There's lots to do and so for children, including climbing a rope play structure.
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Visitors can check out board games free of charge.
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Families can check out picture books at the outdoor children's reading room.
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The rooftop garden abounds with free classes galore, from fitness to knitting.
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Families can take an art break at the art cart, free of charge.
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Interpretive markers point out botanical features and the inner workings of the rooftop garden.
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While the restaurant and cafe haven't opened yet, a variety of food carts offer refreshments at the rooftop garden.
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Visitors can check out board games on the honor system, or try their hand at the giant "Connect Four" board.
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Tables are available throughout the park, for eating, playing games or doing art.
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The perimeter of the park is lined with a series of microgardens, including this urban wildlife garden.
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A ropes course, kid style.
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Free fitness classes are offered daily to the lunchtime crowd.
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The outdoor exercise plaza offers fitness buffs a pleasant alternative to sweaty gyms.
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A gourmet hotdog stand is among the offerings at the outdoor food court.
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From the main hall, you can take escalators or elevators to the rooftop garden, and soon there will be an outdoor gondola to whisk you to the top.
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It's a law of nature in San Francisco that where there's a plaza, food trucks will congregate. And so it is at the Salesforce Transit Center, which has sprouted a Food Truck Lane.
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From the outset, lines have been long at San Francisco's newest food truck venue — the base of the Salesforce Transit Center.
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Another view of the Food Truck Lane at the Transit Center.
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Open grassy areas at the rooftop garden allow for lunchtime picnicking or sun soaking.
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The new Salesforce Transit Center — the replacement for the dingy 1930s Transbay Terminal — is not only a magnet for transbay and other long-distance bus lines. The facility's spectacular 5.4-acre rooftop park has become a near instant hit with residents and visitors, and especially the lunchtime crowd in San Francisco's SoMA neighborhood. As noon approaches, office workers make a beeline for the "Food Truck Lane" at the base of the nearly four-block long facility, where already lines are long. With their falafel, burrito, steamed bun or fusion bowl in hand, they then ascend to the park, where they can choose a spot from among the clusters of inviting, brightly colored tables and chairs set amid lush greenery. Others take advantage of more active pursuits at the park, making circuits around the perimeter track, or partaking in workouts. The park is also a mecca for families, thanks to several kid-oriented features, including a climbing structure made out of rope, and a children's book corner. Civility and trust prevail in this airy urban oasis — at the outdoor children's mini library and nearby adult library, checking out and returning books is on the honor system. Ditto for a game glen, where visitors of all ages can borrow a range of board games. While the planned restaurant and cafe are still to come, you can pick up a coffee, hotdog or popsicle at the outdoor food court. And if you have some time on your hands, you can take an imaginary trip around the world by strolling through the array of micro-gardens that line the perimeter pathway, from Mediterranean to South African to Australian, or time travel at the prehistoric garden. Or you can play a game of "guess when a bus is coming," by predicting when the linear fountain — a kinetic art installation — will erupt with sequential jets of water that mirror the movements of the buses below. On Wednesdays after work, the amphitheater at the west end of the linear park comes alive with bands during the summer and early fall. Best of all, this fantastic array of activities and visual delights is all free, except for the food concessions, of course. — Brenda Kahn