Out and About ....
Where members of the Resident and Fellow Affairs Committee recommend their favorite scenes outside UCSF.Sandrijn van Schaik, MD, PhD.,
Assistant Clinical Professor and Associate Director of the Pediatric Critical Care Fellowship Program in the Department of Pediatrics.
Although Sandrijn van Schaik left her native country of the Netherlands more than a dozen years ago, when she moved from Massachusetts to the Bay Area in 2003 it felt very much like coming home. The Bay Area has pretty much everything that she misses about the Netherlands (including a decent dose of grey and drizzly weather) and so much more. As a pediatric intensivist at UCSF, it can be difficult to find the time to enjoy all the Bay Area has to offer, but here are some of her favorites:
On a clear day walk up Stanyan to the very top, make a left on Belgrave and enter Tank Hill park at the end of the street. You get the most fantastic views of the bay, the city, and the ocean, and you are likely to have the place to yourself.
The Tonga Room and Hurricane Bar in the beautiful Fairmont hotel (950 Mason St) is a perfect place to go on one of those gloomy days that you need a lift: happy hour at this tiki bar is bound to make you smile. It is kitsch at its very best, with artificial rain and thunder soundtracks, a band on a retractable aqua stage and incredibly sweet tropical drinks. Don’t stay for dinner, the food is mediocre and extremely overpriced.
Okay, so there is one thing that I miss about the Netherlands; good cheese shops. The grumpy old guy behind the counter at Say Cheese (“Purveyors of fine wine and cheese”) at 856 Cole St. took a little getting used to, but after he recognized the depth and strength of my inborn and eternal love for cheese, I became a loyal customer.
Everyone knows about Golden Gate Park and the many things it has to offer: the bison, the conservatory of flowers, the de Young museum. But the reason why I love the park so much is because there is so much more than that and I stumble upon something new and unexpected on a regular basis. Who knew that lawn bowling is done in white suits with white hats, that there is an annual model yacht boat exhibit in Spreckels Lake, and that footbag is a sport with rules, competitions and champions?
There is no better way to spend a starry night than with a group of friends around a bonfire on Ocean Beach, which was allowed, then banned, and now allowed again. Ocean Beach, which is located between Fulton and Lincoln in the Sunset/Richmond neighborhoods, has fire pits for use by the public. Bring your own wood, matches and some blankets and the story telling can begin.
