San Francisco, July 13, 2010

Last full day of fun.  We awoke early and took a cab to the wharf.  Today was the Alcatraz Tour.  We ate breakfast on the wharf and then got in line for our tour of The Rock.  Everyone loads up on a ferry for the ride across the ocean.  This seagull followed us nearly the entire way to Alcatraz. 

Everyone told us that it was incredibly cold on the island, so we were bundled up.  Typical for us, it was an unseasonably warm day.  Good thing we were dressed in layers and were able to get a bit cooler. (took me a while to figure out how to word that so you guys wouldn't get the wrong ideas.)

Alcatraz and it's history is incredible.  They National Park Service has a wonderful recorded history that is timed perfectly for guests to listen to through headphones.   It is not nearly as large as I expected it to be, and the cells are smaller than I had imagined.  Solitary confinement cells are closet size, with no windows, behind heavy doors, behind cages. Just going to the door area was creepy.  Alcatraz, in its hey day, was the prison for the prisoners that could not adjust to regular prison.  An Alternative Prison, so to speak.  They only had a small number of solitary confinement cells because the population knew how rugged that area was and tried to toe the line.

On the ferry ride back, this guy sat next to me.  He had a back pack and after we left the dock, he pulled out his friends and proceeded to pose them for different photos. I finally asked him if he wanted me to take a picture of him and his friends.  He said no, but could he take a picture of Linda and I with his friends. We of course resisted and said no, jumped at the chance.  This young man, Chris, was traveling from Australia and taking his friends, Kevin Penguina and Steve Penguina to tour the USA.  Kevin and Steve have their very own Face Book pages and are quite the travelers. 

Linda and I promptly took pictures of him, of us and of Kevin and Steve.  We also exchanged Face Book information and when we got back to the room that night, we friended all of them.  Chris, Kevin and Steve left San Francisco the next day and went to New Orleans.  Their adventures continued across America for a couple more weeks before they all went home down under.  You meet the nicest people on tours!

We then proceeded to Ghirardelli Square where we bought chocolate, broke my glasses and ate lunch.

This is probably the best drink I have ever, ever had in my life.   Ghirardelli Chocolate Martini.  It was like drinking icy cold chocolate milk.  You could not taste any alcohol at all.  I only had one at lunch.

After I broke my glasses, we went in search of a place to buy an eyeglass kit.  We passed a street vendor selling jewelery and I stopped and asked to buy a finding to fix my glasses.  This guy was wonderful and fixed my glasses at no charge. I had already picked out a beautiful necklace and ear ring set and Linda was talking to the lady about a necklace for her.  The guy gave me back my glasses, I popped them on my face and shouted..."It's a miracle, I can see!"  Linda burst out laughing.  It seems Linda was discussing the healing quality of the various stones  when I shouted and the lady said "No, no, my dad just fixed her glasses".

We went back to our hotel and got ready for our evening.  We had tickets to Peter Pan in 360.  This production is presented in a circus type tent with all sorts of computer generated graphics. I have never seen anything like it and would highly recommend it, if you are ever close to where it is showing.  Here is a you tube link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ESSxeJEHAE

As soon as the show was over, we grabbed a cab and took off for the wharf for desert and another..

Well, OK,  maybe more than one.  We closed the restaurant.  What is that saying about God taking care of old women and drunks? 

We made it back to our hotel and wound up in the bar for a couple of hours...drinking and laughing and talking.  I tried  my best to get Linda to get a luggage cart to load me up on and roll me to the room, but she wouldn't cooperate.

What a way to end our visit to San Francisco.  Wait, we have half a day left!!!