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Russian Hill
The famous view from one of the steepest of the cable car routes, with Alcatraz in the background Well our entry into the United States was as unpleasant as we had envisaged, but for completely different reasons to the ones we were expecting. Our flight was from the Cook Islands, into Los Angeles, with a connecting flight to San Francisco. We had assumed that the security increases at airport immergration, put in place after September 11th, would be our main obstical, but we were greeted by a crazy security officer at LAX who chatted to Joanna about his relaxed approach to security questioning before asking her to smile for the camera and say 'cheese burger' for her photo! No, our main problem was the fact United Airlines decided to cancel two of the four afternoon flights from Los Angeles to San Francisco, one of which was ours. With our bags checked in for a for a connecting flight that now didn't exist, we began to worry. The staff at the United Airlines gate just couldn't have cared less as they were too busy persuading people to sacrifice their seat on the flight for meal vouchers so other people could fly instead! Luckily, we managed to fight our way onto a flight a couple of hours after ours was
originally supposed to leave and we were luckier than most who got left behind, with little more than an apology and promise of a later flight. Phew. Thankfully our backpacks had somehow worked their way onto our flight and after a ten minute wait at the baggage carrosel, with our fingers crossed, we could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Things got a little smoother from then on, we caught the cheap and quick BART train system to Union Square in central San Francisco and after paying the 'map man' fifty cents for directions, we found our way to our hotel, which is so nice. We were a bit apprehensive about coming to a big city after being on the tiny Cook Islands, but where we are staying makes all the difference, especially when you've got cable TV in your room and free waffles in the morning! Our first day was spent exploring, we wandered through the Chinatown area, down to the bay and around the 'fun fair' style pier areas. Our main mission was securing tickets for Alcatraz for the following day (as they sell out pretty fast), so with that taken care of and our jet lag
Palace of Fine Arts
Nestled in one of San Francisco's nicer suburbs, this exposition site was built in 1915 to showcase the city to the world catching up with us, we walked back to the hotel, had a beer and fell asleep.
Alcatraz was really amazing, we caught the ferry at 10am and when the infamous San Francisco fog cleared we were treated to a fantastic view of the Golden Gate bridge and the city skyline. After docking we watched a presentation on the history of the island, before taking the audio tour of the prison itself. The buildings were pretty imposing, but full of interesting highlights, such as the story made famous by the Clint Eastwood film 'Escape from Alcatraz' in which inmates used spoons to dig out of their cells to freedom and the cell in which Al Capone (or 'Scarface' as he was perhaps better known) was held in. The whole place was strange because we thought the prison wardens led lives as deprived as the inmates' - being stuck on an island patrolling serious criminals for eight hours a day, it all sounded pretty horrible.
Food in San Francsico is incredibly cheap and so nice, especially after being stuck on tinned produce and pasta on the Cook Islands. We have had great deli-style lunches, mediterrainian dinners, 50's diner fast food
Union Square
Cable car trundles through the heart of downtown San Francisco and, of course, clam chowder (a San Francisco speciality!). Tonight we're going to curl up in front of the TV and watch a movie, with some Ben & Jerry's ice cream and some Hershey's chocolate! At this rate we're expecting some weight gain before leaving the states, but we're just being responsible tourists and submerging ourselves in a different culture! Besides, we're having fun!
We saved walking to the Golden Gate Bridge for one of our last days in the city and despite waiting for a sunny day it was bitterly cold, battling the huge winds which whip up the bay. Despite it not being the longest single span suspension bridge in the world, we think it's definitely the prettiest and it certainly beats the Humber Bridge! On the way there we came across the Palace of Fine Arts, a strangly Roman themed building built in 1915, despite its questionable taste it was certainly beautiful as we're sure the photographs show. Having exhausted ourselves walking all the way there we caught the bus back, through the Little Italy and Chinatown areas of the city, where we drooled down the window looking at all the amazing food.
We really
R2D2
"These aren't the droids we're looking for... move along" love San Francisco, but there have been a couple of occations in which we've really questioned what's going on in America. Having travelled thorough some pretty poor countries, we were shocked by the amount of poverty in what is the richest country in the world. The amount of people sleeping rough on a night is staggering for a developed country, on a scale we haven't seen since Cambodia. Despite this sobering note, America is what it is and we've enjoyed the experience as it really is unlike any other country in the world. So it's off to Canada now, our final destination!
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Ali
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Ooh Canada
Hey guys. I've been waiting for the moment that you arrive on Canada's sunny shores. Sounds like a good thing you had some cold weather in San Fran as it'll get you used to it. Somehow I don't think temperatures in Canada and the Cook Islands really compare! Anyway, enjoy the rest of your trip while it lasts. I'll be sad not to be living my life through your blogs any more but it'll be amazing to catch up when you do get back. Love Ali xx