San Fran

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First things first,what an amazing city! One of those places that is on most peoples bucket list and it didn't disappoint. The cable cars are a must simply just for the experience unless of course you have travel sickness and/or are afraid of heights. Them hills are pretty damn steep.The flight is a long way from England so when we arrived at around 5pm California time we were pretty tired. We just took a look around the shops and there is a good selection of brands if you are looking to shop.

The next day we woke up at about 3am. No worries though as we had to be up early to take the trip to Alcatraz anyway. We had a nice bumpy morning ride on the cable car down to Fisherman's Wharf. We stopped at Boudin's bakery which is famous for its 'sourdough'.They have lots of bread and I recommend going here for breakfast as all the food was very nice. Its also in a great location on the Wharf. Pier 33 is where the boat leaves to take visitors to Alcatraz. The boat journey across the bay was pleasant and although it was too foggy when we went,on a non-foggy day you would get a great view of the Golden Gate bridge. However looking behind we had a great view of the bay and the city.The anticipation on the boat journey is incredible. You can see the island getting closer and closer and the excitement certainly builds.

The tour around Alcatraz is unbelievable.When you get there you are can do an audio tour or you can just walk around,I also think they do guided tours as well. The whole audio tour really made the experience. You were left to walk around the entire prison with the guides of former prison mates telling you their personal stories through the headphones. You really do feel like they are there with you,describing each part of the buildings. They have cells open so you can walk around and take a photo,you can visit the cafeteria,the library and the guards offices. The audio guide tells the whole story of the 3 prisoners who escaped. I would recommend watching 'Escape From Alcatraz' as it is an excellent movie and also shows you the full true story of what happened. Its very difficult to describe the whole experience,but the whole place was very informative and captivating. We were on the island for 3-4 hours before getting the boat back across the bay.

Once back on land we went to see the sea lions at Pier 39. There are lots of interesting facts about how the sea lions move around during the different seasons but I cannot remember any exact facts and don't want to write anything incorrect here. In all honestly you could sit there for hours and watch them,they are extremely entertaining creatures. We then walked over to the Ghiradelli chocolate shop which is another one of the things I consider a must-do when in San Francisco. There is a whole square named after this chocolate brand and i'm not surprised because it is so tasty. The ice cream sundae I had, remains to this day 4 years later the best I've ever tasted. The shop is also excellent as you can sit and watch the chocolate churning which is very pleasing to the eyes and the nose as the smell is wonderful. Tea time was approaching so we took a cable car across to Chinatown.

The Chinatown is really something else. I have to say its the best Chinatown I have been in. There are endless numbers of shops and restaurants and everything is very reasonably priced. It seems not a lot of tourists visit Chinatown which is a shame because we had a really good meal there. There are also some inexpensive shops selling souvenirs,clothes and nice Chinese-style furnishings. A walk back to the hotel ended the day and what a busy day it had been! Due to us only being in San Francisco for a short period of time we had to fit as much in as we could although it does prove that you can see all the major things in a few days.

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