A few weeks ago Xan and I felt like getting out in the city and trying something new. For a while we had been talking about trying one of the City Guides walking tours. They are free, guided tours around different areas of the city each with a specific theme. We’d heard great things about them and thought it might be a good way to learn a bit about the history of San Francisco and try something we’d never done.

We were right - the tour was great! Our guide was extremely knowledgeable and entertaining and we learned a lot. The tour we did was called Downtown Deco. They offer different tours all the time so we picked the day we were going to do the tour and then looked at which ones were available. Downtown Deco of course intrigued Xan because it was all about buildings. It wasn’t my top choice of all their tours, but of the ones being offered that day it was the most interesting to me too. I mean, what’s not to love about Art Deco? It’s so beautiful and really transports you back to a different era. A time when so much thought and care was put into every little detail.

The tour lasted a couple hours, during which we walked all around downtown and toured the lobbies of many Art Deco buildings. We learned about San Francisco’s Deco history as well as the history of Deco itself. I really can’t say enough about the tour. Plus, it’s a huge win for me because it combines being active with something fun. We can’t wait until we have a bit of free time again and can try another!

Check out the ceiling!

And those triangles? Those are air conditioning vents. I mean, seriously, the detail is incredible. 

This is the old Shell building. 

More beautiful ceilings. 

The Russ building was the like the Google of it's time. They had a tailor, dry cleaner, and even a dentist in the building so you never had to leave.

Again with the ceilings. The design throughout the tour were definitely sparking some design inspiration.