We managed to get up fairly early today, despite last night's beer. I seem to have lost the ability to have a lie in during this trip, which is something that I'm normally very good at.
We had breakfast in the hotel with an Australian couple who had just got married in Vegas, and a man from Florida who had dragged his long suffering wife all the way here to watch a baseball game.
The weather was good, and because of a few comments the Aussie couple had made about queues, we booked our Alcatraz tickets online at the hotel. We had a few hours to spare, so we went back up to the room and I had a power nap, only a short while after getting up!
We walked to the pier to catch the ferry, and on the way, Claire realised she'd left her camera bag at the hotel. We didn't have time to go back, and didn't think much more of it, other than being a bit annoyed about the lack of photos.
The trip to Alcatraz was good. I don't think Claire was that bothered about going, but enjoyed it much more than she thought she would. We were both fascinated by some of the escape stories, especially the three prisoners who escaped into the sea, and were never seen again. Missing, presumed drowned, or possibly in South America, as they had been learning Spanish for a year before escaping.
The prison itself was horrible, the cells were only 5' x 9' which included a bed, toilet, washbasin, table, and chair. Prisons in those days were purely for punishment with no thought given to rehabilitation.
We had a quick wander round the island before going back. It was extremely windy, so much so that when I stepped each foot off the ground to walk, the wind was blowing it away from where I wanted to step! We spotted a few Snowy Egrets hiding in the bushes and I managed to get a photo despite the lack of Claire's zoom lens.
We decided to go and have a beer before dinner. There are loads of restaurants near to where the sea lions live, at Pier 39. We picked a sports bar type place that looked like it should be quite cheap. We've had difficulty over here with Americans being food pushers. No sooner have you sat down, and they're trying to get you to order an appetiser (a huge plate of carbs, often covered in melted cheese). There seem to be very few places that are just bars, without food. I had to snap at the waiter today before he finally got the message that we weren't hungry.
We were just contemplating a second beer when the waiter brought us the bill. Obviously he didn't like snappy customers who didn't eat in there. We were both astounded by the bill, in the realisation that we'd both just drank our most expensive beer ever. $9.40 (£6.20) for the American equivalent of a pint! We left the exact change, and flounced off.
We had a nice, more reasonably priced meal overlooking the sea lions squabbling round the corner.
On the way back, we passed loads of bars that would have been ideal and probably cheaper. I'm sure they weren't there when we walked past earlier.
When we got back, we were busy fussing Pip in reception, when the hotel manager came over and said "you've lost your camera, haven't you?" Apparently, Claire had left the camera bag in reception (she probably put it down to fuss Pip), and the hotel manager had managed to figure out who it belonged to by looking at the photos on it. Good job there weren't any dodgy ones on there! He did comment that it took a while as most of the photos seemed to be of birds and animals!
We've spent the evening packing and feeling sorry for ourselves. Mainly about going home, but also because I feel like I'm getting a cold, which is not what I need for the flight home tomorrow.
There are some things that we're looking forward to about getting back to the UK. Tea, our own bed and getting thin to name but a few.
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Location:San Francisco, CA
