When the fog lifts, find here neighborhoods that range from high society Nob Hill to historic Chinatown, the Mission District to the Castro or up-and-coming Deco Ghetto. This water-framed city's most recognizable sights might range from architectural landmarks like the Golden Gate Bridge to steep streets, cable cars, and salty Fisherman's Wharf, but San Francisco is also home to world-class museums, a zoo, an aquarium and an expansive urban park. While collisions - of Mexican, Asian, and American cultures, of the cold north Pacific Ocean with the sunny California mainland, of 18th-century Spanish missions with modern skyscrapers and of course, the rattling slide of the San Andreas Fault's earthen sides - may have shaped this city, it's the multi-cultured populous and atmospheric setting that makes it such a desirable destination in its current form. Sophisticated, cosmopolitan, often foggy and infamous for its high-priced real estate, 'San Fran' ranks well up the list of cultural 'it' spots on the West Coast. San Francisco is one of the few North American cities to achieve a place in the pantheon of great urban centers around the globe.