National Maritime Museum, San Francisco

A great place for ship and naval enthusiasts, the Maritime Museum on Fisherman's Wharf is an all-in-one place where you can get enthralled by the maritime history of the world whilst watching, smelling and feeling the tales of the Pacific coast. Among other (often larger) things, they have the actual tiny boat that a man used to sail from Japan to San Fran, along with his story and artifacts. There also are artifacts and the story of a ship that was converted into a hotel on the beach during the Gold Rush, which then burned to ground level during the great fire.

Completed in 1939 as a bathhouse, the present-day building is a brilliant Art Deco construction that mirrors the structure of an ocean liner and is further enhanced by interior artwork. The lobby in particular sports a very nice (and huge) sea creature-inspired mural, while the front entrance and the observation deck facing the bay have beautiful mosaics on their walls. Starting on the 1st floor, the museum illustrates the progression of seafaring from the age of wind to steam, then transports visitors to early San Francisco with its whaling guns, scrimshaw, lithographic stones and photo murals.