We’ve been in San Francisco for the last 4 days and our time is unfortunately coming to an end. The last time we left you we had arrived and were heading to Alcatraz for the night time tour. We made our way to Pier 33 to catch the ferry to ‘The Rock’. We walked there from our hotel near the Civic Centre and experienced some of San Francisco’s famous steep inclines. Edinburgh is relatively flat in comparison! We made it to Pier 33 and joined the queue (line) for the ferry. In the queue we had our photo taken by a photographer to buy on our return. Let’s just say the subsequent photo would put Al Capone’s mugshot to shame.
We boarded the ferry and made a very windy 10 minute trip to Alcatraz. San Francisco’s climate is similar to Scotland bar the rain. We were glad to be kitted out in jeans and hoodies. We docked at Alcatraz and were greeted with a sign that told us we had arrived at one of America’s most notorious high security prisons. The buildings are wasting away and run down but this all added to the atmosphere. After a history free start to our trip in LA S and A were glad to have an overdose of facts, anecdotes and trivia which they are sure to bore their nearest and dearest with on their return. Did you know that a pig’s gestation period is 3 months, 3 weeks and 3 days? Now you do!
We were met with our enthusiastic tour guide who led us up a steep path to the main prison. She regaled us with a story of a prisoner who tried to escape, drowned and was eaten by crabs. Not sure if we ever will fancy crab from the San Francisco area any time soon.
We then embarked on an audio tour of the prison which was fascinating. We don’t want to give too much away as we would thoroughly recommend the tour. It was totally awesome!
Our ferry trip back was windy and cold but the nighttime views of the San Francisco Bay made up for it. We then decided to take a gritty walk back to the hotel through San Francisco’s downtown where A was asked by a homeless man if she could buy him a cheeseburger. A pretended she was poor and quiet, the latter requiring all of her acting skills to pull off.
After our walk on the wild side we headed to bed to rest before our trip to check out the rest of San Francisco in the morning.
We had definitely been bitten by the tourist bug as our second day in San Francisco was an explosion of sightseeing, wide eyes and compulsive photo taking. We took in the Castro district which is decorated with rainbow flags that celebrate its LGBT roots and culture.
We visited the shop that Harvey Milk set up in the 1970s before he was assassinated and bought some items from the Equality for Everybody shop that has now taken its place.
After some more exploring of the shops in Castro we had a spot of lunch and headed to the landmark that is synonymous to San Francisco; the Golden Gate Bridge. S drove like a true professional over it and we parked on the other side to take a walk (and numerous photos) over it.
It was every bit as good as it looks. It was fog free and we managed to get fantastic views of the city. It was one of those surreal moments when you can’t quite take in what is in front of you. We also had a reminder of home with the blowing wind.
Keeping with our tourist behaviour we visited the zig-zag street at Lombard street and S drove perfectly down it. We then headed to Fisherman’s Wharf where we dined at Boudin’s Bistro. We shared a goats cheese starter and S opted for fish tacos and A had clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl. Delish!
Our waiter, Carl, was great and even treated us to a pint of San Francisco Ale as well as two glasses of Napa Valley’s finest Cabernet Sauvignon. A was in heaven! He also gave us directions to Napa Valley so we could go and check out the vineyards in person.
After our meal we decided to go and check out the nightlife of the Castro and headed for a nightcap. By the time we got to bed we were zonked. It had been a busy day.
We had a bit of a long lie the following morning and didn’t wake until 10.00am. We decided to check out Napa Valley which is an hour’s drive from San Francisco and famous for its vineyards and winemaking. It was cold as we left San Francisco but as soon as we were over the mist enveloped Golden Gate Bridge the temperature began to rise. By the time we reached Napa Valley it was 102degrees, about 38degrees celsius. It was hot! What else to do but taste some wine at one of the vineyards that line the main road of the valley. We opted for Beringer Vineyard which is just after the town of St Helena at the top of the valley. We took a tour of the wine cellars and caves and tasted 2 beautiful wines. A and S felt they had won the lottery and forgot their teacher salaries for a while. They were brought back to earth with a bump when they discovered the delicious wine was $30 a bottle.
The grounds of the vineyard were perfectly groomed and home to a spectacular house built by one of the first owners Frederick Beringer who was an immigrant from Germany.
After our wine tasting we headed back to San Francisco and checked out China Town. We got some food in one of the restaurants and decided to hang out in the most Chinese of all places-Starbucks. This, may we add, was to get free WiFi. While we were engrossed in our phones a homeless man came in and poured milk all over the floor. Cue a confrontation between him and a sassy Starbucks employee. We were oblivious to all of this until we were asked to leave as they decided to shut early. Another reason for us to love the grittiness of San Francisco.
Yosemite was our next call. Blog post imminent.
Much love
S&A
la-ny2012 