Day 9 San Francisco. Our first trip was to Alcatraz for the pre booked 10 am tour, we started by catching the cable car just up from the hotel. We used the Powell and Mason line and at the final stop just had a short walk to the pier. The Boat ride gave a good view of Alcatraz Island and an excellent view of the golden gate bridge, just as well as it was the last clear view of the bridge we got during the trip. We spent about four hours on the island walking round on our own, doing the escape and cell block tours. I found the whole place fascinating and would highly recommend it. I particularly enjoyed the escape tour it was both educational and entertaining. The tours cleared up a few of the wrong versions of events (Hollywood) I had just assumed were true, like the bird-less birdman. About half way through our trip to Alcatraz a cold sea mist rolled in covering the whole bay area and the island. The mist cleared quite quickly from Alcatraz and San Francisco which were then sunny but they did stay a little cool. Unfortunately the mist stayed over the bridge area for the next 3 days, so no more clear views of the golden gate bridge. After we “escaped from Alcatraz” we took the short walk to pier 39 and Fishermans Wharf. First stop was for a late lunch at Boudin’s Bakery, I had been looking forward to the clam chowder served in a large hollowed out sourdough roll. Sadly it was a bit of a let down in terms of quantity, it looked good but the bread was only hollowed out a small amount so you got very little clam chowder. After lunch we walked around the rest of the Fishermans wharf area exploring a couple of the other piers and old boats\ships. All the time we kept seeing a big sign saying Ghirardelli, so after the light lunch it was obvious where we were heading. As suspected we ended up in a very busy Ghirardelli’s and another of those ridiculously large ice creams. Then came the fun, my wife decided it would be a good idea to walk back towards Union Square, straight past the waiting cable car. When you look from the Alcatraz ferry it gives a good perspective of those hills, they don’t look any less steep when you’re at the bottom looking up. After the initial pain of the hills we ended up exploring China Town on the way back, which I enjoyed.
Day 10 shops and tour of San Francisco. This was the first day I would describe as cold, the centre of San Francisco started off with a little mist and a cold wind. After a late breakfast the dreaded shops called, I suppose I had got away with it so far. At the bottom of Powell is the Westfield's San Francisco Centre which contains Nordstrom and Bloomingdales. We spent the rest of the morning in the centre, at least one of us enjoyed it. I might not be a shopper but I can almost see the attraction, as the Americans know how to do these things in style. As we did not have long in San Francisco we decided the bus tour would be a good way to look round and at least get an overview of the place. The tour we did had an audio commentary, lasted most of the afternoon and covered a large area. We got back to the hotel at about 6pm and from there we walked into China Town for dinner.
Day 11 the Napa and Sonoma valley wine tour. The hotel pick up was at about 8:15am we had a couple of other stops before arriving at Fishermans Wharf to board the main coach. The bay area was again covered in mist so we could see very little of the bridge or the views as we went over it. After a short time we headed into sunshine which we had for the rest of the day, the temperature in the wine area was a lot better than San Francisco. In the morning we visited 2 vineyards in the Sonoma valley one based on French grapes the other Italian. It had become quite clear early on that one or two were there to see how much they could drink. As it turned out not a lot, one of the younger American guys who started off a little loud was asleep by just after lunch and was quiet for the rest of the day. We had stopped in Sonoma and after lunch in a local restaurant had a good look round what is a pleasant town. The afternoon tour went into the Napa valley and we stopped at the last vineyard of the trip. The trip back was via a different route and we came in over the Oakland Bridge. At last a bridge you could see, with some great views of Alcatraz, the greater bay area and the city.
Day 12 morning in San Francisco with an afternoon flight to Las Vegas. We went to Lori’s for breakfast then back to the hotel to pack. As we had a few hours to kill we left the cases at the hotel and went for a walk round the Union Square area. It did involve a few shops but was fairly painless. One of the shops\stores we had looked round first was Macy’s, which from the hotel is on the other side of Union Square. We returned to Macy’s at about lunch time just as the Cheesecake factory on the top floor was opening. As we had already had breakfast we decided on a slice of Cheesecake and a coffee each. This is my first visit to any of the Cheesecake Factory restaurants and after the Orlando version had received such good reports on this web site, we decided to give it a try. So a slice of Cheesecake may not sound like a lot but for those who know it was delicious and more than enough for a snack. The rest of the afternoon was spent travelling to the airport and then the flight to Las Vegas.
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks