A San Francisco Trek

"May we invite you to join us on our familiarization tour of America?," Baby Dy of Grand Hope Travel graciously asked.

I could not believe my ears. After all, it had been ages since I last visited the land of golden opportunities. The home of the brave and land of the free.

I soon received a formal invite from our official host carrier Philippine Airlines, complete with a detailed itinerary with other relevant information for this much-anticipated trip. Prior to our departure, I met my would-be travel companions over a hearty merienda that Baby Dy so kindly prepared. PAL's AVP for Visayas Sales and Services Bob Salazar, Chris Lebumfacil - Manager for Passenger Sales and Marijo Araneta - Senior Account Officer briefed us on the exciting places we would be visiting, our accommodations, the weather forecast and a series of friendly reminders of do's and don'ts. At the end of our casual meeting, we were definitely all set to buckle up and fly up, up and away.

We flew into San Francisco after a twelve-hour flight, which we hardly felt due to the pampering we received from the ever smiling, efficient stewardesses. We were met by Eugene Cheng, who proved to be an excellent source of countless bits of information regarding our destination. He soon became a friend in addition to being our tour guide.

San Francisco is different. What makes it so special? Simply referred to as "the city" by northern Californians, San Francisco is a city of views built on some forty hills. It owes much of its personality to three endowments: its location, its people and the climate.With an enormous bay on one side and an ocean on the other, the city's weather is tempered to an almost perpetual spring.

The tour on the following day brought us to some of the city's highlights, which included the following:

From the Twin Peaks, the city's landscape sparkles and the layered skyline dominates the horizon. Tightly packed houses crowd the hillsides and the high rise buildings in all shapes and sizes run almost to the watery edge of San Francisco Bay.

The Golden Gate Bridge was built where it was said a bridge could not be built, has become a landmark. The single 4,200-foot span is one of the most spectacular engineering feats of all time. For us Catholics, no tour is ever complete without passing by a house of worship. We visited the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption for a moment of private meditation. The simplicity of the sanctuary underscores the focal point of the cathedral. The altar is a single carved piece of Botticino marble weighing 10 tons. To the right is one of the most revered images of Mary, Our Lady of Guadalupe, the symbol of Catholic faith in the New World. The magnificent organ designed by the Ruffatti brothers in Padua, Italy, has 4,842 pipes in 89 ranks and 70 stops. The console has solid-state curcuity and can be moved to other locations. The organ took three years to build and six months to install.

In a placid lagoon setting, the Palace of Fine Arts, which was designed by Architect Bernard Maybeck, survives as the only relic of the 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition that celebrated the Beauty, Progress and the new Panama Canal. Strolling through the magnificent temples is like taking a step into a long past golden age. The place now contains a lively scenic museum that invites you to tinker with the exhibits and make your own discoveries.

Lombard Street, known as the Crookedest Street in the world, changes directions ten times as it winds back and forth around manicured hedges and blossoming hydrangeas in the space of one-brick paved block.

The sights are seemingly endless. The visual appeal lies in their natural landscapes that are a combination of man and nature. Buildings and mementoes of the city's colorful past add a nostalgic note to the scenery.

A city definitely on the move, San Francisco moves at its own pace and in its own way. Where other cities have been able to spread out, San Francisco has had to climb hills but there lies the very beauty and charm of a city like no other.