Day 1: San Francisco

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2:00 a.m. Yawn. We're not very happy when the alarm goes off after less than 3 hours of sleep, but we have a plane to catch ...

3:30 a.m. We're on our way to the airport. There is no traffic at this time of day so it doesn't take us long to get there at all. We didn't have time for breakfast so we wait for Dunkin Donuts to open up and grab something there.

6:10 a.m The plane leaves on schedule. One of the flight attendants asks the man sitting with us to move a couple of rows back so we have the entire row to ourselves! It's a long flight so we try to catch up on some much needed sleep, which unfortunately is very hard when you're on a plane.

9:30 a.m. The plane descends over the Bay. We can't see the runway until we touchdown so it's almost like landing on water. Very odd. We pick up our rental car, a grey Ford Focus we call Andy and pick up some groceries. Most streets in San Francisco are one way only so after getting lost it takes up a while to find our hotel, the Golden Gate Hotel. When we get there we quickly drop off our bags then head down to Chinatown.

The gate at Bush & Grant St.

Sandy with one of the lions guarding the gate.

Beautiful lampoons by one of the shops.

The touristy side of Chinatown. Lampoons, bright banners, you name it ... they have it, but it is a bit over the top so we decided to head over to the "real" Chinatown.

Suddenly, the tourists and the bright decorations are gone and we are surrounded by a sea of people speaking in languages we don't understand. Everyone has to squeeze past each other because the stores use little stands outside to display their goods.

Here's a picture of one of the little stands. I'm not quite sure what they are selling. It doesn't look familiar and the signs, like everything else are in Chinese only.

Deserted alley with a famous temple of which I have forgotten the name. :o

And another stand by the side of a store.

Headless chickens in the window. Yuck! Nonetheless, we are both hungry so we head over to a small restaurant that's filled to capacity .. this we think is a good sign. As it turns out it was a great choice; Sandy had a delicious Singapore noodle combination and I got curry shrimp with rice.

Then the time has come to say goodbye to Chinatown and walk towards the visitors center. On the map it doesn't look all that far, but San Francisco is made up of hills, hills and and more, steeper hills and even walking for short distances is exhausting. We pass the cable car stop and decide to take the cable car on our way to Alcatraz.

Cable car on the Powell-Hyde line.

We make a brief stop at the visitor center and pick up some brochures. Then we start walking towards Alamo Square.

Pigeons at the visitors center.

There's a tram stop in front of the visitor center so we got to see a couple of strange old-fashioned trams as we were deciding which way to go.

Old-fashioned tram with Christmas decorations.

Another tram

Alamo Square is a long way from the visitor center and we pass through an area of town that makes both of us feel uncomfortable. Many people hanging around, being high, no other tourists in sight. Also a lot of homeless people, more than we'd expected, but they are not bothering anyone.

Statue facing City Hall.

City Hall, not listed anywhere as one of San Francisco's top attractions, but defintely worth a visit. It must be great to see it during the summer when the trees have leaves!

The walk to Alamo Square is proving tougher than we'd anticipate and we have to stop every once in a while to catch our breath. We are rewarded with some beautiful houses along the way ... Alamo Square is definitely in a rich neighborhood.

Pretty houses on the way to the square.

Alamo Square ... not entirely sure it was worth the climb, but the houses are very cute and the view of the skyline behind the houses is magnificent! There's a park across the street so we decide to sit in the shade for a while before going back. One would think going downhill is easier, but as it turns out it's just as bad as going uphill.

When we arrive back at the visitor's center we go straight to the cable car stop, because the ferry to Alcatraz leaves in 40 minutes. Unfortunately, the line is huge and not moving. We spend 15 minutes in line then realize it's not going to work.

Circle used to manually turn the cable cars when they've reached the end of their route.

We ask the people at the visitor's center what's the quickest way to get to Alcatraz and they tell us to take the cable car, or otherwise the tram. Having already decided the cable car isn't going to work we hop on the first tram, only to find out it's moving very slowly and making stops at every block. Time is running out and we fear we will not make it to Pier 41 in time. We decide to get off the tram and somehow manage to grab a cab during rush hour. Our driver is a nice Russian man who drives like a maniac to get us to the ferry on time. Thank you, thank you :-)

The woman at the ticket counter looks concerned as we come up to the window. "Have you brought some kind of sweater?" she asks. She is relieved to find we brought both sweaters and jackets, because it gets "pretty cold" she says. We make a quick run to the bathroom (disgusting!) then get in line to board. It's here that I get my first glimps of the sea lions, or the stinkies as we like to call them. They are unbelievably loud!

The island seen from the ferry.

Neither of us is very good with boats, but the sights are so amazing that we soon forget (almost all) our seasickness.

Golden Gate Bridge and freightship by the setting sun.

The boat up close

Getting closer ...

San Francisco skyline seen from the ferry to Alcatraz

We got off the boat and walk to the gathering point on unsteady legs. There's large grafiti saying "Indians Welcome" on the first building we see. I don't know a lot about US history so at first this make no sense to me, but they tell us during the tour that at one point Alcatraz was occupied by Native Americans.

Building on Alcatraz

When our group has gathered we are joined by our ranger, a nice woman who guides us during the outside portion of the tour.

It's getting late and the sun is setting over the Bay.

Inside we are equipped with a headset and an audio tour narrated by several prisoners & prison guards who were on Alcatraz when it operated as a prison. I'm very glad we decided to do that, because it really made history come to life this way. The cells are very small, but as far as prisons go they are actually very luxurious we are told.

A typical cell.

After our tour of the cell block we go outside for a presentation about Al "Scar face" Capone, Alcatraz's most famous prisoner. I thought it was very interesting, but also very, very cold. It was completely dark by then and the wind had picked up a lot. We were so glad we brought extra clothes, but even so it was freezing!

San Francisco by night, seen from Alcatraz Island. Minutes later a fog rolled in, so dense that when we were back on the water we could not see anything. Nothing, but complete darkness.

Exhausted we walked over the Pier 39 to get dinner. Pier 39 is where the sea lions are so we walked over to see and mostly hear them, before grabbing a pizza at North Beach Pizza.

Some pictures of the hotel:
Seen from the front.

Our room, the street outside was very busy, but we had no problem falling asleep.

Pip, our feline tailless hostess :-)

More to come ...