Alcatraz

I woke this morning still feeling as seedy as I did the day before, maybe even slightly worse. I had a shower then started to feel really faint from the hot water and struggled to breathe a bit with the steamy air so ended up throwing up again. Ah I just wish I would get better!

It was a bit of a miserable day here in San Fran, rainy and cold but we had a ton of washing to do so made our way down the street to the Laundromat. It was an experience and quite a busy little place, they sold Coffee there and everything!

The laundromat prices were quite cheap and the washers and dryers were huge. Once Pete and I figured out how to use the machines (We must've looked like total Yuppies!) we put our load of washing on and waited. Surprisingly it only took a half an hour, it was super quick!

I was coughing and spluttering all through the Laundromat and felt like total sh!t so once our washing had finished and we loaded the dryer, Pete sent me back to the hotel for some rest. It was still quite early and even with the rain our days in San Fran are limited and I don't want to waste any time to explore. I had about a 40 minute nap before Pete came back home (with the clothes neatly folded mind you..that never happens at home! haha)

We then took off down the street toward the Tram. We caught the tram to Pier 39 & Fisherman's Wharf. We explored around a little bit before stopping in to have some lunch at a cute little surf cafe right on the Pier. It was a super relaxed atmosphere and the food wasn't so bad either.

We then continued to explore a little more, shopping in the little boutique stores before making our way down to Pier 33 ready to board our boat over to Alcatraz. By this time it was nearing 3pm with our boat due to depart at 3.50pm but we were asked to board half hour early to ensure we take off on time. The Pier was pretty nice, just looks like an old Cruise ship terminal but we were headed across to Alcatraz and I was super excited about that!

We hopped on the three level boat and sat on the seats located on the second level with a window view to outside. Any other day I would've loved to have stayed on the open top level to take in the sea breeze and get some nice pictures but I knew as seedy as I felt and as cold as it is, it probably wasn't the best idea today.

We arrived at Alcatraz and it was beautiful. The island is so huge and the sun was setting as we pulled in. Pete and I decided to choose the night tour for a bit more of a scary experience. We were advised upon leaving the boat that there was quite a steep incline to get up to the gaol and that there was a cable cart available to take the elderly and disabled up the hill and anyone else that had injuries or illnesses that would affect their ability to make it up the hill. I was so embarrassed, generally I am quite fit and would love the chance to scale up the hill but unfortunately I can't even walk up a small flight of stairs without stopping to catch my breath at the moment, so I knew there was no way I'd make the incline up to the gaol.

Knowing there was only limited spaces on the shuttle, I walked on over to the guard and told him I was sick with the flu and had low energy. He only had to hear me talk before taking a big step away from me saying "yep, you won't be making it up that hill. Hop on board!". Pete and I were able to get a ride up the hill with everyone else walking behind us. I am sure they all looked on wondering why we were on the shuttle, we are both young and quite able bodied. I was a tad embarrassed and so was Pete a bit but after driving up it and seeing the incline myself - I would not have made it.

We made it up top to the Gaol and began our audio tour. It was great, super informative and had the real prison guards and former prisoners narrating different parts of it. I really enjoyed it and so did Pete which was great!

We both ended up splitting up throughout the tour somehow. I guess with the different sections and parts I often stopped to take photos, pausing my audio and him being so in depth with it kept walking on through. Oh well, I knew we'd end up meeting at the end somewhere.

After having a massive sneezing attack throughout the Gaol (which echoed) I ended up in the old dining hall where the audio tour had ended. It was great timing as there was an older gentleman giving a talk in the room about some of the prisoners who had tried escaping and attempted the huge swim over to San Fran. Only one man that they know of ever made the swim, barely. He ended up passing out upon arrival of hypothermia and was found by Police. After being checked over they realised where he was from and sent him on the first boat back to Alcatraz. All that effort for nothing, I'd be pissed! ha.

I ended up spotting Pete in the crowd listening to the stories the older gentleman was telling and after the talk finished we proceeded to watch the cell door demonstration. It was awesome to see.

- Do you know the guards could operate a whole line of doors at one time? They didn't use keys to unlock as it was seen as a potential danger so they had a massive mehcanism at the end of each row that unlocked, where they could then pull the switch and open all (or whatever number cells you entered) at once. It was pretty awesome to see and they were really noisy! We learnt where the term "in the slammer" came from.

After looking around the island a bit more and taking some snaps it was time to head home. From the outside of Alcatraz we were able to see right back across to San Fransisco and all of the lights and the Golden Gate Bridge looked amazing staring back at us. I can only imagine how the inmates would have felt having that view stare them in the face when they were locked up showing them what they were missing. The guards even told us that on still Summer nights, the sound of laughter from people on the Pier would float across the sea and could be heard from Prisoner windows at times. The prisoners found this comforting surprisingly, they enjoyed hearing other people making the most of their time on the outside and gave them a little sense of normalcy within the Gaol.

After boarding the ship back to the Pier, I decided to stand up on the top deck. I still felt sick as a dog but didn't want to miss the opportunity to take photos as we sailed away from Alcatraz. It was beautiful and I am glad that I did it. As we sailed away from Alcatraz people were letting off fireworks which looked awesome behind the Gaol and then as we sailed back to the Pier the sight of all the flashing lights was just incredible.

We walked back over to Pier 39 and explored the little boutique stalls some more. They had your typical touristy junk in them but its always nice to have a browse around, you can find some nice things every now and then. As we continued to walk around the Pier we heard all this cheering and laughter, not knowing what it was we walked closer and saw this British guy balancing on boards and cups. He was performing a bit of a circus act and cracking jokes whilst he was doing it.

We stopped and watched his show and it was pretty cool!
He grew up with acrobatic parents and has been in San Fran the last six months to perform on the streets and earn some money before moving over to LA next week to chase his dream of becoming an actor. His show was really good and in the end he ended up balancing on 4 boards separated by plastic cups. Once on top he then did a handstand, it was crazy! I'll post up a pic to show you how insane it really was.

After this we walked around to the end of the Pier and were greeted with huge sounds from what sounded like Sea Lions. Yup, we stumbled across the famous Sea Lion wharf! I've read about how thousands of them migrate to this Pier during the breeding season and have for years now. Luckily for us, it's breeding season and there were so many of them. It was beautiful to see them all talking to each other and sleeping on each other, they were so cute!

By this time it was getting quite late and pretty cold so we decided to take a Taxi home. We ended up hoping in a Taxi with a young Philippino driver (who was pretty cool) and drove us back to our hotel. He ended up telling us that we should head on over to Yosemite while we are here and check it out as apparently it's amazing and luckily for us we already had booked a tour to go there tomorrow!

Very early start with a 6.10am pick up from our hotel...ah.
I'm sure it will be totally worth it though. Time for a full 8 hours of rest and hopefully tomorrow wake up feeling better. I feel like I've been saying that every post for the past week now but surely I'm on the verge of getting better any day now, I gotta be!

Chow-4-Now :)