If you are a tulip maniac, bring your camera to Tulipmania at Pier 39 between Feb. 19 & 27, 2011 for the annual display of color at the wharf. Each year thousands of tulip bulbs spring forth with color to greet millions of travelers coming to see the Golden Gate Bridge, ride the cable cars, and take a tour of Alcatraz Island.

At 10 a.m. each morning during the tulip festival tours guides at Pier 39 discuss the tulips you'll see in bloom. If you can go, it is quite a show, but don't be late because these tulips don't wait. I visited in 2010 when the flowers were toward the end of their blossoming, and some looked like they were wilting.