GOLDEN GATE PARK

Golden Gate Park
Between Fulton St and Lincoln Way, 
Stanyan St and the Great Highway

Probably the best way to see Golden Gate Park is on wheels - bicycle or in-line skate wheels, that is. Every Sunday  the park's main road, John F. Kennedy Dr is closed to traffic from Kezar Dr to Transverse Dr. By noon, it's usually jammed with spandexed bikers and wobbly rollerbladers wearing so many knee and elbow pads they resemble Power Rangers.

One of the park's most obvious sights, the sprawling white Victorian Conservatory of Flowers has been closed since the 1989 earthquake, but frankly, the inside was never as interesting as the elegant outside. So  take a couple of pictures of the flower garden in front and then skate, walk, or ride to the park's other attractions.

In front of the Asian Art Museum, elderly Chinese men and women practice Tai Chi, making one think of great birds - herons or egrets - dancing. Next door in the Japanese Tea Garden, purple irises bloom in ponds filled with koi and sprays of heavenly bamboo arch over the paths. Groups of tourists pose on the ladder-like Moon Bridge, and then have perfumed Jasmine tea served to them by waitresses in kimonos and split-toed socks.

 Across from the tea garden is the California Academy of Sciences, which also houses the Steinhart Aquarium and the Morrison Planetarium. If you haven't yet been treated to a real earthquake during your visit, you can ride a simulated one here.

Just down the road at Stow Lake, it's possible to rent bicycles or surreys to take you around the park. Or you can walk up to the boathouse and reserve a paddle or electric boat. It takes a leisurely hour or so to circle the island known as Strawberry Hill, passing beneath little arched bridges, a waterfall, and a Japanese pagoda. Along the shore, turtles climb on each other's backs and stretch their necks to the sun, looking like retired residents of Miami Beach.

Spreckles Lake, closer to the ocean, is home to the San Francisco Model Boat Club. On weekends, grown-ups and boys in captain's hats aim elaborate remote controls at the model yachts and sailboats in the water, and there always seems to be at least one miniature regatta.

Not too far from Spreckles, is the bison paddock, home to a small herd of dusty and disinterested buffalo. And across from the paddock is Angler's Lodge and its fly casting pools. Most days, the pools are jammed with fly fishermen-and-women practicing their casting, their bright green and yellow lines tracing arcs in the sunlight. Out near the ocean, you'll find the Dutch Windmill, built in 1902 to pump water to the reservoir on Strawberry Hill. The windmill was restored in 1981, and now its graceful wooden arms stretch above the Queen Wilhemina tulip garden.

The Beach Chalet out on the Great Highway along the ocean has also been recently restored. Downstairs, the walls are covered with Depression-era frescoes of Fisherman's Wharf (when it was still mostly fishermen), Union Square, and Ocean Beach. Upstairs, there's a restaurant where you can watch the sun set and sample brewed-on-the-premises beer named after local attractions.

Insider tip: Admission to the Japanese Tea Garden is $5. However, most locals know to wait until after 5:30, when it's free. Also, there are several skate rental shops along Stanyan St at the eastern end of the park.