San Francisco 12.08

Alcatraz

12.08 Minu jaoks jäigi Ameerikas hommikusöögi korraldus harjumatuks. Ilmselt suurtes hotellides oleks saanud päris nõud ja laua. Kuigi me ööbisime ka suuremates ketihotellides ja saime ikka papptaldrikud. Muudel reisidel ei ole ma üldjuhul hotellis ja alati on normaalne hommikusöök. Selle reisi puhul Elaine`s B&B ja Dumplin Patch pakkusid seda samuti. Igatahes, Town House Motelis jälle papptaldrik, pakendatud saiake, banaan, õun ja kohv. Kõik. Sama valik kolm hommikut järjest, mille seal olime.

Esimene päev San Franciscos. Alustasime suhteliselt varakult, sest meid ootas ees Early Bird väljasõit kurikuulsale Alcatrazi saarele. Early bird on siis päeva esimene väljasõit, mis tavaliselt on ka natuke odavam.

Kuna parkimine San Francisco teatud tsoonides on suhteliselt kallis (rääkides kallist. Vaatasin just ühte youtube videot, kus neiu rentis SFs 1700$ eest korterit. See on rohkem, kui ilmselt enamik eestlasi palka saab. Ainult üür. Ja selleks pidi ta korterit jagama. Elatustase😶 ) ja päeva sai veeta ilma autota, alustasime pooletunnise jalutuskäiguga sadamasse. Kodus ma ei saanud aru, miks google soovitab seda marsruuti, mida see pakkus, vaatasin et otse Lombardi tänavat mööda saab ka. Aga eelmisel päeval mäkke ronides sain sellest aru. Õhtusel jalutuskäigul sattusin paralleeltänavale ja üllatuslikult kulges see hoopis madalamalt.

Alcatraz

Sadamas, kailt 33, saime kohe asuda paadijärjekorda, voucherit eraldi piletite vastu vahetama ei pidanud. Väljasõit 8.30. Esimesena laevale ei saanud ning jälgisime ümbrust küljel asuvatest seisukohtadest. Alcatraz asub rannikult 2 km kaugusel, umbes 15-minutiline laevasõit. Isa oli pettunud, et saar rannikule nii lähedal on. Filmidest on jäänud mulje, et see on mittekuskil. 

Maabunud, saime lühiinstruktsiooni edasise liikumissuuna ning käitumisjuhiste kohta. Saarel võib viibida vabalt valitud aja. Meie alustasime kohe varakult, et masse ennetada kuigi laevatäis inimesi saabus koos meiega.
Alcatrazi saarel asuvad tuletorn, militaarkindlus, militaarvangla ning 1934-1963 tegutsenud põgenematuks peetud föderaalvangla.

Ametlikult ei põgenenud õnnestunult 29 tegutsemisaasta jooksul ühtegi kinnipeetut. Lisaks töötajatele mõeldud hooned. Tänapäeval on saar külastajatele avatud nagu suur muuseum. Sisenesime vanglasse saime vastavalt valitud keelele audiogiidi ning kulgesime seda jälgides läbi elu-, karistus-, söögi-, lugemise- ja sportimisruumide. Nägime kruvi, millega painutati 1946. aasta mässu ajal trelle laiali ning pilte kuulsatest kinnipeetutest.

Fisherman`s Warf

Umbes poole kaheteistkümne paiku asusime tagasiteele mandrile, kust viis lühike jalutuskäik kaile 39, mis asub Fisherman`s Warfi linnaosas. 39s on kai, kus asuvad kahel tasapinnal erinevad poed, söögikohad ja meelelahutus, lisaks karussell ning esinejad. Seal oli nii mõnus õhustik. Jalutasime lihtsalt ringi, uurisime pakutud kaupa, ostsin California magneti.

Söögipeatuse tegimegi Kaluri kail, seekord jaapani köök Hana Zen`is. 

Seejärel ootas meid Madam Thussaud`s vahakujude muuseum, minul teist korda, vanematel esimest. Vahasse valatud sportlased, poliitikud, näitlejad, lauljad, mõned täpsemad, mõned mitte nii väga.

