We spent a few days in a lovely airBnB in Oakland chilling, being entertained by chattering blue Jay’s and squirrels playing. We’ve taken a trip to Alcatraz (yes, they let us leave!) – interesting, albeit smelly trip (the island is now home to a huge number of seagull and cormorant nests hence the smell).
The cell block audio tour was worth doing, with tales of what life was like as a prisoner and the few escape attempts.
There was an excellent exhibition about the Indian Occupation of the island in the 1970’s too. After our boat trip back, we wandered along Fishermans Wharf and then hopped on one of the famous cable cars for a trip up and down the crazy San Francisco hills
and also saw one of the trams that had just been restored – it was out on its first trip complete with people dressed in historic attire.
The next evening, our hosts invited us to join in their street party for National “Night Out,” which is an annual event now and a wonderful opportunity for everyone to meet their neighbours. We did feel as if we were gate crashers but were welcomed by everyone, so we were soon put at ease.
Then we hopped on a ferry to Sausilito for a wander around – still didn’t get to see the Golden Gate bridge – the bay was in sunshine, but the bridge still shrouded in sea fog!!! Obviously, it is a very shy bridge!!!
We’ve also seen the USS Potomac ship (aka the floating white house – President Roosevelt used it for a while) in Jack London Square in Oakland. Jack London was an author, born in San Francisco and famous for his books “The Call of the Wild” and ” The Sea Wolf”.
Can’t quite believe we have reached the end of another leg of our trip – next stop Hawaii!