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With our tickets already purchased we headed back up to the piers to catch our ferry to Alcatraz. We thought we would take the easy option and hop on one of the old fasioned street cars, which turned out a bit more eventful than we'd expected. As we reached China Town an elderly chinese couple were waiting to get on, we kindly gave the old lady a hand getting up onto the streetcar. Only for it to pull away, leaving her just as elderly, walking stick toting, husband on the sidewalk as she (not speaking any English) shouted out after him! Oops! The conductor didn't seem too bothered or surprised, apparently they get a lot of accidents, one woman who got hit by one last year (her own fault) sued and won $4million. Tried as I may, Donna wasn't up for me pushing her off.
Alcatraz definitely had an eerie atmosphere about it. It was a fairly warm day, mid 20s, but was very cold inside the cellblock. One side of the block was the prisoner's favourite to be moved too as it got the sunshine, it also faced the city across the bay and on New Years Eve they could hear the parties and see the fireworks. We also found out about riots and escapees, we like to think that the three that escaped and were never found actually made it, rather than the theory they got caught in the cold currents if the bay!
After escaping from Alcatraz we decided to try and make the most of Happy Hour and ended up in a bar having a glass of wine feeling very civilised, surely what travelling at 28 and not 18 is all about. That didn't last too long though. By the third bar it seemed like a much more economically sensible decision to buy some vodka and head back to the hostel. This adventure led us to cross our paths with some interesting characters. Firstly, we met a gentleman dresed like a gangster, bandana on his head and everything, who when he realised we were British regaled us with his favourite episodes of Dr Who and 80s films such as Flight of the Concorde. He also showed us a video of a rap battle between Stalin and Rasputin which was rather funny, if slightly random. Our second encounter was with another fella who heard us and decided to join in. He had little to offer the conversation apart from his knowledge of Red Dwarf for which we applauded him. A little further down the metaphorical yellow brick road we met Bonita. She was a 40year old (looked about 60) pregnant tramp from Baton Rouge, who said New Orleans is over rated and told us what food to try when we got down there. She was selling, as she said, 'the US version of the Big Issue' (she was very pleased with herself for knowing that). Donna purchased one from her (my newspaper phobia would not allow me to) and in return we both got a kiss on the cheek that was swiftly antibac'd.
Back inside the hostel after a few games of pool and the vodka had run out we decided there was only one thing for it. It was time to head down to the basement, brave the beer pong tables and get our hands on the free beer being offered. It was here on the 'dancefloor' we met a group of Colombian lads. This resulted in some salsa and spanish trying to be taught to us, pretty unsuccessfully in both cases. Talking of which, we purchased earlier in the day a spanish language CD to try and learn some before we head south of the border. Unfortunately we didn't see the intermediate/advanced sticker on it. Error. Anyway, after Donna had headed upstairs I stayed up and ended up playing pool with a German girl, French guy and one of the Colombians. The french guy and myself decided to rekindle the aliance and teamed up against the german (and colombian - they're always baddies in the films too right! I'm happy to report we repeated history and whooped their arses. At about 3/4 am it was time to call it a night. I know I had a conversation with the guy in our dorm when I got in, but any recollection of what I was talking about had left me by the morning. I'm sure it was articulate and full of sense.
- comments
Graham When you get 10 mins and some wifi... You-tube 'Epic Rap Battles of History' that Stalin/Rasputin is possible the funniest although as a teacher you'll like the Tesla/Edison one and there are a fair few!