US TRIP - San Francisco

Day two in San Francisco was equally huge!

We had tickets for the Alcatraz tour, so we bought a Muni 1-day passport and jumped on the Cable Car. OK, so we didn't hop on the first cable car that came along (they're very popular!), but once there was room we stood on the runner board and whizzed down to Fisherman's Wharf. What fun standing on the edge of the car as it went up then down the really steep hill!

We had a great visit to Alcatraz,with lots of walking and photographing.

It was quite windy and we still couldn't see Golden Gate through the fog, but the island itself was fascinating. I'm sure having to be locked up in a place like that would dive me absolutely insane. The hopelessness of it all was palpable. The park service have done an amazing job of keeping the island well-maintained and interesting, and there are lots of birds out there too.

"Broadway". Not sure if that would make prisoners feel better or worse!

The Recreation Yard.

Sitting in this isolation cell for even one minute was too much for me! 

After coming back on the return ferry (a good effort for me, as I'm not good on boats), we took advantage of our Muni passport and jumped on a tram down to Pier 7. We then jumped on another tram back to Fisherman's Wharf and took a huge walk up to Lombard Street.

When I say huge walk I mean it's only about 1 mile, but the hills are really steep! If you don't know about San Francisco, it's very hilly. Which makes it very pretty, but tought for walking.

We then walked up the Lombard Street steps and watched everyone driving down.

We jumped back on another cable car (I honestly couldn't face walking back down the hill - that's even harder on my knee sometimes!) and picked the iconic Applebee's franchise for dinner. Oh, and a really good margerita!

After that, we had a lot of fun feeding quarters into the old-timey machines in the Musee Mecanique. It's amazing what people were excited by in the old days!

We walked around a little longer and got a very naughty (but very amazing!) sundae at the Ghirardelli Factory, then got on the cable car again for the trip back to our hotel. Oliver was keen to stand on the outside again, but I opted for a seat.

Day two was another huge one, but lots of fun!