Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with UnionSquare

How to spend the other 8 hours of my trip to San Francisco?

pluckemin — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 11:43:29 -0800

I'll be attending a conference in San Francisco (and staying in Berkeley) from Wednesday to Sunday. What are some short (1-2 hours) "field trips" I can take when I get sick of listening to papers? The hotel where the conference is being held is a couple of blocks southwest of Union Square. I'm staying with a friend in South Berkeley, so I'll be returning there in the evenings. I've been to SF once before, but I was a kid and so I don't remember anything about the city.

So what are some enjoyable but short "field trips" I can take either during the day for lunch or in the evenings when the conference lets out? (By "short" I mean under two hours, including transit time, so that excludes museums and similar things.) I tend to like quirky college-town-y type areas (which I suspect means I should check out the Berkeley area) but I'm also looking for essential SF activities. (Ones that are more active than passive, though -- I'm not interested in going to gawk at the Golden Gate Bridge or Lombard Street, especially since I won't have a camera.) I like walking around. I also like eating, so food recs are welcome, but I have very little money (let's say less than $10 per meal, and preferably less than $8 for lunch) and I don't want to travel a huge distance JUST to eat. I love farmer's markets. I hate bars. I like cafés with menus written on blackboards with colorful chalk. One last caveat is that I'm small and female and will be by myself, so I'd like to avoid sketchy areas.

I've seen the other questions about stuff to do in SF, so I apologize for the redundancy, but I couldn't find any that mentioned time constraints. Tu Lan is right by the conference hotel, so I'll try to check that out. The Ferry Building Marketplace looks AMAZING and I'll definitely find a few hours to wander around there, ideally on Saturday morning when the farmer's market is going on.

Thanks in advance for your help! I'm so busy working on my presentation and paper that I don't have a lot of time to peruse Yelp and look up tourist guides...

Local or Express?

2bucksplus — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 06:36:42 -0800

Help me optimize my daily New York City Subway commute! A good question for those who love transportation puzzles: Every business day, I travel from Union Square to Grand Central at 8:30AM and return at 5:30PM via the 4,5 or 6 train. These trains depart from opposite sites of the same platform. Given the frequency of the trains, and their comparative speeds (and the fact that the local stops along the way), am I better off:

1. Always getting on the first train that arrives, be it local (6) or express (4,5)
2. Always getting on the first express train that arrives, even if that means not getting on a local train (4,5)
3. Some other answer?

Why?

Now, say I just miss an express train (i.e. see it depart the station), am I better off:

1a. Getting on the next train to arrive, be it local or express (4,5 or 6)
2a. Getting on the next express train to arrive even if that means skipping a local train (4,5)
3a. Some other option?

Why?

I am assuming in this question that I always can board any train, but if I estimate that the express trains are too crowded 10% of the time, and the local trains are never too crowded, does that change your answer?

Help me find a Union Square hotel in SF for Memorial Day weekend

k8t — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 20:21:22 -0800

Hotels near Union Square in San Francisco that won't cost an arm and a leg? There is a big academic conference the weekend of Memorial Day. The rate at the hotel is $200/night! Us poor grad students are looking for something close to the Hilton (333 O'Farrell Street), but that won't break the bank. We're also trying to squeeze 4 people in a room. Any suggestions? Is hotels.com our best bet?