Koos vahakujude muuseumi piletiga oli odavam osta San Francisco koobaste pilet. Meeleolukas tunniajane tutvumine San Francisco ajalooga. Alguses jäi mulje, et kogemus on õudne (lootsin, et sarnane Bacelona lõbustuspargis olnud Krugeri kogemusega) aga sellest hoolimata tegid näitlejad head tööd.

Päeva viimaseks elamuseks oli sõit San Francisco ajaloolise ning viimasena maailmas manuaalselt juhitud kaabeltrammiga, mida olime imetlenud juba linna jõudes. Põhiliselt turistidele suunatud trammisõit ei ole just odav, pilet 3km läbimiseks maksab 7 dollarit (ca 5.5eurot) aga kui juba seal...

Trammijärjekord oli pikk, jätsin vanemad sinna ning läksin ise pileteid ostma. Just enne, kui jõudsin klienditeenindajani tulid kolm inimest, kes väitsid, et ei ole enam aega oodata ja müüvad soovijatele oma piletid. Ei hakanud sellega riskima. Piletid käes, ootasime natuke üle tunni, et trammile saada. Vahepeal oli näha, et vagun polnud täiski, kui see minema sõitis. Kui lähemale jõudsime selgus, et kõik tahtsid traditsiooniliselt väljas seista ning kui keegi sisse ei istunud, jäigi vagun pooltühjaks.

Lõpuks jõudis kätte meie kord, mina seisin väljas, vanemad istusid sees. Sõit võis alata. Ootasin, et keegi mu piletit kontrolliks. Sõitisme muudkui ülesmäge, läbi hiinalinna, mäest alla, peatused möödusid, inimesed läksid maha, inimesed tulid peale, kuni jõudsime lõppu. Maha tulles saime aru, et kõigi kolme piletid (nagu ka terve vaguni omad) jäidki kontrollimata. Esimene mõte oli need järgmisel päeval ära kasutada aga siis jõudis kohale, et need kes piletijärjekorras oma pileteid pakkusid, said tõenäoliselt ka tasuta sõita ning müüsid need edasi järgmistele. Samas, kui järjekorras ootasime nägime mitut-mitut vagunit, kus koheselt pileteid kontrolliti.

Jalutasime Union väljakul, külastasime poode, vaatlesime inimesi.

Õhtusöök

Kui oli aeg tagasi sõita, nägime algpeatuses uuesti tohutut järjekorda, mis oleks tähendanud järjekordset tunniajast ootamist. Mõtlesime, et kõnnime 100 meetrit järgmisesse peatusesse. Kõige naljakam oligi see, et kui tramm pooltühjalt sinna jõudis, mahtusime vaevata peale. Tagasisõidul jäid samuti piletid kontrollimata. Saatsin vanemad Lombardi siksakilise tänava alguses trammilt maha motelli suunas ning sõitsin ise lõppu. Tegin siis sama, mida enne nägin. Kurb nägu pähe ja "meil ei olnud kahjuks aega oodata, kas keegi tahab pileteid?". Kahest sain kohe lahti, siis lähenes turvamees.

Kõndisin tagasi majutusse ning suundusime õhtusöögile, kus saime ise jälgida, kuidas meie söök valmis.

Golden Gate bridge and Alcatraz

12th August For me, I didn`t enjoy most of our American breakfast experiences. I guess we would have got real plates and actual tables in big hotels. But we stayed in bigger hotels and chain hotels, and nothing. Everywhere else I have been to, I get real dishes and bigger variety of food. Well, I was happy with Elaine`s B&B and Dumplin Patch. Anyway, Town House Motel, again paper plates, a packaged bun, a banana and an apple. A cup of coffee in a paper cup. Every morning we stayed there.

Alcatraz

The first day in San Francisco. We begun our day relatively early, because we had to catch the Early Bird ship to the notorious Alcatraz island.

