San Francisco Day 2

It was a bit of a walk down to Pier 33. Pier 39 was only 15 minutes from our Hotel, but Fisherman's Wharf is just huge. Down at Pier 39 they have heaps of seals which Sherry hates to see because they remind her of me burping.None of the shops were open and with the grey mist that was lingering the place had a kind of eary feel to it. We then walked down to Pier 33 which was where the boat to Alcatraz was to depart.

The ride over was pretty uneventful. We couldn't see much due to the mist, but we could see Alcatraz nicely as we got closer to it. Funny that.

Upon disembarking, we had to hear some safety information and we then walked up to watch an introductory video. Seeing the island was amazng. I just had images of 'The Rock' movie, and the Tony Hawk game on NDS going around in my head so I had multpile reasons to be intrigued by he place.

It would have been frustrating for SHerry, who had already been here twice, as I was taking so long just looking at some of the officers quarters, the cannon that was used if invaders came up the pathway in a landrush.

After wanderinr around the outside for a bit we ventured into the cell block area. Here you get headsets which act as the guided tour. Pretty good stuff here hearing about the inn mates. Al "Scraface" capone stayed here after being caught. Before he came here he had it pretty easy in another prison, but once transferred here was treated just like everyone else. I still wonder why the guards here could not be corrupted where as they could be in the other prisons.

Apparantlyone of the cells in cell block D is haunted. This was mentioned by a girl on last night's vampire tour. I went into that cell - the ghost must have been out in the yard excerising as I did not sense anything.

After the self guided tour we then walked around the remainder of the island where we saw swome good views of San Francissco and the Bay Bridge which connects Oakland to San Fran.

After purchasing a harmonica and a replica aluminium coffee mug we caught the ferry back to the mainland. We hasd alook around the shops, Sherry bought a few christmas gifts at the Leftorium shop. Then it was a mad dash to the airport.

It was crazy because the GPS couldn't direct us exactly and the road directions to the car rental return place were rather ordinary. We firstly ended up heading away from the airport - then turned around and drove their but then the return area was way awayfrom the airport. We parked the car and the guy then took about 20 minutes to process our car return - fully checking out all the details - the only thing he didnt do was dismantle the engine and check the wear on the pistons. Time consuming as - I'm glad we werent th people behind us who looked to be in even more of a hurry.

Our flight took us via Phoenix - I think I spotted Copper Square on our flight out of Phoenix. We arrived back in Santa Barbara at around 9.30pm.