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Spent the morning on the hop on hop off again. I was much better prepared this morning and more warmly dressed. Went to Sausalito which is on the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge. Also went to Lombard Street. A particular section of it is considered to be the crookedest street in the world. It is a one way downhill but it extremely steep going up and coming down. The road curves to continuously to the left and right for one block, probably because it is too steep to drive down in a straight line. Walking up the hill was worse than the steepest setting on the gym treadmill! Cars actually queue to drive this little piece of road because of its novelty value.
I wanted to go to Alcatraz but the first available ticket was for 23 August. I had tried online when in Vegas to get a ticket and they were already sold out for this week. The hop on hop off guys offer a 48 hour bus ticket and Alcatraz ticket for $90 but they didn't have any Alcatraz tickets when I bought the 48 hour from the bus driver. I went to their office (and a couple of other places, including hanging around the Alcatraz ferry pier) around 1.30pm and they had just one for the 3.50pm departure that day. They insisted I pay $90 for it and I said no. The front office guy said if it was still available at 3 he would ask his manager. He took my number but said he couldn't call international numbers. I went to pier 39 for lunch and made sure I was back at the office at 3pm. The manager said they could sell it to me at $49 (face value =$30) as a package upgrade with a ticket to a wax museum which was worthless. I took it and had no regrets.
Alcatraz is just 1.25 miles from SF and took 15 minutes by ferry. The ferry uses solar and wind power for its electrics. The audio tour of the prison cells takes over an hour and is brilliant. They recreate actual occurrences at the prison with sounds and tell you where to look and is narrated by former inmates and warders. I caught the 5.50pm ferry back to SF. This was one of the highlights of the whole US leg of the trip. It is much better than the Robben Island trip although I admit it has been many years since I did that.
That night I went to the Castro district for supper. It is the "gay" suburb of SF and it is extremely proud and demonstrative of this. Generally, SF is very gay friendly but this place is different. The colors of the stores, the gay flags, the street posters - they all have some gay slant in their displays. There are lots of straight people and tourists but also lots of out and out gays, holding hands or kissing like normal people do. It is mostly a residential area with lots of restaurants,bars, clubs and pubs for their specific audience. All in all, a very busy day!
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