fisherman’s wharf

Day 6 Update

Early start, off to Alcatraz on the first boat of the morning.

After watching a lot of documentaries on the place, to actually see where it all happened is incredible. Neat audio tour through the prison section.

Headed back to Fisherman’s Wharf for a lunch of clam chowder, which was odd, it didn’t seem terribly American as it had no cheese.

Went to Jack’s Bar for one of their 68 beers on tap, before heading over to the historic maritime museum thing. Some nice things, including an old old wooden boat that was filled with old timey wooden cars.

Cruised around for a bit, noticed that there was an Oakland ferry ready to go, so I jumped on it a couple of hours early.

The ferry unloads at Jack London Square, which has a nice glossy website, that paints it as a vibrant hub. Calling it a ghost town would be doing a disservice to ghost towns, as they tend to have ghosts.

With nothing going on, and nobody around, I caught a free-bus to “city centre” Oakland.

Walked around for a couple of hours, found one Starbucks and one bar. There were a lot of tall buildings, but I didn’t check to see if they had doors. Not many people around, and fewer shops open.

Trained it out to the Oakland Collesium to see the A’s take on the Cincinnati Reds. Cool deal, cool facility, but all of the concession stands are as dear as poison.

Had seats in the front row of the cheap reserved seats, which was slightly in the nosebleed section (ie deep left field). Fortunately the A’s brought their A game, and knocked a couple of sluggers over the fence in our direction… missed the ball by 10m! I left with 3.5 innings to go, however nobody scored after I left, with the A’s getting up 7-2.

Last day of cruising around today, off to England this evening. Have a good one y’all!

Trip Day 6 Alcatraz & Oakland

Hole in the rockAlcatrazAlcatrazChowderBeerCable Car
AlcatrazSan FranciscoAlcatrazSeagullMachine GunAlcatraz
AlcatrazAlcatrazAlcatrazOaklandOakland 2013Oakland beer map
Beer and nutsBaseball beardBaseballBaseballCollesiumAmerica's Cup

Trip Day 6 Alcatraz & Oakland, a set on Flickr.

Day 5 Update

Who’s idea was it to set up San Francisco on mountain on top of a tectonic timebomb? Good grief, there are some hills around here. More on that soon…

Time- 4:45am, something went crash in a big way, sounded like a garbage truck exploded. Whatever, I was awake.

With it raining slightly, and knowing how Australian drivers lose all ability when it rains slightly, I decided to head the 61 miles back to SFO and drop my baby Mustang off. Sigh.

Even with some pea soup fog, the Californian drivers all proved themselves to be capable of steering without shunting.

Caught Bart back into the city (it’s the train), dropped bags, and cable carred it off to Lombard Street (the winding one).

Picked up a bicycle, which evidently had zero gears for going downhill or flat, but 21 gears for going straight up mountains. This proved useful on the first mountain. Hard work!

The helpful dude at the bike shop gave me some pointers on the best damage limitation routes regarding hills, and he was pretty much on the money.

Went around Golden Gate Bridge to the beach side, then through Golden Gate Park to the California Academy of Science. It was a neat place (including the most recent America’s Cup winning boat hanging from the roof), but utterly packed with small kids trying to run into your knees.

Weaved back over to the Bridge, which was still covered in cloud, but very spooky/cool. Rode over to Sausalito, cruised around for an hour or so, and caught the ferry back to San Francisco.

Dropped the bike off, lunch at Fisherman’s Wharf, and walked around the waterfront for a couple of hours, including checking out the SS Jeremiah O’Brien.

Caught the cable car back to the hotel. Knackered. Can’t really type too well. That is all.