We left Yosemite at 6am and arrived back in San Francisco in time to do a tour of Alcatraz, the famous high security prison. Alcatraz is built on a rock island about a mile from San Francisco Bay. It was originally built as a permanent fort, to protect the Bay during the Gold Rush in the late 1800's. After it became too expensive to run by the War Department it was sold to the Prison's Bureau and made into a high security prison to house the most notorious crimin...

We walked to the farmers market for lunch and tried lots of yummy food. We then headed to Nob Hill to see Grace Cathedral, a gothic cathedral with a labyrinth inside. We both completed the labyrinth (a carpet with swirls on it!) and felt spiritually awakened afterwards! So much so that we headed for North Beach to try the Italian food and wine!

We decided to take the 1.5hr plane journey to San Francisco, rather than the 13 hours bus journey. We checked into a hotel and checked right back out, first thing the next day, after we realised we were staying slap bang in the middle of Tenderloin (the actual ghetto!). We headed over to Haight Ashbury the next day and spent the day in downtown San Francisco. The next day we moved again, to the Union Square district, in central San Francisco. We walked throug...