Before I tell you about Alcatraz, I'll just quickly fill you in on some other stuff we've been up to. We saw Milk, which is easily one of the best films I've seen this year (we both may have shed a tear for Harvey), and was great to see San Francisco on film while we were there to explore it. Hence, we looked around the Castro, which seems to be less about political activism now and more about eateries called the Sausage Factory and jewellery stores named Rock Hard. We looked around the Mission, which as well as being home to most of the Hispanic citizens, also seems to be where the homeless women hang out (by the way, there are a lot of homeless people here. I've never seen as many as I did in Vancouver, but this is close competition). We also visited around the Museum of Cartoon Art in SoMa, which included a very cool Watchmen exhibition, including a lifesize Rorshach statue. We joined every other tourist taking highly original photos of the Haight-Ashbury sign and even rode the famous Cable Car down Nob Hill (tee hee).
Then on Saturday, we looked around Fisherman's Wharf and the piers, which is a tourist tackfest, but Musee Mechanique and the Sea Lions on Pier 39 are worth a look. Then it was time for the Alcatraz night tour; I would definitely recommend taking the night tour over the slightly cheaper day tour - you get a great audio tour, plus loads of interesting talks and programmes. Unfortunately my view of the island from the boat was slightly obstructed, as you can see below.
Anyway, if you go to San Francisco, make sure you go to Alcatraz. Learn about Al Capone and the Birdman, see how tiny their cells were, find out why the American Indians 'invaded' it in the late 60s and step inside a solitary consignment cell to feel what that is like...
Afterwards, we went for dinner in Hooters (I promise this was Liz's idea). All I will say is I can't wait to stay in a Hooters hotel on Monday in Las Vegas!!! Hopefully I can post on the blog from Vegas more often, although I'm not sure if we have internet access at the hotel. Plus they do say what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas...Then on Saturday, we looked around Fisherman's Wharf and the piers, which is a tourist tackfest, but Musee Mechanique and the Sea Lions on Pier 39 are worth a look. Then it was time for the Alcatraz night tour; I would definitely recommend taking the night tour over the slightly cheaper day tour - you get a great audio tour, plus loads of interesting talks and programmes. Unfortunately my view of the island from the boat was slightly obstructed, as you can see below.
Aaron
As I flicked through this at first i thought that was a photo of your hostel. That would have been real bad! Glad to see it's not though, it is in fact the appalling conditions that they used to keep prisoners in. Your hostels must seem amazing now!
ReplyDeleteWho's the rather large hispanic lady that you've taken a photo of though?
Glad you enjoyed Milk. I really enjoyed watching Randy the Ram but I have to admit I'm pleased that Sean Penn won best actor. Did you see any of the Oscars?
Umaga!
ReplyDeleteOur hostel in Hollywood is even better than the others, although none have been quite as bad as Alcatraz admittedly. Yet.
ReplyDeleteThat larger lady was one of the many blocking our view of Alcatraz...
We saw quite a bit of the Oscars - they even had it on in the restaurant we ate in that night. I thought the Seth Rogen/James Franco skit was very funny.
Love the Umaga reference.
I love San Francisco, it's great. Don't call it Frisco though, they hate it!
ReplyDelete