On Saturday we woke up to some clouds, but no rain! Hooray! We were leaving the hotel in Berkley, so we all got packed up and loaded into the rental car. There was a nice pastry/bagel shop around the corner that we grabbed breakfast at, then headed to the city for our Alcatraz cruise at 9:30am. Jacob had already done it before, so he just dropped us off and hung out with friends for the day. It was nice not having to park!
We boarded the ferry and headed over to the island that Alcatraz was on.
Guess who is their mother's daughter and bought the green screen picture?! Insert sheepish face here.
It took about 10-12 min to ferry over then we got out and listened to a park ranger introduce us to the island. We watched a short video clip about it's history, then headed up the hills to the main prison area to get our headphones for the audio tour.
This was the main entrance room where prisoners got their clothing and took showers.
Earlier in the week, Travis and I watched a documentary on Netflix about 3 men that escaped Alcatraz. Well, they don't know if they truly escaped though, because getting across the frigid waters of the Bay seemed highly unlikely. And no trace of them was ever heard of after that. In the audio tour, they talked a lot about that escape and another attempt made at a different time
This was the courtyard that they had 2 hours of recreation time every day. Well, that is, if they weren't in D Block for bad behavior. That was the isolation block.
Al Capone, Scarface, is one of the famous prisoners that served here. I'd always heard his name before but never knew anything about him.
This was the cell of one of the prisoners that escaped. They shaved down spoons and hacked away at the concrete around the air vents.
This was a sign at the entrance to the dining room. Ha! Grandpa Jess, anyone?!?
After the tour was over, we walked around the grounds some more and went into the recreation yard. It really is a pretty island, with well kept gardens. It was crazy to me that guard's families lived here while it was a prison, and considered it a good life! The kids would ferry into the city each day to go to school. One of those kids, a girl, became an Alcatraz historian and was featured on the films we watched.
The prisoners said that one of the worst parts of being there was seeing San Francisco, just across the Bay and being tortured by it's presence. They could even hear the sounds of the city and voices and parties on a quiet night.
I LOVE history and am fascinated by it, so this tour was right up my alley. It's so crazy to think this place actually functioned as a high security prison to some of the country's scariest criminals.
Don't ya love my ensemble? Trav's grey ankle socks looked smashing with my flowered leggings and running shoes. All in the name of comfort.
The Alcatraz Ferry is at Pier 33, so we walked along Fisherman's Warf to get to Pier 45 where a lot of the restaurants are. The boys got themselves some fish and chips and Brinn and I headed to famous Boudin's bakery for some bread and clam chowder!
A silver street performer. Howwww do they stand like that?!
We were in a bit of a hurry to finish up lunch to make it to our 1pm reservation for these GoCars! A friend had recommended them so I really wanted to give them a try! It started raining when we got there, so we almost didn't do it, but the rain quickly stopped and never started again, so it was perfect! They are like gas powered go carts that have a GPS in them that gives you a tour of the city as you drive. You can pick from several different routes and take as short as an hour or as long as a day! I really would have loved to do the 3 hour tour and go all over Golden Gate Park, but we didn't have a lot of time and were still worried it would start raining again. So we did them for just over an hour.
We cruised along the Warf and stopped at Ghiradelli Square to grab a hot fudge sundae!
As we entered the Marina district, our GPS stopped working! We could hear Brinn and Michaels still talking behind us, so we knew ours was broken. Boo! I was super bummed about it. Getting all the interesting facts about the buildings and streets was the whole appeal to it! Oh well. At stop lights, we'd pull next to the Kings and they'd try to fill us in on what they learned. We stopped at Crissy Field to take some pictures of the Golden Gate!
Ever heard of Lombard Street?! I guess its the most crooked road in the whole world. It was fun to cruise down it in our go carts! Oh, and with lots of gawking tourists pointing and taking pictures of us, haha. That's basically how it was the whole time.
How 'bout that view!!! Gosh, I loved this city!
