Today was tourist day…we saw/went to…
- Alcatraz
- Pier 39 and the sea lions
- Boudin Soughdough Bakery
- Fishermans Wharf
- Ghirardelli’s Chocolate Ice Cream Sundae shop (at old choc factory)
- Lombard Street
- Had a cable car ride
- Birthplace of Fortune Cookies – Chinatown
Alcatraz was the highlight with a brilliant audio tour of the cell block. I did brave the “hole” which was solitary confinement. Would not of survived that place I’m afraid. The cells were tiny and there were three storeys of them. It was quite cool to see the cells where the escapee’s made their tunnel using spoons. The tunnel is still there. You can also see the grenade marks on the floor from the major riot they once had.
Pier 39 was your normal pier with boutique shops and fish restuarants, 1 difference though – the sea lions that bask on the floating piers from January onwards. They made a massive racket but looked like they were having fun as they played around the pier area.
We had lunch at the Boudin Sourdough Bakery. They began baking in 1849 and you can see much of the process as they work through the shop window. They used a special recipe as yeast didn’t grow well in the area which causes the sour yet pleasant taste.
After trying Ghirardelli’s chocolate the other day we decided to visit the sqaure which has the old factory on site. It was mostly closed for regeneration, however the hot fudge sundae shop was still open and as we had a really big hill to walk up we needed to try them out for sustinence.
Lombard Street has a natural incline of 29 degrees and so the severity of the steepness was lessened by the addition of eight curves. Everyone looked like they were having fun as they drove down. We took the sedate steps root…gladly going down not up. It is known as the crookedest street in the world. To get there we had climbed the steepest street I think I have ever walked up.
We ended up having 2 cable car rides with a stop off at the Fortune Cookie Factory in between. The first seemed quite sedate as we were inside. The second was a lot scarier as we were holding on the rail on the outside, and going down some very steep streets. Still quite fun though. The Fortune Cookie Factory was the originator of the cookie itself. We watched as the ladies took the base off a waffle kind of machine, selected your fortune and then wrapped it up all in about 10 seconds. I had a taste but without a fortune this time.
That wrapped up our final day in San Francisco…off to Carmel tomorrow.