Day Two

Golden Gate Park

Golden Gate Park is a man-made wonder, 1,000-plus acres reclaimed in 1880 from the persistent sands blowing in off the Pacific. Once called “The Great Sand Bank,” the park is three miles long and a half-mile wide, with museums, boating, specialized gardens, nine lakes and 4,000 species of trees. It is a year-round breath of green air, like the lungs of the city.

Start at the 1879 14 Conservatory of Flowers, completely renovated in 2003. The all-glass Victorian structure, lush with tropical plants, is North America’s oldest public conservatory and a national historic landmark. Walk west a ways to 15 San Francisco Botanical Garden (Ninth Avenue and Lincoln Way; 661-1316), which features 70 acres and 17 distinct gardens of lovingly maintained flora — from the sun roses (Helianthemum) of Medi­terra­nean climates to giant lobelias from high-elevation cloud forests. Some redwood trees along the Redwood Trail date from 1898 and are among the garden’s oldest specimens. Free guided tours are offered daily at 1:30 p.m. with additional 10:30 a.m. tours on weekends. For lunch, walk south out of the park along Ninth Avenue to Irving Street, a bustling neighborhood filled with countless cafes and ethnic cuisines.

Back in the park, head toward the ocean. Stop at the 16 buffalo paddock off John F. Kennedy Drive. In 1890, the city Recreation and Park Commission purchased the paddock’s first bison — two cows named Madame Sarah Bernhardt and Princess and a bull, Ben Harrison. Those “wildings” from the Montana plains were the progenitors of all the park’s bison until 1984, when a new herd was brought in to replace the ailing, shaggy beasts. Periodically, lucky visitors get to see the herd’s huge, gawky calves. At both west ends of the park stand turn-of-the-century windmills 17 and 18, powered by ocean winds. Originally, they pumped 1.5 million gallons an hour of fresh well water to green the park. The city installed motorized pumps in 1913, but eventually the windmills fell into disrepair. The spars of the Dutch or north windmill began turning again in 1981 thanks to a restoration project led by Eleanor Rossi Crabtree, daughter of former Mayor Angelo Rossi. A campaign to restore the Murphy or south windmill is under way.

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