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Trip Start Aug 15, 2005 Previous
Entry Trip End Dec 21, 2005 Next
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  San Francisco, California, United States
Sunday, September 4, 2005

Tuesday 30th August 2005

Today is the day we left Seattle, I'm including it along with a brief stop over in Portland as there isn't much to report and then onto San Francisco. We woke around 9 am so showered and packed our bags. Check out was 11 am so we checked out and decided to get a taxi back to King Street station. There I booked our onward ticket from Portland to San Francisco for tomorrow. We will need to sleep on the train overnight as this is going to be one of our longest journey so far at 20 odd hours! We sat on the benches at the station where Dan was chatting to a guy leaving for Tuscon, Arizona. He thought it was wonderful what we were doing and gave us his address if we needed somewhere to stay! We nipped over the road for breakfast as we hadn't eaten (backpacks as well!). Blayton, the guy who was chatting to Dan gave us a bag of Goldfish cheese snacks each for our journey...lovely guy! We boarded the Amtrak train and left the station at 1.45 pm. It was a 3 1/2 hour journey to Portland. Dan was reading his book and I watched Madagascar, the feature film which was great. We got chatting to a girl sat opposite us who was from London, she was travelling alone and had been to the Rockies. She gave us a few tips on L.A...we can see how everyone has different views on places as she seemed to think it was the best place ever! We got to Portland and got off the train to 80 degree heat and clear sky, a great change from Seattle. We got our taxi to the Red Lion hotel (not like the pub in stone!) which really pleased us.

A cute one!

It was only a stop off for tonight as we are leaving for San Francisco tomorrow. We have an ironing board here so managed to do some ironing which was worth it! We nipped over the road to this cool little American Diner for Nacho's and beer before going back to crash.

Wednesday 31 August 2005
Overnight train journey to San Fran

We had a good nights sleep last night which helped lots. Liz called the hotel this morning and helped us out with a priceline for accommodation in San Fran. We were really lucky and got a 4 star marriot hotel with loads of facilities just in the financial district. Now we have to spend the next 20 hours on the train. The train was a double decker and we sat on the top. We literally have to walk over the tracks with our backpacks which is just so strange when you are used to getting on the train from a platform! They put this little step out for you to climb up onto the train! The trains are air conditioned so we have our sleeping bags to hand and complimentary pillows. Now this morning we had breakfast at Denny's across the road from our hotel. I ordered this sausage and egg breakfast and Dan had a meat feast thing, they both came with pancakes. When the order arrived at the table I was like WOW...the pancakes were just huge like the size of a small dinner plate! Obviously I couldn't eat mine so took them out so I could snack on them on the train!
We were 4 hours into our journey and the train stopped at Eugene so we got off for a bit of fresh air and a stretch of the legs, there we were just standing on the tracks walking around...very strange! Now the service we are on is called Coast Starlight and it's known for the awe-inspiring travel experience and they're not kidding! It's starting to go dark and we are chugging along through the mountains.

Alcatraz

I know I keep using the word breathtaking but it just is! We can see all the cool little American houses and ranches and people standing by the tracks waving at the train it's just brilliant! The views of the hills, mountains and lakes are just fantastic. We were sat next to a couple on a 10 day trip to Sacramento and a young couple from Portland in front of us, Justin is certainly keeping us entertained with his snacky teddies and high school stories.

Thursday 1st September 2005
Still on the train to Sacramento!

We woke at 6.30 am after being able to get a few hours sleep on the train. Justin (the kind lad from Oregan) lent me his pillow! I was huggled in my sleeping bag and being smaller than Dan managed to curl up a bit. The seats reclined and there was a cool little foot rest so it wasn't too bad. We slept on and off for about 4 hours. I woke to the sun rise on the west and it was just beautiful. We are now cruising along through the state of California. We stopped on the border as they have to check for fruit or something! The view from the coach window is just fantastic and just how we imagined it to be. We are slap bang in the middle of nowhere for miles and there is just one truck waiting to cross the lines! Everywhere is so flat and wide.
Our stop at Sacramento was brief, Justin got off here so he waved us off from the station.
We arrived at the station at Emervyille over 2 hours late probably because we stopped so many times on the track as we have to give way to frieght trains over here.

Here we were!

We cruised along the coast to Emeryville then got the connecting 20 minute bus ride into San Francisco. We walked a few streets where we checked into our hotel on 2nd street. They allowed us to check in early. We are very tired today after the long journey and lack of sleep.
We walked down the road as far as market street and had some tea and purchased a phone card so when we got back to the hotel, we called home which was nice. We caught up with a few emails and chilled out with sweets and goodies. We got advice from the hotel reception regarding transportation and we are going to make a day of it tomorrow and book tickets for Alcatraz.

Friday 2 September 2005

We woke around 9 am this morning and I slept like a log I was so tired. We got ready and walked down to Market Street, a few streets down from our hotel. The transport system is quite good here. We paid $1.50 each to get the bus which took us to the end of Market Street and you are able to use the transfer ticket for up to 2 hours so we caught the cool little old fashioned trolly cart to Pier 39. The weather was hazy today but nice enough for a t-shirt. We got a bite to eat and queued up for our Alcatraz tickets. We could'nt get onto Alcatraz only until Monday so we decided to do Angel Island as well. Our boat leaves the Pier at 9.45 am tomorrow morning. We went along the Pier to see the sea lions which was just great. There were hundreds of them making a lot of noise! We spent the afternoon walking around the Pier looking in the different shops.

