Day 4 - Aquarium, Alcatraz

Julian kindly woke us all up just after 7am saying that the sun was up, so it was time to get out of bed.  So we slowly got ourselves going and headed to the same old breakfast place for the same old breakfast of pancakes and fruit.  If it ain't broke and Julian eats, we had better continue going there.

We came back to the hotel and dressed warm as we had read that Alcatraz could be cold.  This time we planned ahead and went to Walgreens (again) and bought sandwiches, watermelon and apples.  We then walked the short walk to Market st where we caught a Streetcar to the Embarcadero/Pier 39 which is where the Aquarium Of The Bay is.

Julian was super excited about everything there and we had to slow him down so he actually got to look at the fish! We got to touch little Rays, a small Leopard shark and a few Seastars.  Rohan got into it too - mainly because they had turtles and he could splash in the Ray/shark pools.

As Julian is struggling to adapt to "American" food or even to drink "American" water (!!), we decided to get him a chocolate milkshake. He was keen, until he had it in his hands and then refused it.  Eventually after a lot of coercion he drank some and even ate some watermelon (which he originally refused).  Fun times here!  Rohan thoroughly enjoyed the watermelon and some of Julian's milkshake :)

We had booked on the 12:30pm Alcatraz cruise, so we walked down there to queue for the boat.  It was a bit hot :( and both Julian and Rohan were getting fidgetty.  Eventually we boarded and found a table.  Julian refused to eat any of the sandwich or even the bread but thankfully Rohan was keen on the egg sandwich (which was delicious!).  It was only a 15min ride to the island and fortunately/unfortunately it was actually quite warm.  Shorts would have been better than jeans.  Oh well.

A guide was filling the crowd in on the going ons of the island and said that there hadn't been a shark attack in the bay until just last week.  A Great White had a dinner of a sea lion only 70ft/25m from the dock!  Apparently it is on Youtube (Alcatraz Great White). We were keen on being guided so we began the walk up to the jail.  Understandably Julian was sick and tired of walking (we were too) and he just barely made it up the 13stories elevation to the prison block.

Guard cage!

Open showers

The entrance was through the shower block.  Here you were given an audio guide which we declined as we didn't want to be held prisoner by what they wanted to tell us. We took the lift to the dining hall, which was bare with deteriorated lino on the floor.

Dining room

Then through to the cell blocks. There wasn't much room in those cells.  Steve and Julian refused to go into them!

We then walked through the wardens area and outside to the magnificent views of San Francisco.

As we were all tired of walking, we decided to head back to the boat.  Julian couldn't walk and had to be carried.  Enough said.

We caught another Streetcar back to the hotel.  Rohan fell asleep on the Streetcar and slept for over 1.5h.  Maybe it is time for a rest.

Rohan woke up starved which means he was exceptionally unhappy.  After the food fiasco with Julian, we discussed what he would like to eat for dinner – Spaghetti Bolognese (of course).  

The place we had burgers a couple of nights ago also had pasta dishes, so we walked the 2 short blocks there again.  The waitress remembered us (we were pretty unforgettable after the screaming of our last visit) and asked if we wanted 2 Stella’s again.  Oh yes!  This time we read the menu properly and noticed a Red Snapper dish and a Chicken dish which came with vegetables and rice.  Hallelujah!  Both were ordered and also the Linguine Bolognese for Julian.  Rohan was excited to see the rice (with mixed vegetables) and beans.  The chicken and snapper were good too.  However, “American” Spaghetti Bolognese was not the same as ours or Childcares, so Julian spat the dummy again about not liking “American” food.  Cripes he is doing our heads in!  

After some discussion which included of the reward of ice cream, Julian finally relented and ate the bread and a little of the ragu.  Silly boy, it was a veal ragu with peas and it was bloody delicious.  Rohan enjoyed it :)

And the ice cream was HUGE!  

We walked home and ran the bath. GROSS ALERT: Julian finally did a poo (it has been a while) and it was so huge that it blocked the toilet!  Another Yay for this stupid hotel.  After bath Julian succumbed to sleep very quickly whilst Rohan kicked on for another 1.5 hours.  Curse that long afternoon nap!

I went to the laundry, planning on washing and drying all our dirty clothes.  Unfortunately both machines were busy and then the dryers were busy too.  I managed to get a load washed whilst talking to a guy from Phoenix AZ.  He said that the SF weather at the moment was Phoenix weather, about 10-15F hotter than normal.