San Francisco

Trip Start Jun 01, 2008
1
5
18
Trip End Aug 20, 2008


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Flag of United States  , California,
Friday, July 4, 2008

We caught a very early flight from Las Vegas to San Francisco, and decided to get the train instead of paying for a taxi - bad idea! We ended up straying into a dodgey area of San Fran where it seemed all the crazy people live!! Had a few strange people come up to us and realised we were in the wrong place and had read the map wrong (despite having a Geography degree!) After finding the hostel, we got on a streetcar and went to Pier 39 which is the most popular pier in San Fran as it has lots of restaurants, bars, shops and street performers. There is also a big platform in the sea where loooooads of sealions live, so we watched them playing and fighting for a while. We walked a bit further up to Fishermans wharf where we saw the funniest thing, a homeless guy has become a bit of a local celebrity as he spends his time sitting behind a piece of bush that he carries around with him and jumps out on unsuspecting tourists. We had been tipped off by Anna's brother so were ready for it, but spent a lot of time watching and laughing at those who got scared. A couple of people literally jumped out of their skins and fell over, great free entertainment!

Next we decided to go and take a look at lombard street, the crookedest street in the world with hairpin turns and a speed limit of a whopping 5 mph. After the steep hills we needed a break so went to the Rainforest Cafe which is decorated like a rainforest inside and has the animals as well (not real but they still moved and made a lot of noise).

The next day we headed out on a boat to Alcatraz, the thing that Luke had been most looking forward to the whole trip. The weather was foggy and grey which added to the eerie atmosphere that alcatraz has. It was brilliant, and there was a really good audio tour as well. We saw the cells, recreation yard and dining hall and event spent some time in solitary confinement! The tour tells some interesting stories about escape attempts and about some of the notorious prisoners including Al Capone.

That night we decided to opt for a much needed home cooked meal and ate at the hostel for only $5 - bargain!

 
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