Kelly's World

This morning we woke early and immediately jumped onto a cable car to Fisherman’s Wharf. We were heading to Alcatraz today, so decided we’d explore the pier before we caught the ferry to the island. We were also incredibly hungry, so first mission was to find something for breakfast. We located a cafe, but nothing on the menu really appealed to Pauline, Mat or I. We left the others and decided to go get some McDonald’s. My only real reason for wanting “Mickey D’s” (as it’s known in America) was to compare it to what we got back home, and so I could say “oh my god we went to McDonald’s and (insert excited statement here).

It certainly lived up to expectation. I got a bacon and egg bagel (with extra grease apparently), while Mat attempted to order a bacon and egg mcmuffin. Turned out they didn’t actually have those, so she ordered Mat an “egg mcmuffín” (people actually eat that by itself??) with bacon as an extra. We also got a large OJ to share, which turned out to be one of the biggest drinks I’ve ever seen!! It would be about the equivalent of two large OJ’s in Australia, I couldn’t picture anyone drinking that much by themselves.

After breakfast we continued to walk along the wharf, having a look at the shops along the way. We made a mental note of a souvenir shop we saw with a promise to return to it later, as well as Pier 39 (where all the seals are). I was impressed to see a Hard Rock Cafe, while Fiona was impressed by all the herbs growing in the gardens along the road.

We reached the ticket booth for Alcatraz when we noticed everyone in the line was distressed a little. It turned out that all the lines for the EFTPOS machines were down, so it was either cash or book your tickets via the phone then quote the reference number to staff in the ticketing booth. Mum rang and booked our tickets while we all sorted out cash to repay her, then with the crisis averted we picked up our prepaid tickets and went to join the line for the boat.

Apart from Mum and Madonna, we all became distracted looking around the Alcatraz gift shop. I was disappointed they didn’t have any “inmate” shirts, I had been planning on getting one for a friend at work. When I walked outside I saw Mum and Madonna were at the very front of the queue, so I ducked the ropes to join them (effectively pushing in). Mat was reluctant, but eventually did the same, as did Aunty Sue and Fiona. Amy and Pauline weren’t as rude as us though, and they went and joined the back of the line like good people. Unfortunately, this meant they missed out on the requisite souvenir photo taken by the company as you boarded the boat (available for purchase later). Mat and I ended up buying a copy – it was quite a nice group photo (except for two important people missing – sometimes it pays to be rude).

We boarded the ferry and immediately headed up top. After a short ferry ride across the bay (the island is a lot closer than I had expected), we disembarked and tried to decide what to do. The options were to either  listen to the guide tell a little bit of background of the island, or just go straight up the hill to the jail. We opted for the latter option, trusting Amy and Pauline (who had been there before) to show us the way. It meant we would beat the crowd for the audio tour.

Once inside, we were handed the equipment for our audio tour – headphones and the controls. The audio was timed perfectly to give you enough time to dawdle down the corridors looking around before giving you the next direction on where to go. They had audio from both previous guards and prisoners telling stories and sharing the feeling of the jail while it was in operation.  The best part of the tour was if you found you were struggling to keep up as well as take photos, you could always press pause on the controls. Much better than racing to keep up with a physical tour guide. I found I only got confused once or twice, and that was purely because I wasn’t listening – my fault. The funniest thing was while you were in a room with twenty to thirty people, you could press pause and find the room in complete silence – everyone was too busy listening to their headsets to talk!

The audio tour also taught me a lot about Alcatraz, things you wouldn’t ever hear of. Everyone knows the story about “the” escape attempt – the one with the fake heads, climbing through the walls and disappearing on a raft never to be seen again. But there are a lot of other interesting stories to be told, like another failed escape attempt that resulted in riots with grenades being dropped and bullet holes. The marks are still there in the building today. The audio also had stories from guards and inmates, so you really got a feel for what the place would have been like during its period of operation. Overall, I was really satisfied with the audio tour – job well done.

With regards to “the” escape attempt, it was so surreal seeing the papier máche dummy heads in real life. I’m a fan of the movie “Escape from Alcatraz”, so when I saw the false heads it almost felt like I was still watching the movie. I had to stare at the holes in the wall, before it clicked that this was where it actually happened. They also had a clear section where you could see through into the wall to see where they would have climbed amongst the pipes to get out. It must have been a damn tight squeeze for them though; the holes in the grates where they climbed out of their cells were tiny!! For the record, I’m a believer that they made it, although the wikipedia article states the official stance is they drowned.

After the tour had finished we made our way back down to the ferry and rode back across the bay to the mainland. We sat downstairs this time, and during the trip I amused myself by videotaping a woman who was falling asleep across from me. The deeper she snoozed the more she leant sideways, and at one point I was sure she was going to slide into the lap of the woman sitting next to her. Alas she awoke at the last second and sat back up. I quickly pointed the video tape in the other direction so she didn’t see me recording her and had a giggle to myself, while Mat scolded me.

Once back on the mainland, we walked back along Fisherman’s Wharf, taking a look at the shops we hadn’t seen the first time. We passed some hip hop dancers and musicians who tried to sell us one of their albums by shoving the CD in our faces. It didn’t really help their case as it tended to annoy me more than anything. One guy made me crack up laughing though when he pointed a CD in Mat’s face and asked “you like hip hop white boy?’” Mat’s face was priceless! Quite the shocked look on his face, and he told me later that he just couldn’t think of an appropriate response other than to laugh a little and shake his head.

