San Fransisco Fever

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January 16th 2006

Published: January 21st 2006

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Haemoglobin

On our way to Alcatraz

In San Francisco we stayed with Sunita's friend Meghan in a small town about 45 minutes out of the main city called Pleasonton. It is quite a rich area, apparently the houses are normally a million plus.

Meghan had another friend over (Kendra) who was a pure bred Pleasonton and we hit a local bar which had a live band and a whole lot of merry oldies dancing. For those who usually read my oddities site, it looked as though a lot of them got their moves from the video "How to dance like a white boy".

The next day we headed into the city via the bay bridge (which itself is much longer than the Golden Gate). We then hopped on a last minute ferry and cruised to Alcatraz (a historic small island prison 10 minutes from the coast).

The cells were TINY. The prisoners were only allowed 4 hours recreation per week - and even then only prisoners with allies would make use of to avoid being stabbed. One escape attempt involved 5 prisoners who had been planning for months. Only after they got to the water one of them said "Hey Guys, I can't swim".

Leaving the Wharf

They were caught and needless to say he was taken out 6 months later in the recreation yard.

That night we met up with Sunita’s friend Chee and had dinner at Fishermans Wharf where I ate raw Ahi Tuna that was surprisingly good. We then walked to a club and danced up some hip hop styles. Meghan kept jokingly saying, "Who let the strippers in?". So many American girls dance as if they are in a strip club. Suffice to say one girl even had her hands on the floor at one point - crikey.

We finished the night off by driving around the city. San Francisco is a unique city, we described it as "old skool" - a lot of the buildings look like old classics and the houses are totally unique, exactly the same as the houses you see in the old sit-com Full House - tall narrow and multilevel with those little emergency ladders that extend down to the street. The streets are all like you see in the movies, very steep with regular flat plateaus at each intersection, perfect for car chases and getting air over the edges. Our mini van couldn't pull it

On Alcatraz

off however.

The next day we went to the top of Coit Tower to get a good view of the entire city. Good but maybe not worth all the queuing it took to get up there. We then drove across the Golden Gate Bridge and climbed the hill on the other side to see the bridge and the city disappear in a beautiful sunset.

That night we met up with Sunita’s friend Gary and had dinner at a restaurant at Union Square with a live jazz band much like San Diego but a bit cheaper and the band more authentic. We then had dessert at the Cheesecake Factory and a drink at a piano bar before going home.

Quite a few homeless people asking for money. Quite sad really. San Francisco is a cool city though - quite quant, I’m sure it would take more than a couple of days to see it properly.

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