Day 20: Temptation to shove a tourist

How can I sum up today. Day 20. 20 friggin days in America. Wow. Today I did the full on touristy thing. I've had bit days of tourist stuff since the 1st but today was always going to be the Tourist part of the sabbatical.  And my back aches :(

So first thing this morning I went down to the ticket office to pick up my Alcatraz ticket. 8am on the dot. They asked "was I up so early because of jet lag?" I said yes and yawned for added effect. 2.40pm. Huh? What? 2.40pm is like 6 hours and pretty much 40 minutes away.  My Alcatraz morning, lunch, get over to Fran & Dick's middle of the afternoon plan was out the window.

So I needed a new plan. Over breakfast of sausage, scrambled eggs, an apple, yogurt and juice, I made a new plan. It was a good plan, a cunning plan, and plan that looks at bells and whistles, laughed manically and then whips out a full brass band.

I'd go on a tour of the city.

Part of my ticket combo was a "hop on, hop off" tour bus ride. Assuming I didn't hop off, it would take about 2 to 2.30 hours.  So I'd go do that then get lunch, Alcatraz then battle rush hour to get to El Cerrito.  Cool.  So I spent the first part of the morning looking up bus and BART times. Meh. The front desk people were really nice and said that the bus would be fine for suitcases. But every time I saw one I thought "no way I'm getting all my bags on there without annoying people." So I went for a walk to think about it.  I didn't want to get on the nearest hop on bus, so I decided to go check out the Alcatraz leaving pier and get on the nearest one to that.

It seemed simple enough, with lots of coast guards checking bags and ids and tickets and man this was intense. The bus stop was just along the way so I headed over, and came across the Americas Cup venue which was being held for the first time in San Francisco!  I figured it'd cost to get in, but it was free! Quick bag search (he didn't really look) and I was in. Very few people around and it was awesome!!! I ended up spending the whole morning there and had a stone baked pizza lunch, cooked on site.  Sooooo good!!!

I spent the morning watching the New Zealand, Swedish and Norwegian(?) teams practising, whilst writing more. That's right! Me writing in pubic with people (not many) walking about. The whole set-up was great. Fake grass to lie on, big screens everywhere, bean bags seats! Picnic tables, and all sorts of entertainment. So relaxed. I suddenly realised this is what I like, not the whole tourist bit. Tourists and tourist areas are just annoying, but this place was nice and calm. Plus a nice breeze was coming off the ocean.

It came time to go to Alcatraz. Que, search, ticket, que, and I'm on the boat. Got a nice seat for pictures, but an annoying woman sat next to me and kept standing up whenever. Photo opportunity came along. Grrr. How close was I to just giving her a shove?

Alcatraz was... Three words: fascinating, eerie, disappointing.  Fascinating: the headphone tour was really good, and dispelled many of the myths surrounding Alcatraz. My favourite was about The Birdman of Alcatraz, who didn't actually keep birds on the island as he wasn't allowed. In the film he's depicted as a nice gentle guy, but in real life was a psychopath. He attended a parole hearing and was asked "why should you be released?", he answered "because there are still people on my list I need to kill". Nice bloke. Eerie: maybe its because everyone was listening to the tour, but it was strangely eerie inside the cell block. Can't really describe it. Disappointing: the whole build up failed to deliver. It was a great place to visit, and I'm glad I did it, but it didn't really meet up to the expectations that the start and build up at the pier gave.  Never mind, at least I did it. I escaped Alcatraz!!!

Once back on the main land (lol) I took a taxi to the BART (big step for me, being someone who has been in only two taxis ever before and never alone) and then over the Fran and Dick's.  Such a food evening. Lamb shanks (don't be jealous dad!) and then baseball read for tomorrow. I can't wait. The giants came from 2-0 down to win 3-2 in the 9th. :))

Batter up!!