Sunny San Francisco
Trip Start
Jan 04, 2008
1
122
130
Trip End
Dec 17, 2008
San Francisco,
California,
United States
Sunday, November 23, 2008
We caught a cable car to Union Square, basically a tram running on cables beneath the road to get it up and down the steep hills, good fun and a great way of getting around the city, plus cheap as well (unlimited travel on all public transport for three days was $18). The meal was very good and even better for the fact we were dressed up and felt normal again rather than having the skanky traveler look. We didn't find the ultra lounge until we hit a different bar and saw it across the road, but still had a good night, meeting a Croatian barman who had lived in Bermuda 7 years ago and learning the ins and outs of the 4-way stop signs we had been struggling to understand......and still don't!
Fog rolling in to the San Fran valley
!The next morning we were up early to get down to the wharf to catch a boat to Alcatraz. The weather was lovely and sunny and the boat ride across to the rock took about 15 minutes. We were quite surprised that the prison was so close to the mainland, I reckon I could have swum it if it hadn't been for the sharks, freezing cold water and strong currents. When we arrived we had the obvious introductory spiel from the park ranger and then headed off in the opposite direction to all the other tourists to walk around the parade yard rather than watch the intro video.
The views of the city and Golden Gate Bridge were pretty spectacular from "The Rock", so not a bad place to be locked up, if you weren't in a cell that is. Next we set off to the cell blocks to take audio tour of the prison. Donning headphones and a sort of MP3 player we were guided around the cell blocks by an ex prison officer who would instruct us which direction to walk every few minutes. The narration was also interspersed with comments about life at Alcatraz by ex-cons, with cell door clanging sound effects for a touch of authenticity. Overall the audio tour was very good, we visited the cells, library, showers and dining hall as well as learning about the attempted escape that took place inside when 3 prison officers were killed as well as 4 prisoners when the marines finally ended the escape attempt
On a cable car
. We also learnt about the famous prisoners such as Al Capone and "The Birdman" plus the infamous escape by three inmates who made dummy heads out of soap to hide the fact they had escaped out of the plumbing system - no-one knows if they managed to get to the mainland or not.Once the tour was over there wasn't that much more to see at Alcatraz so we took the ferry back to the mainland, glad we had done the tour, but not as spooked as we thought we would be having just been in the most escape proof prison, perhaps that was due to the number of people there.
On shore, we headed to the Fishermans Wharf market to get lunch that included some tasty local bread, cheese and chicken pot pie finished of with the inevatible cake and custard filled donut. To work these off we then climbed the Filbert Steps to Coit Tower one of the highest places in the city to take in the views of Transamerica Tower and the worlds crookedest street Lombard Street. We wrapped off the day by having cocktails at the "Top of the Mark" finished off with a nice Italian back at Union Square before hitting the sack for some well earned rest.
No rest for the wicked though, as the next day still probably feeling guilty about yesterdays cake and donut we decided to cycle across the Golden Gate Bridge. We hired a couple of bikes down at Fishermans Wharf and cycled along the shore front to the bridge stopping for photos on the way. At the bridge, we cycled the mile across dodging pedestrians until we made it to the vista point on the other side hoping for some good photos but unfortunately the legendary fog was beginning to roll in, but this made for some moody shots anyway
Golden Gate Bridge
. an easier 6 mile return journey and we dropped the bikes back, had a late lunch at Buena Vista café and took the streetcar to the exhibition centre to visit an auto show that was on.The auto show was pretty good for $8 and we spent a couple of hours wandering around the stands deciding on which cars we should buy when we get home. Maud seemed pretty taken with the new BMW 1 series cabriolet, but I thought the Audi S5 won the prize, obviously the DB9 and Carrera GT were a bit out of our league. Worn out again we headed back to the Nob Hill ranch for a pie and chips dinner (we ended up buying 2 more pies at the farmers market after we'd tasted the first one) finished off with a Cheesecake Factory cheesecake (our first so far - on our visits in Hawaii we ate so much food we couldn't actually fit in any dessert), which I think were deserved. Next on the road trip is Napa Valley and some wineries, but more on that in the next blog.
Comments
Where are you? 20/12/08
As it is now 20/12/08 and this San Fran blog was posted on 22/11/08 and we haven't heard a word from you since we can only assume that you found Nappa Valley and the vinyards to your liking!
We wish you a Merry Xmas and hope to hear from you in the New Year if the influence of the Old Vines Zinfandel has worn off by then.