San Francisco

USA

October 2006
10 days

16th October to 26th October 2006.

Well we arrive back in San Fransisco and have to take the car back to Thrifty the following lunchtime meaning we have time to spend the morning driving over the Golden Gate Bridge and visit Muir Woods before taking the car back. So next day its up early again to drive the 8 lane freeway over the bridge to the woods. We thought it was a rumour but the bridge is constantly being painted from one end to the other by guys hanging on a moving platform! What a job!

Muir Woods
Only tiny compared to Yosemite, but Muir woods has the tallest trees in USA while Yosemite has the widest/thickest and both are truly spectacular.

College Football Game
Sabrina, Jon and I went to watch a college football game, with the sun beating down and with us well and truly stocked up with Nachos and Beer the game commenced. It took about 5 hours and the winners were......the Californian Bears who snatched victory away from the jaws of defeat at the very last second........GGGGGOOOOOO BBBBBEEEEAAAAARRRRRRSSSSS!!!!!!

Even though this was a college game its no small affair. It took place in the College grounds in an 80,000 capacity stadium, with marching bands and cheerleaders to boot.

(Jon wrote: I thought like most US sports that the game was too much stop and start and didn´t flow as easily as say a premiership football match. We´ve now seen Basketball, Ice Hockey, Baseball and Amercan Football and I don´t rate any of them highly.)

Alcatraz AKA The Rock
The three of us decided to book a spooky evening visit to Alcatraz.......it was so cold that we almost got into the cells to keep warm!!! The tour was very interesting and you got a real feel for the place and the characters who were incarcerated there at the time. One inmate, &Quot;The Bird Man of Alcatraz&Quot; spent over 50 years on the rock and over 20 of those were in solitary confinement. These cells were totally dark and must have driven you crazy. One guy said to pass time he would drop a button on the floor and then try to find it and do this over and over.

The cruel thing about this prison was its proximity to the coastline or bay of San Fransisco. Inmates could look out of some windows and see the general population enjoying life and freedom.... On New Years Eve the music and laughter from parties on the mainland and boats would be carried across the bay and through the prison.

The inmates were each given an instrument and for one hour each night they were allowed to play in their cells! Imagine the noise of over a hundred different instruments each playing a different tune each with equally the same lack of talent! A nightmare.

But some used this time to their advantage and they were the only three to ever escape the rock! Two brother and one other over a period of months dug their way out of the back of their cells. They were never heard of again so nobody knows if they ever made it to the mainland or whether the cold currents took them. Well worth a visit!

Impromtu Free Gig
Just over the road from Sabrinas flat was a cool record store called Aemobia Music. Every so often a recording artist will tour the US and plug their new albumn with an appearance/signing in one of these stores. Badly Drawn Boy was due in. We´d never heard his music but being free we attended and were privvy to a free one hour personal gig. Surprisingly his set was brilliant and we stayed afterwards to buy his CD and get it signed. We are now the proud owners of a BDB poster and CD. He also gave Sarah a kiss on the cheek so look in Heat Magazine for the juicy goss!!! In case you dont know what he looks like its a cross between Pootle from the flumps and compo from Last of the Summer Wine! Hes no Robbie Williams!

Touristy Stuff
On our penultimate day in San Fran Jon and I decided to be 100% tourists and venture on the red and white ferry ride under the Golden Gate Bridge and around the bay giving us excellent opportunities for photos.

We got off and strolled through Fisherman's Wharf and watched the poor helpless crabs and lobsters be plucked from their tanks unaware of the fate that awaited them!

A steep climb took us to the 2nd most curviest road in San Fran. A very silly road, narrow with switchbacks past houses made me wonder how the cars would get by, but they did with inches to spare against the side of the road. We recognised it from numerous films.

Lazy Days
Last but by no means least....laying about watching CSI every day and generally enjoying ourselves, stuffing ourselves senseless and eating loads of good food courtesy of Trader Joes!!!

Would like to give a big shout out to Sabrina and Martin for their kind hospitality, without them San Fransisco wouldn´t have been such a friendly place and we couldn´t have afforded to stay as long - so thank you once again....

.... The journey continues......