Having completed the first of our three west coast jobs, Hubby and I
decided to become tourists today. We started with breakfast across from
the hotel at the Golden Gate, an unpretentious second floor restaurant
that had no crowd (unlike a couple of others we passed on the way here),
but the food was certainly palatable and reasonably well-priced. From
there, we headed down a few blocks, made a quick stop to check on
something at the Macy's Chanel boutique, then walked down to pick up a
trolley bus (as opposed to a trolley car, which we would do later in the
day), which took us to Pier 33 where the Alcatraz ferries were running.
After standing in a line forever (apparently because the two groups in
front of us hadn't decided what they wanted to do, and apparently had
to have every last tour option explained to them), we finally got our
tickets (in under a minute), then stood in line waiting to board the
boat, getting our pictures taken in from of the Alcatraz matte that has
become a popular way for some concessionaire to make money, then headed
out. Juast as we went, I received a phone call from my Tennessee UPS
driver, saying he had a package for me! Seems my order from Horse.com
had been sent to the billing address instead of the shipping address as I
had instructed, so I had to text him the new address, and he quickly
diverted it for me, thank goodness. Now I'm worried about the second
package, which was being sent separately, darn it! Can't imagine they're
going to send that one to the right address now! Anyway, we had just
about arrived at the Alcatraz dock by the time I got off the phone. We
disembarked and headed down to an area on the dock where there was a
female Park Ranger explaining some of the history and all of the rules
of being on "The Rock." Because it was a long uphill slog from the
docks to the prison, we took the assistance bus to the top, which had
switchbacks as sharp as anything w
e've seen on a horse trail, before
picking up our headsets for the audio tour. Fascinating, frightening,
depressing, and the palpable tensions of ghosts full of angst, we spent
several hours wandering the prison and the grounds. It's incredible
that there are places you can go where you can feel the emotions the
predominate there, like the Vietnam Memorial in DC, where the sense of
tragedy, waste and mourning are tangible. It took us awhile to identify
that emotion here, and eventually realized it was mostly hatred and
anger. The gardens provided a small respite and the wildlife sanctuary
full of birds also lightened the atmosphere somewhat. Glad we did it,
not sure I'd ever want to do it again, though. Ferried back to the
mainland and walked down to Pier 66 where there is a wharf full of
restaurants and souvenir shops, a typical tourist trap, but we found a
nice place for a quick early dinner before walking to the trolley car
stop, which then (for a rather exhorbitant fee) took us up over the hill
and back down to the hotel, stopping right outside. Once again we
joined our friends for drinks at the manager's wine reception, before
heading back to our room, knowing it would be a short time till the
morning, and the hard bed wasn't going to help much!
Having completed the first of our three west coast jobs, Hubby and I
decided to become tourists today. We started with breakfast across from
the hotel at the Golden Gate, an unpretentious second floor restaurant
that had no crowd (unlike a couple of others we passed on the way here),
but the food was certainly palatable and reasonably well-priced. From
there, we headed down a few blocks, made a quick stop to check on
something at the Macy's Chanel boutique, then walked down to pick up a
trolley bus (as opposed to a trolley car, which we would do later in the
day), which took us to Pier 33 where the Alcatraz ferries were running.
After standing in a line forever (apparently because the two groups in
front of us hadn't decided what they wanted to do, and apparently had
to have every last tour option explained to them), we finally got our
tickets (in under a minute), then stood in line waiting to board the
boat, getting our pictures taken in from of the Alcatraz matte that has
become a popular way for some concessionaire to make money, then headed
out. Juast as we went, I received a phone call from my Tennessee UPS
driver, saying he had a package for me! Seems my order from Horse.com
had been sent to the billing address instead of the shipping address as I
had instructed, so I had to text him the new address, and he quickly
diverted it for me, thank goodness. Now I'm worried about the second
package, which was being sent separately, darn it! Can't imagine they're
going to send that one to the right address now! Anyway, we had just
about arrived at the Alcatraz dock by the time I got off the phone. We
disembarked and headed down to an area on the dock where there was a
female Park Ranger explaining some of the history and all of the rules
of being on "The Rock." Because it was a long uphill slog from the
docks to the prison, we took the assistance bus to the top, which had
switchbacks as sharp as anything w
e've seen on a horse trail, before
picking up our headsets for the audio tour. Fascinating, frightening,
depressing, and the palpable tensions of ghosts full of angst, we spent
several hours wandering the prison and the grounds. It's incredible
that there are places you can go where you can feel the emotions the
predominate there, like the Vietnam Memorial in DC, where the sense of
tragedy, waste and mourning are tangible. It took us awhile to identify
that emotion here, and eventually realized it was mostly hatred and
anger. The gardens provided a small respite and the wildlife sanctuary
full of birds also lightened the atmosphere somewhat. Glad we did it,
not sure I'd ever want to do it again, though. Ferried back to the
mainland and walked down to Pier 66 where there is a wharf full of
restaurants and souvenir shops, a typical tourist trap, but we found a
nice place for a quick early dinner before walking to the trolley car
stop, which then (for a rather exhorbitant fee) took us up over the hill
and back down to the hotel, stopping right outside. Once again we
joined our friends for drinks at the manager's wine reception, before
heading back to our room, knowing it would be a short time till the
morning, and the hard bed wasn't going to help much!
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