Guarded by the famous Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco is known for its Victorian architecture, scenic views, and cable cars.  Round out your San Francisco vacation with a visit to Chinatown or Fisherman’s Wharf to taste some of the famous local fare.

Other suspension bridges have surpassed Golden Gate Bridge in length since it was opened in 1937, but none measures up as the symbol of its city. Connecting San Francisco to Marin County over San Francisco Bay, the bridge is known the world over. You can walk, bike or simply gaze from a nearby hillside.

It is hard to imagine today that the gracious harbor city of San Francisco was actually born out of chaos, sin and violence.  After the discovery of gold in 1849, the tiny, slumbering port was awoken by feverish miners, criminal gangs, prostitutes and desperados, creating as wild a Western ambiance as Deadwood or Dodge City.  One district in particular became notorious for its dangerous, colorful, street life: the Barbary Coast, named after the pirate-filled shores of Africa.  (Located east of today’s Chinatown, south of North Beach and north of the modern Financial District).  According to historian Herbert Asbury, this corner of San Francisco was “the scene of more viciousness and depravity, but which at the same time possessed more glamour, than any other area of vice and iniquity on the American continent.”

Walking through these streets today, only a few relics of the dark, grimy saloons and brothels of the time remain – but several still have the trapdoors in the floor, relics of a unique San Francisco practice of “shanghai-ing” sailors.  Unwary drinkers would be lured to bars and slipped liquor laced with laudanum and opium; as they reeled from the drugs, owners such as the notorious Miss Piggott (a huge woman with fists “like smoked hams”) would hammer them over the head.  The trapdoor would be opened, and the unconscious victim would fall below – only to awaken on a ship far at sea.  The regular drinkers would evidently ignore such illegal activities, no doubt wary that they themselves might be tossed “down the hatch.”

It is time to pack our bags and travel to California. From the cosmopolitan coast of California to wine tasting in Napa, our next series takes you on exciting California vacation to the Pacific coast.

Over the next month we will take a trip to San Francisco, the beautiful “City by the Bay,” where we will discover The Beat Trail and learn the history of the Golden Gate Bridge.  Next we will drive to the stunning coastal city of Monterey to find out how John Steinbeck influenced this area.  Finally we will travel to Napa and explore the hidden gems and local must-see sights of America’s most famous wine producing valley.

This diverse area of California transformed from local villages and towns to internationally known cities almost overnight by the California Gold Rush of 1848.  Full of breath-taking sites, history, culture and buzzing city life you are sure leave your heart in San Francisco, or the sounding area, on this vacation to California.

During your South America vacation you are sure to enjoy dining out at many local restaurants and cafes.  Consider this tipping tip when traveling in Argentina:

Throughout South America you can follow some general rules of thumb. In restaurants, check and see if a service charge has been added. If so, leave an additional 5 percent. If not, tip 10 to 15 percent of the bill. For porters, tip a U.S. dollar (or equivalent in local currency) per day. Leave hotel maids the equivalent of a dollar a day.

You simply cannot visit Argentina in the fall without joining in the major social event and sporting highlight of the year, the Argentine Open Polo Championship. Regarded as the most prestigious polo event in the world, this four weekend round robin tournament is held at the Campo Argentino de Polo in the Palermo district of Buenos Aires in late November. Hob-nob with high-society Porteños and international jet-setters as you witness some of the very best players of the polo world battle it out on the lawn with their precise swings and fast galloping horses. Considered by many as both an exciting spectacle and an opportunity for high-society socializing and first-rate people watching, the Argentine Open Polo Championship is the social event of the season that you surely won’t want to miss!

If you plan on traveling in Argentina during August, the Buenos Aires Tango Festival is a must-see event to check out! For ten days the city streets come alive with dancing and music, making this a cultural experience that you just can’t beat! The festival showcases the finest Tango dancers in the world along with local artists and bands in an presentation of concerts, dancing displays, competitions, exhibitions, classes, and a film festival, transforming the city streets into a dance floor unlike anything else you have ever experienced.

