San Francisco - Days 3 & 4

This is the following of our Thanksgiving weekend in San Francisco. I promise, no more bridge this time...

The sangrias of the previous night somehow helped us to sleep till late the next morning... Anyway, it had obviously been raining all the morning.

After a quick lunch we took a bus to Alamo Square where the most famous typical houses of SF are. The view of the financial district in the background adds to the contrast between very traditional houses (victorian style) and high and modern skyscrapers.

Another bus took us to the entrance of Golden Gate Park. This very large park is actually far from the Golden Gate Bridge.

In the park we saw some interesting buildings:

Conservatory of Flowers (still celebrating the victory of the San Francisco Giants at the World Series of baseball)

Califormia Academy of Science

De Young Museum

We also visited the Japanese Tea Garden, a really nice and peaceful place:

Then we took another bus to Ocean Beach, on the Pacific side, at the end of the park. We walked for more than an hour on the beach, feeling the wind and the cold (5 degres Celsuis), watching some surfers and kitesurfers going into the freezing water, enjoying the sunset...

We spent the evening in Haight Ashbury, the supposedly former Hippie neighborhood which still has its 60's atmosphere. I don't have pictures as I left my camero in the hostel, but it is a really colorful nieghborhood with strange but great stores (we entered a huge pipe store and obviously the pipes were not used to smoke just tobacco) and good restaurants and club. After a dinner made of excellent tapas and sangria (in a restaurant called Cha Cha Cha near the entrance of the Golden Gate Park) we drank an outstanding mojito in a club where a jazz band was playing. Just awesome.

We went to sleep not too late because we had a busy Sunday...

We woke up early in order to pack our bags and have a breakfast before we leave the hostel. We had to be on Pier 33 near Fisherman's Wharf before 11:00 am.

There, a boat took us to...Alcatraz!

This legendary federal prison held some well-known prisoners such as George "Machine Gun" Kelly, the Birdman of Alcatraz Robert Stroud, Mickey Cohen or Al Capone... Before it became a prison it was a fort and military base, then a military prison.

As you probably know, nobody escaped from Alcatraz... Actually, three prisoners managed to leave the prison but, as they had not been found, they were considered as dead and not as escaped. This is the story of a very good movie (among others about Alcatraz) called "Escape from Alcatraz" starring young Clint Eastwood.

The federal prison eventually closed 1963.

In 1969, the island had been occupied for 19 months by native americans opposed to the government policy concerning Indians...

Alcatraz is now a famous landmark and gained the status of National Historic Landmark.

Ok, I stop speaking and I show you some pictures...

The docks:

Climbing the hill:

Sight of San Francisco skyline:

Some cells:

Regular cell

D-Block cell: to calm down some prisoners if needed... 15 days in that cell without any light. May be it calmed down some prisoners, but for sure it made some become crazy!

The canteen (the best among the federal prison):

The courtyard:

The Golden Gate Bridge (again!!):

We went back to Fisherman's Wharf for a late lunch on Pier 39, with a great view on the marina.

We spent the afternoon in cable cars, went up on Hyde Street with a last view on Alcataz, crossed the financial district and went to the Embarcadero where Market Street ends on the bay.

We walked a little bit, watched people ice-skating, took a look at Bay Bridge and took a cable car for the ast time to Union Square...

It was time to go to the airport.

After this amazing weekend it is hard to find the words to describe this indescribable city. This is so special, so unique and incredibly beautiful and peaceful... If you have the chance to travel to the USA, San Francisco is definitely one of the two cities (with New York City) you have to see... And I hope after reading this message you want to go there...