San Francisco
San Francisco is a popular international tourist destination, renowned for its chilly summer fog, steep rolling hills, eclectic mix of Victorian and modern architecture and its famous landmarks, including the Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars, and Chinatown. The city is also a principal banking and finance center, and the home to more than 30 international financial institutions, helping to make San Francisco eighteenth place in the world's top producing cities, ninth in the United States, and fifteenth place in the top twenty Global Financial Centers.
NEW! — Here is a map of San Francisco points of interest
NEW! — And a similar map of the wider Bay Area
Getting Around
The main mode of transportation is the BART metro and MUNI rail and bus system. The conference venue is right next to the Powell BART station. You should be able to walk anywhere in the city itself if you are so inclined but will save time taking transport. Be aware that the city is deceiving - a good sense of direction won't help very much here. There are plenty of mobile apps that can help you get around the city for the mobile inclined.
Restaurants
Northern California is known for its amazing and varied cuisines. From the classic “Mission burrito” to the sushi restaurants that seem to be on every corner nowadays, if it’s eaten, it can most likely be found here. San Francisco is also home to a relatively new phenomenon, “Street Food,” where locals pack their unique foods onto carts, bikes, and trucks and move about the city, posting their whereabouts via Twitter. Offering an affordable and unique dining experience, we hope to recruit these food carts to join us for an evening.
Beer
The United States has a terrible global reputation for the quality of its domestic beers, perpetuated by multinational conglomerates’ export of some of he worst beer known to man, the American Lager. Rest assured that Budweiser is not the only beer available here, in fact quite the opposite is true. It is time to settle this score once and for all, by introducing the Plone Community to the ubiquitous and thriving independent and micro-breweries of the United States, and specifically the West Coast. Hopefully we can simultaneously raise awareness of Plone, Open Source, Python, and delicious, mature American beers.
Nightlife
A major aspect of any Plone conference is the nightlife. This is an important, and sometime the only time for community members to meet each other face-to-face in a social setting. San Francisco offers a wide range of nightlife, from bars and clubs to the fine arts. Each night there will be activities planned to bring the community out from behind their laptops and into the city. Hosting everyone at the same time is very challenging, but best efforts will be made to accommodate everyone if not in the same venue, at least in a geographically close area in foster interaction. After dinner, a variety of options will be presented to suit a range of tastes. Not everyone’s idea of a good time is loud dance music until 4am.
Weather
You may have heard the phrase “the coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco” (which has been oft-wrongly attributed to Mark Twain). The saying may be true, but the Plone conference is in the fall, which is by far the best time to visit. Insensitively called “Indian Summer”, Sept–Nov is the time of year where, while everyone else in the northern hemisphere is preparing for fall foliage and getting out sweaters and mittens, San Franciscans are getting out their skirts, t-shirts, and sandals. While we can’t predict the weather, we can definitely say that there is no better time of year for the conference to be hosted here.
San Francisco is also known for its “micro-climates” which are formed by the unique hills and valleys of the city, combined with the proximity to the ocean and the bay. Because of this, the weather can change drastically from neighborhood to neighborhood (see: “it’s always sunny in the mission”). That said, the downtown area is generally consistent.
The average high temperature is 70˚ (21˚C) and the average low temperature is 55˚F (13˚C) in October, with an average rainfall of 1 inch (2.54cm).
Accommodations
Like many metropolitan areas, hotels can range far and wide in terms of price and quality. Most major international hotel chains are located mere blocks from the conference venue, although these can be the costlier of the options. Every effort will be made to secure bulk-rate discounts at several different hotels at a variety of price ranges. Well in advance of the conference, a list of recommended places to stay will be posted. We are considering offering an “all-inclusive” package rate for the conference that will include food, lodging, and a local transit pass, although in the end this may prove unattractive to many and not worth the effort of planning. Feedback will be sought from the community on this matter.
Currency
San Francisco has the unfortunate circumstance of being located in the United States and therefore must use the US Dollar ($USD) as legal tender. The good news is that just about every other currency in the world is currently valued higher, so chances are your local currency will buy more Dollars.
Language
Although San Francisco is a multi-cultural city with a diverse ethnic background, American English is spoken here. There is no noticeable dialect or accent that would give anyone who speaks English as a second language any trouble. If made aware in advance, language assistance can be provided.
Alternative Lifestyles
The Bay Area is home to a wide variety of religions, political leaning, sexual orientations, and lifestyle choices. No matter who you are, or what your preference, San Francisco is one place in the United States that you will be unequivocally be welcomed. So if you’re a vegan transgender lesbian left-handed albino midget Eskimo, you’ll probably bump into others like you just outside the conference venue.
International Travel
Unfortunately, travel to the US has become more complicated in the years following 9/11. With the formation of the Department of Homeland Security, there has been an increase in paperwork, planning, and preparation for what was an otherwise simple trip for most foreigners. It is beyond the scope of this document to list all of the requirements for Visa-free travel to the United States, but the following 36 countries are members of the VWP (Visa Waiver Program):
Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
Regardless of country of origin, a valid passport will be required for entry into the United States. Please check available online resources if your home country does not appear in the list above about your individual travel requirements. All efforts will be made to assist those with special needs in validating their trip with the authorities.