9. Parking tickets are a way of life. Don't fight it or try and decipher the parking signs. Just enjoy the beautifully clean streets that your street sweeping ticket paid for.8. Waiters and waitresses in SF will smile and admit to being waiters. They are not actors(LA), Wall Street interns(NY), or pissed off that you dare asked them for something(London/Paris).
7. The view atop the View Lounge (Marriott Hotel, 4th between Market & Mission) is spectacular.
6. Left turns can only be made at about 3 intersections in the entire city, and none of these intersections happen to incorporate Market St.
5. The Gold Dust Lounge downtown on Powell just south of Union Square has happy hour prices till 8:30 pm everyday.
4. There are at least 4 separate weather regions within the confines of this 7x7 mile city. If you don't like the weather where you are, try the next neighborhood over.
3. The ideal speed to drive in SF is 25 MPH. Not 20, not 30, but 25. Traffic signals on main artery streets are timed for this speed. It's a beautiful thing to watch your cab driver glide through 15 lights without braking because he knows this rule. Try it next time you are on Franklin or Gough. Disclaimer: won't work at rush hour.
2. Parking in North Beach on a Friday night or the Marina on a sunny weekend can take several years off your life.
1. The approximately 7 mile run from the Bay Bridge to the Golden Gate may be one of the most stunningly beautiful urban runs you'll ever do (and it's flat! :)
