We waited to have breakfast until we got outside, mostly because we had no cereal left!
We went out with a plan to go to the beach but first had to get breakfast. The first couple of places we looked at were near us, but couldn’t find anything good, so we jumped on a tram and went out to the Beanery, where we got a coffee a few days ago.
We got a coffee from there but went for breakfast at a place called the crepevine.
We took a tram from here down to the beach, which is where we wanted to explore.
The weather was lovely, but it was a little chilly by the water, and the water itself was freezing!
Sutro Baths
We walked up from the beach to Sutro Baths.
These baths were previously used as public seawater pools, but now they are ruins, but they look really cool!
Trail Walk
From here, we walked along a trail for a very long time, but there were excellent views, including out to the Golden Gate Bridge.
Long Walk & Bus Home, Briefly
We decided to go home from here, but we had to walk to the other side of the Golden Gate Park to catch a bus, so we made the 40 minute walk the and got to the bus stop perfectly on time.
Once we got home, we got changed into jeans from shorts and went right back out for dinner.
Dinner
We took a bus to the shopping mall where we got dinner yesterday.
We weren’t too hungry yet, so we had a walk around the shops until we got hungry.
We went up a place called Blaze Pizza for dinner as we smelled it yesterday and it smelled incredible so went to check it out.
This place was basically Subway but for pizza. We got a BBQ chicken pizza and a ceasar salad to share…it was terrific! We also got a lemonade, which we refilled twice.
We each got a baby burrito (a regular one was way too big!) And sat down to eat. Along side our food, we got free chips and salsa as well as bought a Mexican bottled soda which was terrific!
We left the burrito shop and walked up to the Mission Dolores Park.
This park is on a hill and has some palm trees running through it. There is also a school that is in an awesome building!
Kim saw some dogs she wanted to say ‘hi’ to, so we went to say hi and then walked onward.
Walking To Downtown
We ended up just walking to downtown because it wasn’t too far.
We didn’t really have plans from this point, so we just walked and got near downtown before we couldn’t be bothered to walk anymore so hopped on an old school ‘streetcar’.
We decided we would go into the ferry buildings as it was nearby.
Ferry Building
We got to the ferry building and it is still a ferry building but also has a lot of unique stalls inside it with free testers!
We saw cheese, coffee, chocolate, jam, honey, tea and all sorts of things for sale and for trials.
We got to try some incredible salted caramel chocolate and we then just walked around and perused.
Heading Back Home
We had to catch a bus home, but before doing so we went to the supermarket to get a few things.
We waited for the bus which eventually arrived and then we traveled home, perfectly in time for Curtis to watch the Leafs game.
Kim watched some TV whilst Curtis watched hockey and then after we found somewhere for dinner.
Dinner
We had to travel for 1 hour to get into the city and to where we were having dinner.
This was an old pub which does a carvery, so we got that for little money and ate pretty quickly! Curtis had beef brisket with mashed potato and salad and Kim had turkey, stuffing, mashed potato and coleslaw.
We ate pretty quick and headed back home on the bus.
Whilst walking to the bus stop, we saw where the Twitter and Uber offices were!
We got back home and ate some ice cream and chilled out, before heading to bed with an early start tomorrow.
We took the tram to the city this morning and then had to take another tram to get down to where we needed to be.
We got there at exactly the time we needed to be and then had to stand in line for a while.
We eventually started to board the boat to Alcatraz Island (which means Pelican, by the way!).
The Arrival
We arrived at the island fairly quickly and there were a lot of people!
We first had to stop at the entrance and get a brief talk from a park ranger as Alcatraz is a national park.
The first building itself is quite daunting as thst isn’t even the prison! There is a cool sign at the entrance, too;
Theatre
We made our way up to the theatre and got a seat whilst waiting for the introductory film to play.
The film was about 15 minutes long and just explained the history of Alcatraz.
Workshop
We moved on from here to one of the workshops which was only open for a brief time today.
Along the way, we saw the power station, remains of the officer recreation hall and the former firing range.