This festival offers something for everyone: there are exhibitions and tango films during the day, and in the evening the city comes alive with the infectious beat of concerts and dancing. Most of the events are free, but tickets are required for some exhibitions and championship events. The Buenos Aires Tango Festival is full of endless possibilities to watch, listen, learn and is a fabulous way to take part in a range of events dedicated to this passionate dance form that both celebrates and promotes this rich component of the city’s social scene.

Continuing our post from Friday, here are a few more Buenos Aires must-see sights to make your vacation to South America more memorable.

La Bourgonge
Taste Jean Paul Bondoux’s haute cuisine in Buenos Aires! La Bourgogne is a kind of gastronomic mecca for gourmets. It offers light meals of fish and beef during the day and the symphony of his creations in French regional specialties during the evenings. There is also the famous boutique of delicatessen products, including top cheeses, on the premises. It is open from Monday to Saturday, mid-day and evenings.

Gran Café Tortoni
Whether you make it to a performance at the majestic Teatro Colón or not, you’ll want to visit its equally famous Gran Café Tortoni. Sink into one of the red leather chairs, order the sidra, its signature alcoholic cider, and enjoy the 19th-century décor like Albert Einstein and Josephine Baker once did.

Belgrano
If you’re looking for a Buenos Aires neighborhood off the beaten path, look no further than the Chinatown located here. Considering most locals don’t even know it exists, you won’t bump into any tourists while exploring its shops and restaurants.

Calle Florida
Shopping in the “Paris of the South” is a delight, and you won’t be disappointed with the shops and boutiques here. Exquisite leather shops line Calle Florida, and many will custom-make something for you during your visit.
Calle Báez (Las Cañitas—Belgrano District)
Buenos Aires is known for its nightlife and whether you want dinner, drinks, dancing, or all three, you’ll find plenty of hot spots on this street.

Palacio Barolo
This odd-looking building, once the tallest in South America, has just recently been opened to the public. It offers sweeping views of the city from its unusual tower.

Palermo Soho & Palermo Hollywood
Don’t miss the trendy neighborhoods with excellent designer shops, cafés, and restaurants. They are recommended during the day and evening!

When traveling to Argentina, here are some of the must-see Buenos Aires sights:

El Niño Bien
There are many tango shows for tourists in Buenos Aires, but this tango salon is where the locals go to strut their stuff. Have fun observing this graceful dance, but don’t be surprised if an instructor tries to coax you on the floor. Note that this is not a Tango show, but a Milonga salon where local people go to dance and drink. Remark: open from midnight and not all days of the week!

Museo Evita
You can stand before the Casada Rosada and see the balcony where Evita addressed her fans, and you can see the tomb where she was laid to rest in the beautiful Recoleta Cemetery. But to truly understand this controversial woman, visit the Museo Evita where her life story is told through her personal objects.

San Telmo Antiques Fair
Held every Sunday in Plaza Dorrego, this outdoor market is full of small antiques and crafts. Normally free live music and tango dancing complete the experience. The market does not take place when it’s raining.

Alvear Palace
Located in the exclusive Recoleta district of Buenos Aires, the Alvear Palace is one of the most luxurious hotels in South America. Step into the Lobby Bar to admire the elegant surroundings while you relax with a cocktail. Perhaps enjoy a selection from their extensive cognac and whiskey list.

Park Hyatt Buenos Aires Palacio Duhau
Located in the exclusive Recoleta district of Buenos Aires, this hotel opened its doors in 2006. The original building was the residence of the wealthy Duhau Family and was constructed with imported material from Europe. The combined old and new architecture is connected with magnificent terrace gardens. You may enter from Alvear Street or Posadas Street.

