Final day in San Francisco!
We were up mildly earlier than yesterday, we're still catching up on sleep! But we still had a full day ahead! We'd planned to go back to the apple store for a wire, get a tour bus for the day then Alcatraz on the afternoon! That was the plan...
We left the hotel and consulted my map! It was just a left another left and straight down, pretty simple. EXCEPT we had to walk through the Tenderloin district. Surely it wouldn't be bad during the day I thought, surely even crazies need sleep and being awake all night, they'd sleep all day, right? No.
It. Was. FULL of crazies! I haven't seen a city with such a large population of homeless, it's really sad actually. We walked past a food bank which had a queue right to the end of the street, people sleeping in doorways and people begging for money. It really made me think how amazingly lucky I am to be able to do this once in a life time trip and see the places I've always wanted to see and places I never thought I could see and there's people who are struggling for 1 meal... It didn't stop one guy owning the sidewalk, if you've ever heard of a THOT walk this guy was the queen of it (if you haven't, YouTube it!) I've never seen someone WERK a sidewalk like him, now I don't know whether he 'owned' it or not because he was walking up and down it like it depended on it and he was looking at practically every man passing!? But that's just my guess! At one point we thought he was coming over to us! We almost died!
After making it through Crazyville we reached the apple store, I didn't know iPhones automatically connected to their wifi!? Fliss bought a charger wire but her phone was dead, so I worked on a blog post while we waited for her phone to charge in the store. Well about 30-40 minutes later with a bit of battery we set way for Union Square. After speaking with one of the bus guys we figured we'd actually seen most of the landmarks from just walking around! The final thing was the painted ladies which is the row of coloured houses with the San Francisco skyline in the background. So we decided we wouldn't bother with the bus tour and instead, guess what!? WALK IT! Again, yet another mistake, honestly I'd like to say this is the last time, it's not.
Thankfully this walk was directly past Crazyville and through quite a nice residential area. We walked past the opera house and through an area filled with shops and restaurants. Thankfully only up 1 hill and we were there! Well, it's possibly the biggest disappointment of the whole trip. We'd had this iconic image in our heads of this landmark associated with San Francisco and I promise you, it could have been any row of houses in the entire city. They were opposite a large park and the park was surround by these types of houses, we even walked round the park because we weren't sure the houses we'd seen were even the right ones!? We took an obligatory picture anyway, but what a shame... Especially after walking it!!
We'd almost learnt our lesson when we decided to get a bus back as we had our Alcatraz ferry at 3:50pm but this was only 2pm so plenty of time, well guess what, we ended up walking!! Biggest mistake ever! Especially when hungry... We walked down a different street we'd come up and my eyes drew to it like a magnet - 'Gourmet Burger Bar' SOLD! We sat in the courtyard near a water fountain and ordered. Again we shared! We got a steak sandwich and a Cajun chicken burger. Holy lord they were sooo good! So good infact by the time we'd finished we realised we had about 15 minutes to get all the way to the pier!? SHIT! Why do we let our stomaches rule!? We'd just have to get a taxi we thought, not ideal but it's our own fault, and the food was so good it was worth it! After speaking to the waitress, who was so nice to us! She ordered us a taxi using Uber as it's so much cheaper - has anyone used it!? It's amazing! So quick and efficient!
We got to the pier literally on the minute of 3:50 we ran around the corner to see the ferry still there and no queues anywhere! I ran over as fliss ran to get the tickets. Well, as I ran over all I heard was the start of the engine... And I knew that was the last ferry because we'd booked the latest one we could, yep, we missed it.
We went back to the ticket office and asked if there was anything at all we could do but she said the only thing we could do is come back tomorrow, problem being we left for the airport at 7, so not really an option! We stood for a moment, DEVASTATED. It was the only thing we were really looking forward to in San Francisco and now we wouldn't be able to do it. The lady looked at us for a second then said '... Two minutes'. What was she going to do!? When she came back she explained that she is NOT allowed to do this, meanwhile changing our time on our tickets, but for us to enjoy our trip with a wink. She'd moved us onto the evening tour, which was the one we wanted originally! I WAS SO HAPPY!! Things are really working out in our favour on this trip! Usually by the skin of our teeth mind! It wasn't for a few hours so we walked down to Fisherman's Wharf and explored the parts we hadn't seen. We also did a bit of retail therapy. Since fliss had been snapping up novelty t-shirts all over the place I felt I was missing out, so I bought a cute California Republic t-shirt. One because it was cute and two I realised I have nothing light in my bag, it's all dark!? Shock.
We headed back super early so we didn't miss it and waited for our 5:55pm ferry. Once it set off from the dock it took us around the island and docked on the other side of the island. We got off and were greeted by our guide. She led us up the hill (yes, another hill) while giving us information on the island. Apparently during earth quakes the island barely moves, even during a bad one they had years ago when people lived on the island, they woke up the morning after, looked across to the city and it was in ruin and they didn't have a clue!
We picked up our audio tours as the whole tour was self guided. It walked your through the entire thing and was narrated by actual Alcatraz wardens and had interviews from some of the prisoners as well which I thought was so cool and appropriate for such a place. We walked through the shower room, the dining room, the library and all 4 cell blocks including the isolation block D. I got chance to go inside both types of cells and it's just something you couldn't imagine, especially when they would spent 24 hours a day in there apart from time to shower and 1 hour a week recreation time! We then saw the officers quarters, where their families lived on the island and finally the hospital, which was the creepiest part of the whole visit! It's a part of the tour which is only open on evening trips and I can see why!
We also learnt about infamous inmates such as Al Capone who stayed on the island until it's closure due to bad weather damage and expensive upkeep costs as the whole island had no sewage or running water! We also heard about the 14 separate jail break attempts over Alcatraz's time, there's actually still 5 men who have never been caught who were the only ones to ever escape.
After finishing the tour (which I would recommend to anyone visiting San Fran just book and don't miss your ferry!!) we walked back along to Fisherman Wharf where we were meeting up with a few people from the group for a meal for Julia's birthday! The food was so tasty! I tried my best with photos but it was very dark in the fancy restaurant so I struggled but take my word for it, it was delicious!!
(Chocolate duet cake)
We then said our final goodbyes, we've said it so many times but this was for real this time and it was emotional for some! Luckily I'm 90% dead on the emotional side so it was nice to appreciate the time we'd had together and remember our experiences without getting upset, unfortunately Fliss and Julia felt different and the tears came flooding!!
After dinner, we walked along the Wharf to Becca's hotel, she told us she had a surprise for us!? A surprise!? For me!? I was so jealous, she was staying in this really nice hotel while we were staying in Crazyville, can I stay here with you!? What she'd got us were 2 G adventure t-shirts, I begged her for one at the start of the trip, as if she remembered!! Literally my favourite t-shirt! Thanks Becca!!
It was about midnight and neither of us had packed yet and we left for the airport at 7am, so we grabbed another Uber cab! And headed back, we shovelled all our crap into our bags and separated our laundry in a bid it'll jog our memory into doing it tomorrow!
So it's LA tomorrow for 4 days, our final stop in America together until I leave for Fiji and Aus! We've got a hectic schedule so will be a busy few days ahead of us!
See you in La La Land!
x
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