The Ferry Building tour was OK. I wouldn't recommend this for your first City Guides tour unless you are not much of a walker. There are so many more that give you a view of the city that you have never seen before. It did give you history on the building, discussing the facial structure, the columns (notice some are square to reflect light differently), the different types of arches and how it was supported. Then upstairs we saw the restorations, how they were able to save the original tile floor and cut out pieces of the floor to let light into the bottom level to really open up the space while being able to use the removed tile for repairing other spots in the floor. The tour guide was very knowledgeable about what she had to say. I like when they know there material and she did. My problem was I wanted to know more about the shops and restaurants, who offers the best of what, what are the hours, what happens each day of the week (eg farmers market on Saturdays), are the farmers always the same, who are they and what do they have to offer.
The Mission Bay - Hidden Waters tour started just past the ball park at the train station. We have been on a tour with this guide before and he is always very informative but he isn't a stroller, he has a lot to get through so he moves quickly. Be prepared for a long walk in comfortable shoes. This walk took us to a small park where house boats lined the creek (hidden treasure). The creek can be stinky but they are working to fix the problem of past dumping. There is a lot of construction going on in this area so he talked about what is coming, housing, shops, etc. He discussed a building that was earthquake retrofitted on the third floor so they could add two more floors. Since this is a liquefaction area, in the case of a quake, stay indoors. Since I live in an area with the same term, I learned something that relates directly to me in case of an emergency. It is not a great picture opportunity but here are a few I took. The first picture is on our walk to the second tour.
The second best thing about these tours is that I then get to finish the day with my own city tour, searching for food and drink and wandering back to the starting point discovering new gems of my own. This trip we discovered a new bar with the best nachos ever, Pete's Tavern. Check out my YELP review for more informaton.
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