Parking was expensive in most of the places we visited (a sidenote. I saw a video on youtube of a girl renting, co-renting an apartment in SF and she had to pay 1700$ for rent alone. That is more than most Estonians get paid for a month for salary. Cost of living😶 and she had to share her apartment) and we covered distances we were able to walk so we began with an half an hour walk to the harbour. At home I didn`t get why we would have to take the route google suggested, because Lombard St would have taken us there too. Walking uphill the previous day, I understood perfectly. Parallel streets were much lower as I discovered while walking the previous evening.

Arriving at Pier 33, we didn`t have to change our printed tickets to actual ones and we got to stay in the line. Our departure was at 8.30am. We weren`t the first in line(s) so we got the enjoy the views from the side of the boat standing up. Alcatraz is about 1.2 miles from the mainland, about 15-minutes drive. My father was really disappointed the island is so close to shore. Movies have given the impression that Alcatraz is located in the middle of nowhere.

We received a short instructions where to go and how to behave when we landed. You can actually stay on the island until the last departure if desired. I wanted to start as early as possible to prevent the masses but of course others had the same idea.

In Alcatraz there are a lighthouse, a military fort, a military prison and a escape-proof federal prison that was used from 1934 to 1963. Officially there were no successful escapes during the 29 years Alcatraz was a prison island. There are also buildings where the staff and their families used to live. The island is opened to public like a huge museum. We entered the main prison, got our audioguides and moved from room to room, saw living-, dining- and staff rooms, the library, sport grounds. We saw a lot of photos of the famous inmates and the screw that was used to bend the bars in 1946 that started the riot.

Lunch

We got back to the mainland at around half past eleven. Then we took the short walk to the Pier 39 located in Fisherman`s Warf. There are numerous shops, dining opportunities and  loads of entertainers in Pier 39. Very cool atmosphere. We just walked around and windowshopped.

We had lunch at Hana Zen in Pier 39.

 

Then Madam Thussaud`s. For me, the second time to visit Thussaud`s and the first time for my parents. Wax sportsmen, politicians, actors, singers, some very realistic, some not so much. 

 

San Francisco Dungeons is located in the same building as the wax museum and buying a combo ticket for both is cheaper than two separate ones. The Dungeons is a fun way to spend an hour getting to know San Francisco`s history. When I bought the tickets I got the impression it would be a bit scary and similar to the wonderful Kruger`s experience in Bacelona Tibidabo Amusement Park.  But the actors did a good work nonetheless.

 

The last experience of the day was driving the famous San Francisco cable car, the world`s last manually operarted cable car system. We had admired the cars the previous day. The ride is quite pricy. Taking the 2-mile ride costs 7$, but being there there was no way we would have missed it. 

 

 The line was loooong. I left my parents there and went to buy the tram tickets. Just as I was about to make the purchase three people came up to the ticket line and said they had run out of time and would have to sell their tickets. I didn`t want to take the chance. We had to wait more than an hour to be boarded. We saw not all the cars were filled. When we got closer we heard the staff asking if anyone wanted to sit inside as most of the people only wanted to take the outside places.

Finally it was our turn. I stood outside and my parents sat inside. I was waiting for someone to check my ticket. We drove uphill, through Chinatown, downhill, we passed the stops, people came on, people got off, until we reached the last stop. When we got off we were all surprised noone had checked our (and the entire car full of people`s) tickets. My first thought was to use the unused tickets the next day until it dawned that the three people in the ticket line must have got a free ride as well and they just sold theirs. Although we saw that the staff checked the tickets in the previous cable cars when we were waiting.


We took a walk in the Union square, visited some shops and people-watched.

When it was time to head back, we saw an enormous line, that would have meant another hour of waiting. Instead we walked the 100 metres to the second stop. The hilarious thing, when the cable car reached us, it was half empty and we got on without a problem, I was even able to stand outside. Our return tickets were also unchecked. I sent my parents back to our motel from the stop at the beginning of the zikzak part of Lombard street and drove to the final stop. So I mimiced what I had seen before, pulled a sad face and "We didn`t have time to wait in the line, does anyone want the tickets?". I got rid of two instantly, but I lost my nerve when the security guard approached.

I walked back to our motel, took my parents and we went to have dinner. This time we got to observe how our food was cooked.