Toursits in San Francisco

Our time in San Francisco has been blessed with excellent weather and four nights have rushed by. We have done lots of the required tourist attractions, walked ourselves to death as usual and had a great time. We had many recommendations and tried to take them all on board!

Our time in the city got underway with a lovely lunch with Alison (she was lovely as well by the way!), one of Liam's friends and colleagues at YELP, so even got to see the YELP office which was spectacular. We combined lunch with a walk to the Ferry Building on the waterfront and after that a bus journey to the Golden Gate Park, which we walked through. Now that doesn't sound a big deal but its actually 4.5 miles long and ends on a beautiful beachfront. The picture below was taken from the Museum of Art which sits in the park itself. This snap overlooks the Japanese gardens. The day ended with a lovely meal at the Beach Chalet restaurant, overlooking the sea and surfers, as recommended by Alison!

On day 2 we walked to Pier 33 to take a cruise to Alcatraz (or 'the Rock' if you prefer). The prison itself closed down in 1963 and was only a Federal Prison for 30 years or so. It's now a National Park and is really well maintained. On average it housed 260 inmates at any one time which is pretty small compared to most prisons but I guess it made up for it in quality (Al Capone for one!) The audio tour was excellent and really brought some iconic stories to life. One of the cells sits below!! The second photo is taken from  the island looking towards the city.

The old prison dining area currently holds a photographic exhibition of some current prisoners in the US penal system, all in their late 50's and above. The USA has nearly 32,000 prisoners over 65 in the system which is pretty staggering. It also has 50,000 men and women serving life without the possibility of Parole. In the UK, I'm not sure these days of the exact figures, but the equivalent grouping would be around 50/75.

On our return/escape we walked to Fisherman's Wharf which was pretty badly commercialised so made a quick second escape and took a tram back into town which we loved. Having said that we did see an amazing number of sea lions all basking just off the pier. Rather than a sea lion, I thought the picture below on the tram was more attractive and certainly a lot quieter and less smelly!

This morning we took a bus to an area beyond the piers, including the Marina, Marina Green and Chrissy Fields. We walked towards the bridge and had some great views. Finally we returned via Lombard St, which if you don't know it, is a quaint and very windy road containing some beautiful gardens. Its also very steep, but of course we walked up it and down it and all the way back into the city. I swear I'm three inches shorter than when we set off! Lombard St below with cars on the way down!

It's an early start in the morning and off to Sarasota via Charlotte. We should be there early evening and on the Sunday I'm not walking anywhere (just like a real Floridian you could say!). 

This will be our last blog for a while but we will return to things once or twice in Florida and again in Texas with wedding news. I'm thinking that might be managed better by the Tour Director, but if she's too busy it will no doubt be delegated to the official bag carrier!