City Guide Tour: Russian Hill Stairways

Yesterday we took the Russian Hill Stairway tour given by City Guides.  I love City Guides and out of the many tours I have taken only one was bad.  The guide we had for Russian hills was great.  The thing about these tours is you learn about the city in a way you can't learn by doing the touristy things, driving or walking around by yourself.  You see things you didn't know existed in the city like these hidden stairways that are maintained by private owners but are available to the public.  This tour takes 2 hours but it's worth it.  Dress comfortably in good walking shoes and layers because as the title implies you to up and down a lot of stairs and if you know anything about the city you know it can be chilly.  The tour provides you the history on some of the oldest, most beautiful Russian Hill homes.  You see some pretty maintained gardens hidden on staircases between houses that if not on this tour you would never know about.  It begins to remind me of Carmel with the hidden alleys and pathways, quaint gardens and many lovely homes with the exception of large mansions and a few eye sore sky rises.  Thank goodness the neighborhood association got together to block future sky rises and help protect the history and the homes of Russian Hill.  We already knew it was expensive to live in the city but I didn't know it could cost $8000 a  month to rent the octagon home or over 2 million for a condo in an art deco building that had some uniqueness to it but not beautiful enough on the outside to make the 2 million dollar price tag seem acceptable.  It truly is all about location, location, location.  Status also plays into it because some of these houses just were not practical with no easy access.  The best deal I learned about was for a buck the garbage man will come down the steep staircases to pick up your trash.  Best dollar worth spent in my opinion.  I'm surprised it isn't more.

Check out the City Guides schedule, take a tour and give a donation at the end to keep this program going.  It is well worth $5pp donation for an informative, fun tour.