Day one in San Fran

Today was one of the best days ever.

We woke up hungover but when is that ever a problem. We had amazing free breakfast and then trotted off with a really soft banana to Fisherman's Wharf. We paid our $30 dollars each and boarded the Ferry to Alcatraz!!!! Something we have both wanted to do forever.

On the way over to San Fran on the trusty megabus, I started reading 'Papillon' which is a true story of a Frenchman who was innocently incarcerated for manslaughter at 25 and sent down for life...and escapes ...so was well in the mood for Alcatraz.

Alcatraz was absolutely amazing. We did an audio tour which takes you around the cells, you can go inside the cells - we stepped in with trepidation! They show you the escape plot - how the three prisoners made fake heads out of soap and cement and stuck real hair onto them to put in their beds while they did a runner out the air vent after digging it out with a spoon. Pretty incredible. Then they sailed away in a boat made from a RAINCOAT. Brave as.

We sat in the sun in the exercise yard for a while and it was super super quiet.

We spent about 3 hours there in total and absolutely loved it.

Then we went for lunch on Pier 39 at a place someone recommended to us called "Bubbagump Shrimp" which is themed on Forest Gump and it was delicious.

Then, we turned the corner to be greeted by a massive sea lion sleepover! A chorus of barking, spluttering, sneezing, hoarse black writhing slugs with whiskers. HAHA!

It was like the aftermath of a rave. Most were passed out and hugging each other with fins draped on each other, spooning, while others were sporadically shouting out. Others were making out. Some were fighting. One small skinny one looked like Snoop.

We stood there loling at them for ages and then went and got a cable car down to Union Square to get Cheesecake on another recommendation from the same person. We got it from The Cheesecake Factory in a very nice department store and after getting sketched out by having to go down about 6 escalators, we ate it outside in the Square...it was so rich we couldn't finish it. 

then we went into a shop in china town to buy a souvenir and the oldish lady behind the counter was jogging on the spot and continued to jog on the spot while she served me. so hard not to laugh.

We love San Francisco.