We walked towards Fillmore street, then took a left
We passed this nice looking liquor store
After we climbed up we came to this nice view, I believe the call this the Fillmore Steps
We continued down towards the pier where we wll take the ferry, we passed this cute cable car
After waiting in line for a little we boarded the ferry. The interesting thing is that these are hybrid ferries, they have solar panels as well as wind turbines. Here is a pic of what it looks like
Inside the boat, they have a panel that shows how much power is being generated, this is a live panel and is being updated constantly
Here is a short timelapse I took from the ferry
Here is what Alcatraz looks like from the ferry
Once we got on the island we listened to a introduction. If you ever go to Alcatraz, you will notice that there are a lot of flies, they are everywhere, one of them even flew into my sons mouth
After the introduction we started to walk up towards the prison cells, what you see below is the flank defense howitzer
In 1866 Alcatraz's role was to protect San Francisco, the army had placed 1100 cannon along the island's perimeter
Further up was the morgue
After we made it to the prison, we passed the laundry room
Doesn't look to appealing to me
To get the audio tour, we had to wait in line near the showers
Here is what a cell looks like
What you see below is the hole, this is where inmates go when they are in solitary confinment
This is a view of the cells, I can't even imagine being locked up in one of these
The most frustrating part for the inmates was that they could hear the people in San Francisco having fun while they were miserable in their cells
Below is the command center
This gentleman you see in the picture is Jim Albright
Jim Albright was the last guard to leave Alcatraz
Overall, I liked the visit to Alcatraz a lot. The tour was done really well, the presentation was excellent. I even went into one of the cells and into the hole as well. Highly recommended if you are ever visiting San Francisco. Just make sure to make reservations for the first tour at 8:40 AM
After Alcatraz, we took the ferry back and walked to pier 1 to get some food
On the way there we saw this GOcar, looks like it is a GPS guided tour car?
We passed this skateboard cart
Here is the same cart but just a part of it
After we had some food, we walked back towards pier 39 to look at the sea lions
Here is also a short video of these loud creatures
While looking at the sea lions, I noticed this huge Maersk line container ship
Here is also a short time lapse of the ship
Next up was Boudin bakery, here are some pictures
Bread shaped into teddy bears
A look at the bakery
Inside the bakery, this looked interesting
Next up was Lombard street
From Lombard street, you could see Coit tower
Coit Tower, also known as the Lillian Coit Memorial Tower, is a 210-foot (64 m) tower in the Telegraph Hill neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The tower, in the city's Pioneer Park, was built in 1933 using Lillie Hitchcock Coit's bequest to beautify the city of San Francisco; at her death in 1929 Coit left one-third of her estate to the city for civic beautification. The tower was proposed in 1931 as an appropriate use of Coit's gift. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 29, 2008.
Hot lips
We then walked towards Chinatown. First up was Golden Gate fortune cookie. Supposedly fortune cookies were invented here
A person making the fortune cookies
You can actually write your own fortune on paper, they will then put that into a freshly baked cookie. The kids made some for their grandparents
Here is a short video of the person making the fortune cookies
A mural in Chinatown
A shot of transamerica Pyramid
The Transamerica Pyramid at 600 Montgomery Street between Clay and Washington Streets in the Financial District of San Francisco, California, is a 48-story postmodern building and the second-tallest skyscraper in the San Francisco skyline. Construction began in 1969 and finished in 1972
After Chinatown, we had dinner and walked back to the house
All in all, we did a lot of walking, I think that is the best way to get a feel of the city. We walked further than if we ran half a marathon
Here is what it looks like on a map
That is it for today...next stop is the Disney museum
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