Today began at a nice and easy 9.30am – despite the REALLY loud snoring guy a good sleep was had by both off us. Time for PB & J Bagels again, some fruit, green tea and a view over the wharf. Lovely. Particularly on a perfect 27 degree day – we were quite glad to leave Vegas before the 47 degree heat wave hit!
By the time we’d sauntered around freshening up we were out of the hostel by 12pm – a quick bite to eat at Fisherman’s wharf and then a bus trip into town. There was nothing spectacular here, except oh…. the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebrations! We have decided to skip the parade tomorrow (due to transport in and out being waaaay too tricky) but definitely didn’t want to miss out on the atmosphere. There was food stalls, live music, drinks stands… and of course the people in crazy costumes, the slight smell of weed and the random stark naked men that I really didn’t need to see naked at all. I bought a rainbow Lei and we wandered around for a bit, soaking it all in.
I really do love the liberal nature of this city – the acceptance, the random messages of equality on buses, the Pride signs in department stores, the AIDS awareness posters… I just want to give everybody hugs.
After leaving the craziness of the Pride festival we headed back to the hostel – first via a random ‘Smart Gifts’ game store (full of new board games, this was exciting!) and then a very long walk over lots of hills all the way back to the wharf. We HAD planned to catch a cable car but they only seemed to be running one way. There were some pretty views along the walk in any case!
Back to the hostel for a quick rest before heading out again to catch the ferry to Alcatraz, the famous jail on the ‘Rock’ in the middle of the bay. This consisted of a 15 minute ferry with lovely views of the city, an introductory guided tour, a 45 minute (very good) audio tour and then a little talk about escape attempts. The jail itself isn’t actually very big but it was all very interesting and I look forward to doing a little more research into it later on.
We were back around 10pm and in much need to dinner – Hard Rock Cafe it was! Due to a private function starting soon we were served up the bar. Macaroni and cheese, chicken salad and wine – this was fun and again, clichéd American!
Bed time tonight might be before midnight, exciting times!
(Also, a reminder to keep an eye on photos top right – particularly Andy’’s, they are better than mine!!)
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