Monday, Sept 13, 2010

We had an early continental breakfast in the hotel and then headed down Bay Street to Pier 33 to catch the ship over to Alcatraz.  The  ride was only 12 minutes over to Alcatraz.  After climbing four 100-yard switchbacks to the top of Alcatraz we picked up our self-guided audio tour radios and walked through the cell blocks, the dining area, administrative area and other parts of Alcatraz.  The audio tour was done very well and lasted about an hour.  We did a little shopping  at  the NPS store, got our National Park books stamped and then made our way back down the rock to catch the ship back to SF.  Lunch was at Bubba Gump’s at Pier 39; food was excellent with a great view of the bay.  After lunch we made our way to Powell and Mason street to catch one of the famous trolleys up the long hills on our way to Grace Cathedral.  After disembarking, we had to climb another long hill up California Street to Grace Cathedral.  At this point legs ached and all were getting tired but the Cathedral was beautiful.  Our next destination was Chinatown.  Our thought was this was one street with some Chinese restaurants but it turned out to be a “town” taking up several blocks and really unclear where it started and finished.   We made our way down the long hills on California street to Stockton street where Chinatown  started.  Walking down Stockton, we learned that this really was an area where Chinese lived and not just a tourist destination.  The sites of all kinds of foods and the smell coming out of the mom and pop grocery stores reminded some of us those days when we lived in the Philippines.   By this time everyone was really getting tired so we tried to figure out where to catch the trolley back to Fisherman’s Wharf.  Walking down level streets we finally figured out the only way back was to climb the hills back up to Mason street.  Feet, ankles and knees swollen we caught our trolley back to Powell-Mason station and then walked the 2 blocks back to our hotel.  After a short  rest, John, Karen, Paul and Sandra went to Hooters for some wings while Lynn, Patsy, David and Gwen ordered Dominos and viewed some of the pictures that have been taken so far.