Somehow you always expect one city to be like another, and in many ways you could say that San Francisco is a typical city,
with the usual array of department stores, shopping centres and hotels.
All this though is enhanced by the general feeling that you are walking along a pedestrianised precipice. In the encyclopedeas they say that the Pilgrim fathers insisted that the city be designed on a grid system like any other American city, and the result is the high steep streets so familiar from the movies. Incidentally I personally recommend the grid system. It is very easy to find your way around, not only because you know the direction that each road is going to take, but the numeric street numbering, combined with the street names give even me a sense of direction.
The shops in San Francisco are fantastic - all the big names: Macy's, Tiffany's, Saks 5th Avenue, FAO Schwarz, plus lots of smaller specialists. The shopping center, as well as having this mural of Warner Brothers on the ground floor (I don't know who the two cartoon characters are), also had circular escalators.
There were lots of places to eat of all nationalities, and we enjoyed the traditional 50's diner, with the 59 Edsell parked inside and the waiter dressed as Chaplin. The transport system was very efficient, much easier than a car would have been. You just had to hop on a bus or trolley, or you could use the MUNI trolley system which is underground.
It was great, but sometimes it could all be a little too much for Sam and Amy!