San Francisco - the city and the bay

After leaving Marina (outside of Monterey), we drove north to San Francisco.  Our base of operations was north of the city, in Petaluma, in Marin county.  We had to cross the famous Golden Gate Bridge to get there and we were a little intimidated by this, but we hoped that by driving on a Sunday, things would not be too scary.  Things actually worked out well, although we were surprised to learn that you have to drive through city streets to get from the freeway (280 and/or101 coming from the south) to the bridge.  We drove on 19th Avenue, which also goes through a very large park, but we made it to the bridge and across without any incidents.

We were surprised to see a very wide lane for pedestrians and bicycles.  It turns out San Francisco is a very bicycle-friendly city (even though it has major hills).

From our base at Petaluma, we took two trips into the city - one for a general tour and one specifically to visit Alcatraz island.  On our first day we signed up with a company that gave tours of the city and surrounding areas.  The first activity was getting on a ferry and going across the bay to Sausalito.  This is a pretty town at the northern end of the bridge.  Before the bridge was built, this was the point of departure for many ferrys that would cross the bay.  Now it's an upscale artist community and fishing village.  We had great views of Alcatraz Island as we motored by.

Our tour then took a large van across the bridge and starting touring the main attractions of the city.

This is a building called the "Exploratorium," a children's museum.  As many people know, much of San Francisco was destroyed by fire that was triggered by an earthquake in 1906.  The city wanted to prove that it could rebuild itself and so it hosted a major world's fair type of event in 1915.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama%E2%80%93Pacific_International_Exposition

Most of the buildings for the Exposition were temporary, but the city decided to keep this one.

There are so many sights and neighborhoods in San Francisco!  Our tour took us to about 15 or so places.  We'll just give a sample here.  Haight-Asbury district, home of the 1967 "love-in."

 The "painted sisters" - a row of Victorian homes.

 The steep streets, leading to City Hall.

 City Hall.

The world's steepest (or most crooked) street.

 Chinatown.

On day 2, we drove into the city after Matthew's weekly Skype call with his class.  This was a day for Alcatraz Island and, if things worked out well, dinner in Chinatown.  Alcatraz Island, the former federal penitentiary in the middle of the bay, is now a National Park.  And, judging from the day we were  there, it's a very popular park!  The island had also been an Army fort during and after the Civil War.

 This picture gives a little suggestion of the number of people there.  It was a little surprising that there were people from many countries there, not just Americans.  What does it mean when our of our major tourist attractions is a former prison?  Why do French and German and Chinese people want to know about where Al Capone was locked up?

You can also see a painted message on the wall that says "Welcome Indians."  The island was occupied by Native Americans for almost two years in 1969.  It stopped being a prison in 1963.

 A lonely guard tower.

We found the island rather depressing because so much of it is falling apart.

In the main cell block area it is possible to get a pair of headsets for an audio tour.  Unfortunately we went in the wrong entrance and started seeing everyone wearing headsets, walking around like zombies.  We asked people where they got the headsets but they were so transfixed by what they were listening t!o that they would not pay any attention to us!  But eventually we found the right place and joined the zombies!

This is where you pick up the headsets - in the shower room!  If you look closely, there's soap, maybe left over from 1963!

 A typical cell.

 The cells were stacked three levels high.

The audio was made by four former guards and four former "residents."  There were lots of interesting stories about life on "the rock" (very boring) and some of the attempted escapes and break-outs.

After returning to the city, we took a ride on one of the famous cable cars to Chinatown.  We have a video of our ride which we'll put on YouTube and link to this blog.

Matthew and Bill rode on the back of the car with the brakeman on the way to Chinatown.  We were able to see the cable under the street which the car grabs on to to be pulled along.  On the way back, Matthew and Bill stood on the outside runners.  When another car went by in the other direction we were just inches away from the riders on that car!  It was quite a thrill.