I was going to lock him in!

We had a look in one shop called Wyland Art where some guy was trying to sell us a whale picture, only one of 50 for $3,000 we told him we were budget travellers and left!!!
We were sat eating Donuts and hot chocolate on the edge of the Pier when we bumped into Justin who we met on the train yesterday! He had travelled to San Francisco for the day!...the world gets smaller!
We got the trolly bus back to Market Street and nipped to get another pen to continue writing my diary as mine ran out! We then caught happy hour at our hotel and made use of the facilities by chilling out in the whirlpool where we got chatting to a couple on holiday from somewhere in the States. I also saw the Zoltar (the wish machine from big!) It was on it's own in the street...I told Dan if I see it tomorrow I'm going to have a wish!

Saturday 3rd September 2005

Today we had our trip planned for Alcatraz. We left the hotel at 9 am and caught the trolly bus to Pier 39. We had 10 minutes before the boat left so we had a croissant and hot chocolate to keep us going. We left the Pier at 9.45 am and our first stop was Angel Island which is basically a grass and woodland covered mountain! It gives the best views of Marin County, San Francisco and the Golden Gate. Coast Miwok once inhabited the island and for nearl 100 years from the Civil War to the Cold War the Federal Government used it's location for Military bases, a quarantine station and immigration station. It's now accessible and the trails and roads are used to get the best views! When we arrived there we had a one hour audio tour on the trams.

Inside the cellhouse at Alcatraz

It was such a beautiful place and very popular for bikers (You would of loved it Rich!). We got to see Deer too which was great as they were so close. We sat and had a hot drink afterwards. It's been really cold so far today. It's very cloudy as the view of the Golden Gate Bridge wasn't much of a view! You couldn't see the top as it's covered in clouds! Our boat was collecting us for Alcatraz as this was our next stop.
The boat trip to Alcatraz was about 20 minutes and we were really looking forward to this.
We got off the boat and walked the 1/4 of a mile to the cell house where we had arranged to go on a 35 minute audio tour using a headset. It was brilliant, it guided us through the cell house and you could hear audio of the former inmates and correctional officers as they remember their life on Alcatraz. Some of the cells were open so we could go inside and see how small they were. Apparantley, you can come here at night as well...it was eery in the day let alone at night!
We got to see the dining room, library and other rooms. You could hear the sound of the inmates sitting eating dinner and the clanking of the doors and keys, it was so good. In the shower room, it had big pictures hanging with pictures of the prisoners of age describing what they had done to be in Alcatraz, it was horrible. It also showed how 3 of the prisoners used spoons to dig hols in the walls and managed to escape to the shores but have never been seen since! They are still reported as missing people.

Lombard Street...the crookedest street!

No-one knows what happened to them.
After Alcatraz we caught out boat back to the Pier and we were really hungry so stuffed out at the Wipeout bar and grill and washed it all down with the nicest chocolate and vanilla milkshakes! We called at the Amtrak station to book our transport to Las Vegas and then Flagstaff (for the Grand Canyon). We called at the hotel bar again for a sneeky beer (I had a glass of complimentary wine) then we soaked in the spa from all the walking. It's been a great day today!

Sunday 4th September 2005

Well today has been really busy. We got up and went to a little cafe on Market Street for breakfast. We then walked to Union Square dropping into the odd shop, one being the Apple store which was brill! We walked as far as Nob Hill and then to the gateway of Chinatown. It was like being in China itself! All the streets were lined with lanterns it was lovely. We just walked and walked. The streets are sooooo steep here! Honestly, i couldn't get up some of them! I really must get fitter!
Today the Grand Prix cycle race for San Francisco was on and the streets were lined with people. As we walked up to Columbus, one of the main streets, we caught parts of the race. We stood half way up the street watching the cyclists climb the steepest hill! How they did it I do not know, their legs were huge!
We then walked to Lombard Street, known as the crookedest street. It certainly was! You could see the cars driving down it, left to right, it was very bizzare considering all the other streets were long and straight! Dan ran to the top to take some piccies.
We walked out onto Fisherman's Wharf so had a look round some of the shops there, Dan got his San Francisco cap which he's been looking for. We stopped for a drink and went to watch the Sea Lions one more time. We got our postcard souveniers and as the sun was out today we took advantage and walked all the way back to our hotel! After the long day walking we had pretzels and beers and then one last go in the spa. We packed our rucksacks again as we leave at 6.30 am tomorrow to catch the bus back to Emeryville and then the connecting train to Bakersfield, then bus to Las Vegas!

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The cells	The cycle race	The gateway to Chinatown	The Golden Gate...if you can see it!
The Sea Lions on Pier 39	The streets of San Francisco	The Tower at Alcatraz	The view to Alcatraz
Walking from Pier 39

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