san fran continued

day 2 started (after an over-priced yet convenient room-service breakfast) with us taking a brisk walk down to the piers for our tour of alcatraz. i could blog for hours about all the interesting things we saw/heard but for the sake of brevity, i will condense. locally known as "the rock", alcatraz was THE maximum security prison for several decades in america. it housed such famous criminals as al capone, robert "the birdman" stroud, and george "machine gun" kelly.

it "tortured" prisons with monotony and boredom. actually, they say it was tortuous to see the city of san francisco and know that normal life was just out of reach. the government officially claims no one ever successfully escaped from alcatraz. but according to our spunky and informative tourguide (i should have snapped a photo!) that is technically incorrect. in 1962, 3 men made a daring escape that took upwards of a year to plan. these 3 men were never found, either in the ocean or on the shore. so we don't really know if they successfully escaped. our tour guide was funny, she said that if she is feeling good that day, she tells the tours she thinks that they made it alive. if she's having a bad day, then the three died in the ocean.

anyway, a few other interesting tidbits i learned that i will pass along are #1) most of the guards and their families lived on the island as well. #2) in the prison library no books allowed with sex or crime in them, and #3) there were 2 prisoners who attempted to escape by coating themselves in kitchen grease before trying to swim across the bay, but it was so cold and horrible, that one of them called for help and begged to be rescued and brought back to prison.

the view from alcatraz island, which is now a national park.
the interior of a prison cell
the main hall. kinda weird that people now go there for fun and take photos yet it was a federal prison. if those walls could talk . . .
alcatraz island, view from our boat
view of the city from our boat
after our alcatraz tour, we decided to stay and explore the piers. here is the famous fishermans' wharf. which wasn't too crowded at all.
pier 39 is home to sea lions and they are a MUST see for no other reason than to say you have seen the sea lions at pier 39. ;)
who is that?
pier 39. i have heard tale of the amazing cuisine that san fran has to offer. boasting of fresh seafood and a diverse culinary background, it is home to loads and loads of restaurants. and staci and i had some good food, i'll admit to that. however, there was not one meal that was an absolute "have to go there again before i die" experience. my favorite dining experience of the whole trip took place here at pier 39. we stopped and split a crepe. it was freshly made before our eyes and filled with warm, delectable ghiradeli chocolate. mmmmmhhhhh. my mouth is watering just remembering how yummy it was. it was a treat, that is for certain.
us on alcatraz island with the san fran skyline in the background. after our treat, we booked over to the boudin sour dough bread factory/store. best sour dough in the world. nothing else compares. also went to the ghiradeli factory/store, bought some souvinere treats. cute little chocolates shaped like the golden gate bridge. to the trolley to the ferry market building and had lunch at a place called "taylor's refresher." it was okay. the chocolate shakes were not good at all and the burgers and fries were fine. i like "in and out" better. hooray that st.george has one!
we tried to pose by as many christmas trees as possible, this one was in our hotel lobby.
don't you think we got good at this by the end?

view from our room. very urban. san fran reminded me of paris in a lot of ways. most people don't own cars, they ride bikes or use the public transit system.
our room. very nice and cozy. we hung out in our room, under the covers, watching tv until we headed out to dinner. surprisingly enough, we didn't take pictures at dinner so you'll just have to read my commentary vs seeing a photo. we ate at a place in little italy, in the section of town called "north beach." it was called "ideale." i had the spaghetti with scallops and staci had a margarita pizza. to re-iterate, it was good, not fantastic. our waiter was an italiano and it was fun speaking in fake italian accents to him and saying "grazia" when he brought our food out.

and a side note here, that is how restaurants should be. i want to see mexicans in the kitchen of a mexican restaurant. i want to see italians in the kitchen of an italian restaurant. you get the picture. it just makes for a more authentic dining experience in my opinion. moving on, dessert was very good. we shared some italian pastry cake i don't remember the name of, but we liked it. :) after dinner we headed back to the hotel and settled in for the night, we watched "sisterhood of the traveling pants 2" on pay-per-view. we toyed with the idea of going out to see a movie, but decided we wanted to relax more than see a current release.

and i can't possibly finish my post without paying homage to my amazing husband for playing super dad for 3 days!! he did it all. i gassed the van, stocked the fridge, put away laundry and passed the baton to travis. thank you so much travy!!!!! everyone was alive and well when i came home. i'll post about day 3, also called the day we almost died in an airplane, soon. :)