Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Hello from San Francisco!!
We arrived in late last night so just made our way to the hotel and crashed, promising to get up early to explore the city. We made it out the door at 8:30am and arrived at the visitor centre to find it didn't open till 9am even though the guide book said 8:30am....grrrrrr!! We managed to buy all day tickets for the public transport anyhow and hopped on our first cable car and decided just to see where it took us! We ended up at Fishermans Wharf so had a wander around and got some breakfast.
We then decided to climb Telegraph Hill to go to the lookout at the top. There is also a tower called Coit Tower at the top but we thought the hill was tall enough =P Tara was disgusted at having to climb so many stairs but you decided to walk the streets back down and you should have seen the incline on some of them...it was insane!! We walked back to the wharf and went to Pier 39 as it has a good view of the Golden Gate Bridge and they also have resident sea lions that turned up one winter and now make some of the pier their home all year round. We wandered through some of the shops and had some crepes for lunch (not as good as Pancakes!!) and then headed to Pier 33 to catch the ferry to Alcatraz.
The tour of Alcatraz was very interesting. Most of the island was reserved for the people who lived on the island - prison staff and their families. A part of the museum is dedicated to the stories of children who grew up on the island with the prisoners so close. The cell block is at the top of the island and is not a very big facility. It was designed to house about 300 prisoners at most and never hit this number in the 30 odd years it was open. You did an audio tour of the cell block and it filled you in the escape attempts and what the prisoners called the various parts of the prison (the wall with the clock was Times Square and the hallway leading to this was Broadway). It was narrated by previous guards and inmates.
We then headed to Ghiradelli Square for chocolate! They have a chocolate shop and cafe so we had sundaes and tried some of their chocolate...better than Hersheys but no where close to Cadbury's!! Tara and I then headed to Presidio and Golden Gate Parks while Emma went shopping for another suitcase. We met up in Chinatown for dinner and ate at a place filled with Asians so it must be good, right? And it was!!!
Off to Santa Barbara in the morning for one night and then San Diego here we come!!
- comments