Grand Dame of San Francisco, please visit its official website.

San Francisco: Lombard Street

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Lombard Street is also known as crooked street due to its curves and turns. See how these cars form a zigzag path?

For those wondering why the street was made this way, it’s because it’s so steep that it became a severe safety hazard, and so in the 1920’s, a property owner in the area suggested the scenic switchbacks. And scenic it was, as the houses there were all charmingly designed.

It was summer when we visited this place so the street was abloom with flowers, and the flower-lover in me happily snapped photos of colorful hydrangea, roses, etc.

I don’t know what these flowers are called since we don’t have these in the Philippines, but I find them so pretty.

My friend and I also had fun taking pictures of ourselves among the flowers. Here’s a collage of her photos of me.

Aside from seeing all those lovely flowers, Lombard Street also gave us these views.

To learn more about Lombard Street, click HERE.

San Francisco Skyline as Viewed from the Mandarin Oriental

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Of all the hotels we visited and stayed in at San Francisco, the Mandarin Oriental has the best views of the city hands-down.

In this picture, the Bay Bridge, Coit Tower and Alcatraz are visible but the most prominent structure here would be the TransAmerica Pyramid, which is the tallest skyscraper in the San Francisco skyline and one of its most iconic.