San Francisco Day 3!

Hi girls!! Hope you all had a good weekend! 

Our third and final day in San Francisco was a very exciting one for  me! One of the big selling points of going to San Fran was being able to visit the incredibly famous prison on a small island out in the Bay, which I had booked a few weeks before we were to go!

Our day started out with breakfast and then jumping on a sightseeing bus tour! I have to say that I don't think it was the best tour. We did learn some new things we didn't know about the city, but most of the time the man was going on about a good shop, or a good restaurant! It was quite random to be honest! Hehe, but we still enjoyed seeing parts of the city we hadn't seen before!

When we had done the route and had finished marveling at all of San Francisco's splendor, we had a quick look into the big Westfield shopping centre on Powell and yes Westfield shopping centres are everywhere, Robert was convinced that they were only in London! We hen jumped onto the cable car once again and made our way up to Fisherman's Wharf. Our Alcatraz tour left Pier 33 at 12.45pm, so we had a brisk walk to get to the Pier. We were also so hungry by this point and there is no food on Alcatraz, so we picked some stuff up at the little cafe nest to the Pier and ate it while we were on board the boat!! It was a 15 minute crossing over to Alcatraz island and off we got at the other end, not really knowing what to expect!

We were given a quick introduction about the island and where to go etc, and once that was over we were on our own and climbing up the hill to get to the cell house, which is where the main tour takes place. It is some place, and if you ever go to San Francisco, you must go! The island itself is quite eerie, but its not until you actually get into the huge cell house that you feel it! Just knowing all the things that have went on in the building you are in and all the prisoners that have stayed in the cells. You are given a set of headphones and are sent to go round the cell house listening and following the narrator's instructions ad who is also telling you all about the history. Here are a couple photos of the cell house:

The inside of an average cell.

Three storeys of cells on each block and the were five blocks.

The set of green doors was the public entrance into the prison.

 

After the very famous 1962 escape this was how the men got out of their cells. Squeezing through a hole where a metal grate had once been and using the ends of spoons to work away at the concrete to make the hole just a little bit bigger! I don't think I could even fit through that!!

So after spending over three hours on the island and taking the tour in we headed back over to the mainland. 

Such amazing weather that day! Look at the ship!

When we got off the ferry, we decided to have a little walk along the front and we ended up sitting on a little bench looking out onto the bay with two Ben & Jerry's ice cream sundaes! Bliss! We then decided to visit the Ripley's Believe It Or Not museum and had a giggle at all the oddity's that it contained! We have been to a coupe of these in different cities ad every one of them contain different things! Most of which are very strange and weird indeed! We ended the day by walking back over to Pier 39 and choosing a restaurant for dinner! We went up to Bubba Gumps to have a look at the menu, but decided against it, although we never left until I got this great photo! Hehe!

Haha look at his shoes!! "Run Forrest Run!" You slipped your feet into them so you got the "Mama says I'm special" look!

Eventually we decided to go to Wipeout, which had a surf feel to it and the food was good! Robert definitely enjoyed his burger that night! We then got our last cable car back to the centre and eventually got to our hotel room! We had an early morning flight and we most definitely enjoyed the first city on our trip! We made some great memories and I think the biggest for both of us was cycling over the Golden Gate Bridge (which we did on day 2!)! 

Watch out because the Los Angeles posts will be coming this week too! Hope you enjoyed San Francisco girls! Hehe!

Love, Jen x