Having pre-booked tickets to Alcatraz (an essential if you ever loan to do it, book in advance... Also note only one ferry actually goes TO Alcatraz, though others offer 'Alcatraz Cruises', but they just go past...) we wandered down the street to the train station and sure enough one came along (the stop is actually the last one on the line) and for two bucks a piece we rode all the way into town from Daly City... granted it passed through some interesting neighbourhoods and the mix of passengers was... Eclectic... Including the mandatory batshit crazy (or totally tripping) homeless guy talking loudly to himself and darting around the carriage erratically... But you get that anywhere when you are staying on the outskirts.
The Third Street line took us reasonably close to the wharves which is tourist central for SF, and a walk of about 20 minutes got use down to the tourist piers covered in shops and food places etc. We wandered a bit and grabbed a thick shake and ice cream respectively while killing time, then went and got in the queue to board at midday. It was my second trip to Alctraz but it's still pretty cool, with all the mystique that the place carries. We started off hooking onto a tour led by a young Park Ranger all dressed up like he was looking for Yogi but with your standard hipster beard, he seemed to know a lot but talked so fast you could only catch about three words per sentence... We gave up on that and went up to the cell house and donned headphones.. The audio tour is actually really good and free when you get there, guards and former inmates talk you through and tell stories as you walk around.
I didn't go overboard on photos this time around due to the number I took running around on my own last time...
It's a pretty interesting and mildly creepy sort of place, would love to stay on the island overnight and get a feel for it without a million tourists around.
After a good wander we caught the boat back and grabbed an early dinner of the famous SF clam chowder in a bread bowl down at Fisherman's Grotto. After a long hot day we were glad to get hold of a couple of cold beers.. Until we tried to drink them... My word American beer is still appalling, and these were supposedly 'craft' beers. Tasted like someone had rinsed out some old beer jugs and then bottled it.
The trip back on the train around dusk proved even more entertaining when the same crazy-eyed black homeless guy go onto the fairly crowded carriage we were in and proceeded to sit down next to us and rant loudly to himself in a variety of voices, along with making the sound effects to go with his story, busting out in hysterical laugher for no reason, pretending to shoot fellow passengers with his finger, etc. Every so often he picked someone in the carriage to bark unintelligible comments to, or possibly he was just talking to imaginary friends who happened to be in their general direction.... The net result was half the people in the carriage ended up completely weirded out by his antics, which also included taking offence at some rubbish left on the floor under a seat, which he spotted, leapt up and lunged at suddenly, much to the delight of the people sitting on the seats, who thought he was diving to attack them... They scrambled to get their legs out of the way as he grabbed the bits of trash and then blocked the door open at the next stop so he could thrown them out..
Once back I decided I required more beer, and set out to find a gas station selling some (yes, they do that here) which proved more difficult than expected... Finally after a decent tiki tour around random parts of San Fran I got some Bud, which, depressingly, is still the best American beer you can usually find anywhere, and retired to the motel... Thus ended that day, and once again I am due for sleep after a long day today... More to follow.
No comments:
Post a Comment