Welcome to Alcatraz

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Hello from Alcatraz!

Last night we took our night tour of Alcatraz Federal Prison, but first let me tell you what we did during the day.

We went to North Beach for coffee and croissants at Café Grecco. We chose it because it had Italian men having coffee and scribbling on papers, so you know it’s good. We then took a historic street car (this one was from Milan, Italy) to the Ashbury/Haight intersection which is famous for its hippie population. Very Amherst/Northampton/Thayer St.-ish without the exceptional college nearby. Overall pretty clean and smells like incense. But what it did have…was the ‘Grateful Dead House’ now rented out to a young professional couple (we know that because we were sneaking around as to not make it obvious we were going to take Pete’s photo out front).

We then headed back to North Beach via bus for lunch. We popped into a tiny restaurant and had red pepper antipasti, pizza and wine. Very delish. We had purchased a MUNI pass earlier that day so we took another cable car to the Wharf so we could hop on to the Hyde St. line and take it to the top of Lombard and walk to our hotel. On this one we finally got to stand on the sideboard of a packed car and be very careful of anything that might knock you off (oncoming tour busses, bikers, traffic barrels), it’s very exciting.

Here is where it gets good. We returned to the hotel where I put on 8 jackets and we departed for Alcatraz via the tourist-ridden wharf area. As anyone that ate pig-face dumplings in Chinatown, I found this area is totally not recommendable unless you’re looking to do lots of touristy candy and keychain shopping. I did enjoy chowder from the fish mongers and a late night Italian seafood dinner at Nick’s Lighthouse (no lighthouse, don’t get excited). We checked out Pier 39 which is very clean, no beggars and appear brand new. We missed the submarine tours again located behind the antique arcade (both very recommendable). We boarded our ferry to Alcatraz where I saw a fatty sea lion swimming and went to the top of the boat where I was the only one not cold because I was dressed for snow. We took the 6:45 night tour, I would say go for the 6:10 as you are going to want to see everything twice, and we left not feeling as if we spent enough time. It is an audio guided tour that took me a long time to do because I was enjoying it so much and got a bit lost. We also were able to catch the hospital viewing where Stroud’s cell and the operating room are located. The best place to view San Fran is from Alcatraz with eh cell house behind you, and the lighthouse to your left. We were very lucky and had another dry fogless night, so after the sun sets but before it gets dark all the city lights are on but you can still see the buildings. Alcatraz is the West Coast’s 1st and longest running lighthouse as well as a very important bird population and rookery (bird nursery), and played a role in the Native Americans not getting totally screwed for the 5th time. The last boat left at 9:25 with us on it. If you are coming to San Fran, leave the flowers out of your hair and booked your Alcatraz tour in advance as they sell out every day. It is absolutely not to be missed.

Today we are headed to Napa Valley after we see the Golden Gate Bridge. It appears that it might be sprinkling, but you can’t have perfect weather every day for 2 weeks can you?

Culver and Pete.

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Comments

[lowry]

Red or White ?
Oh,San Francisco- I had such good years there ! and it was hard to say goodbye back then ( 1980 ! )...Never really explored Napa Valley so tell me everything. But remember Yosemite well as I went there many times. It gonna be cold at night so get out that Hot Water Bottle !