We also stopped to have some lunch at In-N-Out burger, which I’d heard a lot about. Without going into too much unnecessary detail, the portion sizes were again big (we knew to only get a medium sized meal this time), and the burgers and ingredients were freshly made. The burgers were a lot better tasting than anything available in Australia in the equivalent takeaway category i.e. McDonalds, Hungry Jacks.

After walking along the street a bit more, we set off towards Ghirardelli Square, where I got my first taste of a peanut butter and chocolate square from Ghirardelli’s. Trust me, it sounds disgusting but it’s a match made in heaven – SO good. Based on Amy’s claim of being the location for the best hot chocolates in the world we also ordered two of those. They were pretty damn good! Had I lived in San Francisco though, I don’t know if I could have them all that often, as I’m sure they would be pretty high up in the calorie count. Plus, you’d have to keep them as a treat to ensure you didn’t become spoiled and lose the novelty of it.

After the hot chocolates we joined a long queue to catch a cable car back to the hotel. Amy and Pauline opted to catch a bus instead, as they weren’t really in the mood to stand around waiting. There was a homeless man hanging around who seemed to have his begging down to a fine art. He had a line that he kept repeating every few minutes, but unfortunately for him it didn’t really have much of an effect as we didn’t see him collect any money from anybody. It kind of went along these lines:

If anyone could please spare a couple of dollars I would really like to just go and buy a burger, fries and drink.

As the time passed he appeared to become more and more desperate. By the end of it, he was only asking for enough money for the burger. There was also a busker nearby entertaining the crowd, who seemed to have a bit more luck with the money. He had a ukulele, and was playing random songs while wearing one of those colourful hats with the fan on top. Someone must have said there were Australians in the crowd, as he began singing “Waltzin’ Matilda” and “Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport”. Had I not known the lyrics to “Waltzin’ Matilda” I would never have guessed that’s what he was singing based on the tune he played. Extremely unrecognisable. My aunty rewarded him with 89c though, so he was happy. Finally our cable car arrived, and we went back to the hotel.

After a short break back at the hotel we rejoined in the lobby and made our way to Haight Street. For those not familiar with this street, it played a major role in the 1960′s hippy movement. There is still a lot of them around today in one form or another. Walking down the street, we saw people like stoners smoking some joints, to some hardcore punks. Unfortunately for us, the stoner’s smoke infiltrated our clothing, so we all smelled like we’d been having a few joints ourselves.

There was also quite a lot of interesting buildings to look at in Haight Street. One place in particular had a massive pair of legs sticking out from a window on the first storey! We visited Amoeba Records (famous for its size – it stocks over 100,000 cds, tapes and records), and Amy also informed us that it was on Haight Street that Charles Manson found some his followers. A lot of history for just one street!

After we’d wandered up and down the street we located a cafe for dinner. At first glance the place didn’t look very appealing (I admit, I judged a book by its cover) but actually had quite a tasty meal! Unfortunately I can’t recall exactly what I had, but I just remember enjoying it. I had a juice of some kind, and either a burger or a lasagne. The cafe also had free wifi (like most places in America) so there was the usual yuppie crowd with the laptops lining the counters. Unfortunately it didn’t appear the wifi was working, as none of them seemed to be able to connect (we had problems with our iphones as well).

After dinner, everyone headed back to the hotel except for Amy, Pauline, Mat and I. Amy had heard about a cocktail bar (called Bourbon and Branch) in San Francisco that was only a short walk from the hotel, and quite exclusive. We all decided we would go for a walk and try and find the place, have a quick drink, then return to the hotel and go to bed. Thus 15mins later we were standing on the street corner where we had heard the bar was meant to be located, but couldn’t see anything of the sort. In fact, we were standing in an area that looked incredibly dangerous, with lots of scary looking people walking around. It was confirmed when a guy looked at us (we must have stood out) and said ïf you guys aren’t sure where you’re going I would recommend not going any further – it’s really dangerous”. That was enough to put Pauline, Mat and I on edge, and we yelled at Amy that we should leave.

At that exact moment, a door opened and Amy saw the cocktail bar. She called us over, then knocked on the door. She explained we didn’t have the password (see the website) but Amy worked her magic and two minutes later we were in. Initially I was a bit overwhelmed by the menu, I can’t say that I’m experienced with cocktails, but decided to take a chance on a vodka mix. Let me just say, it was absolutely amazing. One of the best cocktails I’ve ever had. It left a powdery feeling in my mouth, which sounds worse than what it was. It was such a great sensation. One drink was also enough to make me feel on the verge of being drunk! I think Amy and Mat both had rum cocktails of some kind, and Pauline might have gone scotch? I tried each of their drinks and hated them all, cementing the fact I’m not a rum drinker (unless it’s bacardi – I enjoy that on the odd occasion).

After we had our drinks we paid for them and tipped the waitress, then started walking home. I was feel extremely tired by this point, but thankfully the walk home felt a lot quicker than when we were trying to find the bar. It was strange to see how only a few blocks separated the nice part of town with the dingy part. It was like two separate worlds! We arrived at the hotel, bid Amy and Pauline goodnight, and made our way back to bed. It was only day 3, but I was exhausted already!

For Amy’s version of events you can see her blog post here.

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