Day 4: Alcatraz, Chinatown and Co.

My day started today with being woken up at 4am by a loudly cursing woman who seemed to be shouting at someone in the hallway outside my hotel room. Aggressive blows/kicks against a door followed exclamations like 'Go to hell' and 'I hope you die'. Whoever this aggression was directed towards, I'm glad it wasn't me.

Despite being very tired, I couldn't fall back asleep after that. My plan for today was actually to sleep in a bit and start my booked Alcatraz tour at 12pm. But since I was already awake, I took the slightly shaky elevator, whose safety certificate has expired for almost two years, to breakfast at 7am. And trust me: if you're tired and have a long day ahead of you, exactly 6 mini croissants and 2 cups of cheap capsule coffee will bring you back to life. Nothing more, nothing less.

With the greatest possible energy from only 4 hours of sleep, I ventured back into the urban jungle of San Francisco. After a short walk, I reached the central Union Square. From there, I took the bus past the city hall to the Painted Ladies. These are 6 houses painted in different colors that reflect the typical architecture of San Francisco.

Next, I took the bus directly back in the other direction to Chinatown. Approximately 40% of San Francisco's residents are of Asian origin, and the city's Chinatown is the largest of its kind in the world. Although I had planned to give my legs a rest today and not walk another half marathon, the walk escalated slightly and I ended up walking all the way to the pier where my Alcatraz tour was supposed to start. My shoes and my joints definitely need to be replaced after this vacation.

Afterwards, I took a short break at the pier before sailing to the legendary prison island Alcatraz.

Upon arriving on the island, I explored the many large and small buildings that truly transport you back to the year 1963 when the prison was closed. In the surprisingly small main cellblock on top of the island, there is a 30-minute audio tour about the history of the prison, famous inmates (such as Al Capone), and daily life in the prison. It was all very interesting. Did you know, for example, that in 1962, three prisoners managed to escape from their cells and their fate remains unknown to this day? Or that the island was occupied by Native Americans from 1969 to 1971? Or that there was once a riot in the dining hall because spaghetti was served too often? Well, now you know. But what question you should immediately be able to answer by now is: what was Alcatraz before it was converted into a prison?

A short moment to think.

...

That's right, it was a military base.

After the audio tour, I was treated to an incredible 360-degree view of San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge, and other parts of the bay in beautiful weather. The pictures don't even come close to doing justice to the beauty.

The rocks surrounding the island now serve as a nature reserve and breeding ground for thousands of birds. Be glad that pictures can't capture sound, because it was loud. Very loud.

Now it was time to take the ferry back to the pier. From there, I walked past the Hard Rock Cafe and Pier 39 to In-N-Out Burger (Don't worry, I will definitely eat something else as well).

My final stop of the day cannot be missed on any trip to San Francisco: a ride on the world-famous Cable Car. At the turnaround point, the Cable Cars are manually turned around before you can board. I was lucky and got one of the seats where you can lean casually against a pole and feel the wind in your face. Afterwards, the cable-drawn vehicle took me almost directly to my hotel.

I arrived back at the hotel at 5pm. I actually managed to do everything I wanted to do in San Francisco. I will provide a detailed summary of each stop on this trip in a separate post, but I can already say that San Francisco has completely won me over. Combined with my relatively high exhaustion and little sleep, it's a good opportunity to spend the rest of the evening in the hotel before moving on to somewhere else tomorrow.

At this point, I would like to thank you all for the kind messages over the past few days. Even this website, Vakantio, messaged me on Instagram. The report from Hamburg has now been read almost 120 times. All of this motivates me greatly to continue investing 1-2 hours into these reports every day. See you tomorrow.

Leart