San Francisco

This is Fiona reporting from our first day. We have had a wonderful first day here in San Francisco. It started with the traditional breakfast of pancakes and french toast at an american diner - which kept us going until 4.


We then attempted a walking tour we had dowloaded as a podcast but it was not very good, so we headed off under our own steam to Union Square.
This was followed by a wander through Chinatown.















We hung on to the sides as we took a tram ride down the very undulating roads of San Francisco. There is a video of that that we will upload when we get faster wifi.

We wandered around Fishermans Wharf, where there are lots of street performers, and the Americans go mad for the statue performers - even though they are not very good! No wonder so many of them pitch up in Edinburgh during the fringe.

We took a boat trip to Alcatraz, which has a very interesting history as a fort then a prison. They provided an introductory video and then free audio guide which was peppered with interviews with past inmates which made it very interesting










There were fantastic views of the bay and Golden Gate Bridge. Again, more photos will follow with faster wifi.


After escaping from Alcatraz, we returned to Fishermans Wharf for clam chowder in a sour dough bread bowl. We had a slight hiccup in the otherwise perfect plan (can you tell who organised today!) when the second tram line was closed as a tram had broken down on the line. This added extra walking to our already very tired feet. Then when we got to the other line the queue was around the block - so we got a taxi to Alamo Square which was a picturesque example of the old style houses in San Francisco.