Alcatraz and Golden Gate Bridge

Susannah and I met early near to the dreadful Pier 39 tourist trap (spotting some more weird American rules) for a big coffee and a big danish and headed for Pier 33 to take the boat over to Alcatraz. I'd parked down near Pier 17 and we took an Italian street car back down the Embarcado to drop off bags before we caught the boat.

Last time I spent some time here, I'd taken a cruise around the bay, but couldn't get to Alcatraz at it had sold out. Not wanting to miss an opportunity this time I booked the tickets in advance over the web which worked well.


It was well worth going to see, the audio commentary being particularly good, much better than similar commentaries I've experienced elsewhere. The views of Golden Gate Bridge and back to San Francisco were also superb.


After Alcatraz we still had a couple of hours to kill before heading off to catch the plane home. So we drove up to and across the Golden Gate Bridge which was fun. I couldn't decide if it was as impressive as the Severn Bridge, but it is set in a superb location with much better views, even if the bridge itself is smaller in comparison.


After crossing to the other side we stopped and tried to get a drink - amazingly there were no facilities at the "vista point", so we drove a little further to a place which I think was called Sausilito or similar. There was a little shop by a marina where we grabbed some pop.

Here out of the corner of my eye I caught sight of a Rover 3500S just like one I had not long ago. These are rare cars in the USA. So it was great to see one, clearly looking like it was still in use.