After we turned in the gocars, Brinn's brother picked us up and went with us to this place called the Sports Basement where we rented bikes to bike across the Golden Gate Bridge. He lives a couple hours away, but had come into town to see Brinn and hang out with us for a bit. This was another activity that had been recommended to us and I'm SO GLAD it was!! Absolutely the highlight of my trip. The weather was cool, with some low clouds, clinging to the bridge. It made the whole atmosphere feel magical. Even with people all around, it didn't feel crowded or touristy. Just very peaceful and calm. There really aren't words for it. It was just so serene and memorable. A moment in time. There is only one other time on a trip that I felt this happy and peaceful. Like I could live in this moment forever.
I know it goes without saying, but this bridge is incredible. It felt like such a privilege just to see it.
Looking over the edge was a black sand beach. I felt like I was looking at a scene from a fictional pirate movie.
A view of the city from the end of the bridge.
We returned the bikes, shopped a bit there and found an awesome coat for Trav (which came in very handy the next day). Then made reservations at an Italian restaurant that Brinn's brother knew of in the city. We had a little bit of time to burn though, so on the way there, we stopped at the Palace for Fine Arts. Jacob had met up with us by then and he said this is where they had their White Coat Ceremony in school. Um, wow. Beats the pants off our White Coat Ceremony. He said this is probably his favorite building in the whole city and it's not hard to see why. It definitely lives up to it's name. We walked around the grounds just a bit and I wished we had more time and could even come back during the day.
After that, I think we drove around for almost an hour, trying to find parking so we could eat at this restaurant!! I think it was called Reale. It was in the heart of the city and crazy congested. At night, all the signs are lit up and everything is just packed, wall to wall and to the sky. People EVERYWHERE. Not a square inch of space wasted. It's a fun, big city feel, but not when you're in a car. Out of desperation we found a tiny lot in a back alley, but they charged $25 to park! Seriously! So begrudgingly we pulled out of it, and had to turn onto this street that literally had to be at a 80 degree angle. It was scary! I remember leaning back in my seat as though the weight change would help us not topple forward. The sidewalks lining the street weren't even sidewalks, it was a staircase! I was starting to get really ancy and wanted to just call it all off. FINALLY, we happened to drive down a street where someone was pulling out of their parallel spot. I've never been more grateful to park!
Ok, to be completely honest, I wasn't thrilled at the idea of this restaurant. I don't love Italian food in the first place and never order it when we go out. Pasta is pretty much at the bottom of the food chain for me. But this place?? Well this place was AMAZING. It was tiny, you could have blinked and passed it walking down the road. But it was really nice inside and the guys who own it are legit from Italy. I almost couldn't understand them with their thick accents and even Brinn said one of them didn't seem to understand HER when she asked where the bathroom was. Everything was homemade and delicious. They ordered a few appetizers... stuff I couldn't pronounce and have never eaten before.. cheeses and capers and fresh herbs, it was amazing. And their bread was so yummy dipped in oil. I ended up ordering a tortellini.. can't remember the concoction stuffed inside, but I was sold when I read it was served in a light cream reduction. I could bathe in a light cream reduction. I think there was literally 8 pieces of pasta on my plate when they brought it out, but I was so stuffed, I could hardly even finish it. But when they brought out the desert menus, well how could I resist??! I got a lemon gelato and Travis ordered a panna. Now, I've never had gelato from Italy, but I would I highly wager this is what it has to taste like. There are not even words. I certainly did NOT regret splurging on dessert. Ohhhhhh, I need to eat this again.
From there, it was definitely bed time! We booked a room at the Hyatt, right next to Union Square. We wanted to be right in the city that night.
This place made me feel like Richy Rich. Whenever men run out to open your doors and take your luggage, you can't help but feel a bit sheepish. That's how the last place was too. Men who's full time job is just stand there and make sure you don't have to open your own door. Not used to that! Here is just a part of the lobby.
I'm honestly not big on artwork, but I thought this was one of the coolest things I'd seen.
So nice of them to include a bath tub for our baby. ;)
Blinds that are controlled by a button next to your bed?? Um, can I get one of those at home?! And just throw in one of these beds. I think it must have been a California King, but it was definitely made of clouds.
Needless to say, we were spent. I don't know how we crammed so much into one day, but it was FANTASTIC.
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