Cabaña Las Lilas
The average citizen in Argentina consumes 130 pounds of beef per year. If you want to fit in with everyone from local residents to government VIPs, head to this famous steakhouse dating back to 1905. Known worldwide, Cabaña Las Lilas serves the nation’s specialty like no one else. Every night, local and international leading figures of the 20th century flocked to La Cabana—the place to be seen—to enjoy its famous atmosphere and to sample some of the world’s finest beef. Now, it has relocated to Buenos Aires’ fashionable Recoleta area amid many boutiques, 5-star hotels, and beautiful gardens. The restaurant’s original interior has been lovingly recreated with Gaucho-style, large, open fireplaces and many original design details, including heavy-iron ornaments, leather, and burnished-copper utensils.

Check back on Monday for Part #2 of our Buenos Aires not-to-be-missed sights. Start planning your South American vacation today!

You don’t have to be in Buenos Aires long before you hear the haunting strains of the tango wafting from an open window, or see the notorious dance itself, whose thrusting hip movements and intertwined limbs once shocked polite society in Europe.

It may now be Argentina’s beloved national music, but the tango had a scurrilous birth in the 1890s, in the impoverished bars and brothels of La Boca, the port area of Buenos Aires – a dangerous, disreputable underworld populated by lonely Italian immigrants, which explains the deep melancholy of most tango lyrics. (“Get yourself a drink,” one typical tango goes, “For today I must forget/ That I’m without a friend/ And far from home.”  Other jolly themes include betrayal, jealousy, despair and homesickness).

The erotically charged dance steps first infiltrated France and Britain in the early 1900s, but the tango really took off in 1917, when an unknown 20-year-old singer from the Buenos Aires slum of Abasto recorded the song Mi Noche Triste, My Sad Night.  The handsome baritone, Carlos Gardel, caused the sort of shock Elvis would later create in the 1950s: Dashing and romantic (he had once been shot in a barroom brawl with Che Guevara’s father), Gardel became an overnight sensation around Latin America, soon touring to play before adoring crowds from Santiago to Mexico City, and even the clubs of New York and Paris.  From 1929, he made a series of Spanish-language movies that are now considered classics, including El Dia que Me Quieras.  Then, in 1935, at the pinnacle of his fame, the plane carrying Gardel and some fellow musicians crashed in Colombia.  Gardel was killed, ensuring his immortality.  Recently, the house in Abasto where he grew up has been turned into a museum, and digital remastering of old recordings have almost brought him back to life.  As Argentines joke, “Gardel sings better every day.”

Buenos Aires may be the “Paris of South America,” but when it comes to its culinary range, the focus is squarely on beef, beef and more beef.  Every second street corner boasts a parrilla, or steak house – a temple to the carnivorous arts, where whole cows are roasted above hot coal pits, wall-charts show the prime meat cuts (including bife de lomo, roughly a sirloin, and bife de Costilla, T-bone), and tuxedoed waiters whisk the flesh from table to table like somber priests.  But when you sit down to enjoy a succulent steak, it’s also worth considering beef’s pivotal role in Argentine history.

It all began in the Spanish colonial era, when a handful of imported cattle were let loose on the endless pampas and multiplied in record time on the lush grass. Huge estancias, or ranches sprang up, run by the hard-bitten southern cowboys called gauchos, brilliant horsemen who wore baggy pants and wielded sinister-looking knives.  Beef became the Argentine staple at a time when only rich aristocrats could afford it back in Europe; even the poor could enjoy a steak for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Then, in the 1890s, breakthroughs in refrigeration meant that Argentina could ship its prize product overseas.  Beef funded Argentina’s golden age: the city of Buenos Aires was rebuilt on the model of Paris (then the paragon of sophisticated urban beauty), and its citizens enjoyed a higher standard of living than the US; millionaire Argentine playboys roamed European nightclubs, spending their money like Texas oil barons.  Today, the glory days are over, but democratically enough, you can still get a superb steak in almost any little restaurant in Buenos Aires, cooked bien hecho (well done), a punto (medium) or jugoso (rare).  Be sure to ask for the chimichurri sauce, a spicy oregano-based mix that was a traditional gaucho favorite.