San Francisco - Part 1 - Here we go again!

For anyone that doesn't know, VMware is the stereotypical company in Silicone Vally, in California. I personally love the history of this area and after having travelled countless times. When I say San Francisco for the most part, I really mean Palo Alto because that is where VMware head office is located. It is funny the first time I was here VMware had rented buildings across the road from the 4 main buildings that we had at the time in the Xerox Parc complex.

Now if anyone is familiar with the History of the Personal Computer, Apple really comes to mind. We are talking way back....in the days of the first Macintosh computers, where the first interfaces for computers were really being thought of.  Well it was in these exact buildings that Steve Jobs went to talk with Xerox (a huge player at the time) about the new fangled pointing devices and GUI interface that they were developing.  Long story short apple ended up "using" the PS2 Mouse and Graphics based technology which we have come to take for granted today.  

This is the type of history that I think is really cool, to know that this is where the blood of the modern computer was born.  Some day I may post a blog on Machu Picchu, where Audrey was continually making fun of me because I was obsessed with the engineering that went into it....i mean seriously Machu Picchu (and other Inca towns too) had running water...on the top of a mountain...some of it still is perfectly active today that is how precisely it was designed.  

Anyways I digress.  Aside from Palo Alto, I have stayed right downtown as well on countless occasions, normally for conferences such as VMworld.  So when I was asked to come down for two weeks for meetings, I thought it would be a perfect time to bring Audrey down.

Now I have done most of the famous touristy stuff, Alcatraz, the golden gate bridge, China Town, Lombard Street, pier 39 (for the Arr Arr's) etc. it was always on a whim when we were there.  I have never actually come here for "vacation" doing the full tourist thing.  San Francisco is definitely an iconic place where the skyline can be identified almost instantly if you have been here before:

We are definitely going to be hitting up Alcatraz, as well as many of the other attractions here this week.  Thus this posting will be a series on the stuffs that we do over the next couple of days. Hopefully it will help anyone thinking of coming down here to see exactly how amazing this city is. 

Next up, in Part 2, Alcatraz, one of the coolest sites in this area!