The Power Station
Recreation Hall For Officers
We entered the workshop and it was pretty damaged. Most glass was smashed and there were sinks and toilets leftover, as well a sign, for some reason!
There was an art exhibition in another room in here, but it was pretty unrelated to the workshop.
This is the place in which prisoners would work, making things, sometimes for the military but also worked in the laundry area.
There were some incredible views from this island, especially with the weather we had for the start of the day!
The Prison
We walked up to the prison, getting some awesome photos on the way.
The Cell Block
The First Lighthouse In Western America
We got to the start of the audio tour, which was in the shower block of the prison, where there was also clothes from the prison times.
We went from here up some stairs and into the main prison block.
The audio guide told us multiple stories and information about different cells and locations around the prison, including solitary confinement, attempted escapes, living conditions and more.
A Prison Cell Which Someone Escaped From
Solitary Confinement
A Solitary Confinement Cell – Nicer, But The Prisoner Spends 24/7 Here
The Main Hallway
We moved through the library and we were then told about a part of the prison that has marks on the floor from grenade blasts which were thrown in during an attempted escape, via a hole in the roof.
We saw the visitation station, followed by the officer area and then the officer’s control room.
The final area was the most dangerous – The dining hall. This was where everyone ate and therefore had cutlery. A lot of the kitchen equipment is still there, along with a board of the menu for breakfast.
The food was the best here out of all the prisons, so much so that the guards ate the same as the prisoners.
Former Inmate
There was a former inmate, now in his 80’s, who was signing books. He has written a book about being in Alcatraz. His name is William Baker.
The ingredients are fresh and made to order, so it’s fast food, but fresh!
The burgers and the fries were terrific. The fries don’t look great, but they were fresh and delicious!
Cable Car
We were well filled, so we left here and planned to head home, but then saw the old cable car and had to jump on! Our transport passes got us on, too, so that’s a win!
These cable cars were 146 years old and the only city to have them was San Francisco.
We eventually got a chance to ride it hanging off the edge, which was awesome!
New Shoes
We got off the cable car in the shopping district and got Curtis a cheap pair of shoes for summer.
Curtis’ current shoes have lasted well, but they’ve hit the end of their life, so new shoes it is for Curtis. He got some nice Levi’s shoes, weirdly. Just $20 though!
Rammed Tram
We took the tram home, but this was at around 19:00 so it was absolutely rammed for a while.
We got home and were incredibly tired…we have been on our feet for over 9 hours, so laying down and watching TV was great.
We had a later start today, but still made the most of it!
We walked to the bus stop just down the road and waited for the bus to show up.
We jumped on the bus and sat on it for a while whilst it took us down to the golden state park.
We were here yesterday in the car, but we didn’t get the chance to walk around, so we wanted to do that today.
We walked around the park, just looking around, for a long time, as it was a perfect day again!
There were a lot of people just playing sports and relaxing on the grass.
Coffee
We decided we wanted to find somewhere for coffee, so went to a placed called Beanery.
This place smelled amazing and they also roast their own coffee. Kim had a iced caramel latte and Curtis had a cappuccino. Both of our coffees were phenomenal!
We walked towards the beach and came across the bison pen. There are about 5 bison homed here in total and they are huge!
Dutch Windmill
We walked onwards towards the beach where there was also a large Dutch windmill. this windmill was absolutely beautiful, so we stopped and got some photos.
Dinner
We wanted to go for dinner from where we were, so we caught a bus all the way to downtown.
Whilst on the bus, we had a look at places to go and found an amazing looking Italian pizza place in the Italian area of the city.
We got off the bus near the restaurant and proceeded to walk there.
The restaurant wasn’t too busy so we got our food quite quick. We had a starter of buffalo mozzarella (as it was also a mozzarella bar) with arugula, tomato and bread. This was a terrific starter with excellent flavour.
Once our starter was finished, the pizza came at the perfect time. We got what we called a fancy version of a margherita, the difference being buffalo mozzarella.
The pizza was terrific and took us right back to being in Rome!
We had a tiramisu for dessert, which was alright, and then we left.
