San Francisco

On route from Canada to New Zealand we had 5 lovely sunny days in San Francisco staying with David and Joyce Somerville and their family. Seen here at Crissy Field beach in front of the Golden Gate Bridge.



We had a lovely lunch and walk around in Sausalito on the north side of the bridge. Downtown San Francisco can be seen across the bay.

Monday was a pubic holiday so we all drove inland to Yosemite National Park hoping to see it in it's winter splendor. Half Dome is impressive any time of the year!

We had a good look around the village area and stopped at the Ahwahnee Hotel for lunch. This lovely stone and wood building was built in 1927.




We dined in the Great Lounge with it's high ceiling and stained glass windows looking out and upwards to the tall surrounding granite mountains. We arrived only minutes before they removed the lunch menu.

Just outside the village we found a nice incline to toboggan on.



A visit to San Francisco would be incomplete without a visit and tour of Alcatraz. A good education for the girls!


It was a maximum security prison from 1934 to 1963. It had a capacity of 336 prisoners but it rarely held more than 260. A total of 36 men tried to escape in 14 separate attempts - one reached San Francisco under the Golden Gate Bridge but was too tired to climb out so was immediately recaptured, one dressed as a guard and caught the boat leaving but the boat went on to another island and he was recaptured when his absence was noticed and 5 inmates escaped but were never seen or heard from again (presumed drowned).


The cells are 5 feet wide, 9 feet long and 7 feet high. The front walls were steel bars so there was no privacy or windows. Glimpses of San Francisco could be seen from windows in the corridors as a reminder/torture of life on the outside.
We had an excellent guided tour with headphone sets so you could walk at your own pace, and see and hear how it was for the inmates, including going into solitary confinement.