Unfortunately the service wasn’t great, but the food was pretty solid!
We were up at a good time to meet up with a former work colleague of Kim’s. He lives here in San Francisco and we arranged to have some lunch with him.
He picked us up in his car and said he wanted to show us some places before we had lunch.
Golden Gate Park
We drove through Golden Gate park whilst we chatted about our travels and some other things.
We drove through the park, which is incredibly huge and even houses Bison and sometimes does concerts.
Waterfront & Lunch
We got to the waterfront and found somewhere to park before strolling around a little bit.
We stopped for lunch at a diner called Louis’ which has been open since 1937 and still only takes cash, which is quite cool.
Kim had a turkey BLT and Curtis had eggs benedict with ham.
We finished up our lunch and hopped back into the car.
Golden Gate Bridge
We drove to the golden gate bridge to get photos of it as well as photos of Alcatraz. The weather was amazing and apparently it is rare to see everything so clearly.
Downtown Tour
We were driven to downtown and shown around various places. There were some St. Patrick’s day festivities going on so it was quite busy, but we were shown a few different places which was great!
We said goodbye to our friend and were very thankful for him showing us around.
We stayed downtown and went to buy a card to use on the bus. We got a 7 day pass each and we can use this as much as we want on both that and on the ferries and metro, which is perfect! That was just $40 each.
Fisherman’s Wharf & Pier 39
We had a stroll around Fisherman’s Wharf and Pier 39, which were absolutely rammed, but somewhere to walk around.
Part Of Pier 39
There were a lot of random shops and restaurants as well as, randomly, some sea lions!
Sea Lions!
Bay Bridge
We sat and watched the sea lions for a bit. We thought they were fighting but then it was apparent they were doing something else, so we abruptly left them to it.
We walked around the fisherman’s wharf some more and that area, just wandering around and seeing what’s about.
We eventually figured out which bus we needed to take and walked up to the required bus stop, with almost perfect timing!
We got on the bus and sat on it for 45 minutes before getting off the bus a couple of blocks from where we are staying.
KFC
We decided KFC was easy for dinner, so we walked for 15 minutes to get it.
We got way too much food, as the sides are so big here, but it was pretty good. We got some chicken, sweetcorn, coleslaw & some ‘biscuits’. We also got a huge chocolate cake for free with our food, for some reason!
We had no breakfast left this morning as we ate it for a snack last night, so we passed on breakfast and just got showered and ready to go.
We were mostly packed, just the last few things to add, and then we left the apartment and walked to the train station.
We bought our tickets for the train and waited the 10 minutes for it to arrive.
We sat on the train for about 30 minutes and then arrived at the airport.
Seattle > San Francisco
We checked our bag when we got to the airport and went through security.
We were hungry, so were on the hunt for some food, but we had to get to our gate which was in the N section, so we had to ride the plane train briefly.
We got a breakfast bagel each and sat and waited for our plane to board. We were sitting right at the back, so were last on.
The flight was pretty bumpy, but it was just 1 hour 40 minutes, so it was no problem, really.
We listened to podcasts on the plane and we also got a free drink & biscuit.
San Francisco
We landed and walked down to the baggage claim, where our bag already was!
We then saw a sign regarding Uber, which said we had to get it from the top of the parking garage, so we walked there.
Once we got there, we were told what to select on Uber and actually got a small discount for doing it from the right place, which is quite cool!
We got a BMW 5 series, which was cool, and sat in the car for 33 minutes to get to where we are staying.
Living In A Garage
We arrived at our AirBnb and got ourselves in. This is in a garage in someone’s house, but it’s pretty nice! The main thing we have noticed about San Francisco so far is that it is obviously much warmer than Seattle, which is great!
We can actually see the Golden Gate bridge when we walk down the road a little, which is awesome.
Dinner
We went to a brewery for dinner as it is a 5 minute walk from our apartment.
The food was actually great and the beer was good, too!
We had the mac and cheese sharer, sweet potato fries and grilled broccoli.
The broccoli stole the show but the mac and cheese wasn’t as good as we had hoped.
Mr & Mrs Hale 