San Francisco Travel Diaries: Golden Gate Park and Alcatraz

It’s our second and final day in San Francisco. Tiime to tick Golden Gate Park, Haight Ashbury and Alcatraz off the sightseeing list. Welcome to the second part of our San Francisco Travel Diaries.

Missed Day 1 of our San Francisco Travel Diaries? Fear not, you can find it here!

A good night’s sleep does little to soothe our aching feet. However, there is still so much of the city to see, so we’re up and out early after a quick breakfast. It’s another hot day so we leave some of our layers behind after being fooled yesterday. We check that we have enough dollar bills for today’s bus journeys, and head towards the No 22 bus stop at Lombard & Fillmore.

We board the bus, travelling with the locals and hoping that we don’t look too much like tourists. Grove Street is our destination. It’s just a short walk to Alamo Square, and that famous picture postcard view of the Painted Ladies.

As the temperature soars, we walk to Haight St. It’s not a close as I thought. I keep telling Mr Fletche “it’s just round the corner. Only another six blocks to go. Maybe eight?”

We finally reach Haight St. Which is definitely further from Alamo Square than it looked on the map. It’s a fascinating area, full of history, vintage shops and colourful murals which immediately evoke images of a different era. On this whirlwind sightseeing tour of San Francisco we don’t get to spend as much time as we’d like exploring this area.

We head down Haight and Golden Gate Park is ahead of us. Mr Fletche has the hilarious idea of taking a photo of me with two of SFPD’s finest so I can send the picture to Ma and Pa Lee and pretend I’d been arrested. We enter the park, and accidentally find ourselves at the end of a very long queue. Not clutching tickets to attend the Now and Zen festival we bypass the cooler-carrying crowds and head deeper into the park. We walk, and walk, and walk only to find that we’ve walked in a loop and barely covered any of the park.

By the time the Conservatory of Flowers is in sight, I’ve had enough. Not of the park but of walking. The Golden Gate Shuttle has shut down for the winter. Which seems a bit premature on this scorching hot September day.

After all this sunshine, and all this walking, Mr Fletche is feeling a little bit out of sorts. We exit the park, head towards Fulton and catch the bus to La Playa for lunch at Beach Chalet. Beach Chalet had been recommended and maybe I should have anticipated that on a Sunday lunchtime it was going to be busy. With most of the people in front of us in groups of four or more, we’re told to expect a 30 minute wait for a table for two. With no other particular place to go, we hang around, admiring the ocean views.

30 minutes later, and we’re seated in a prime central window seat overlooking the beach and the ocean. This was DEFINITELY worth the wait. And then, the hostess approaches, looking a little sheepish.

“I’m afraid I’ve seated you in a reserved seat… would you possibly mind moving?”

We’re reasonable people, we’ve had this magnificent view for, ooh at least two minutes, so we’re happy to move. We’re seated at a corner window seat with an equally magnificent view. The hostess is apologising profusely for the inconvenience, and thanking us for our co-operation.

Luckily, the food matches the view, and is definitely worth both the wait and the “great inconvenience” of having to move tables. I have Carolina Style BBQ Pork Sandwich; Mr Fletche has the Clam Chowder, with a side order of fries to share. When we receive the bill, the server has comped our drinks “as an apology”. An apology for what? For providing fantastic food, and for moving us from a window seat to an equally good window seat?

We catch the No 5 Bus back to Park Presidio and then use our transfer to catch the No 28 back to Webster & Lombard. Single tickets can be used for 120 minutes of travel, regardless of how many transfers you make.

We relax at the hotel for a couple of hours before we’re due at Pier 33 for Alcatraz. The hotel clerk at reception kindly calls us a cab at 5:30pm. The driver is slightly insane but we figure you probably need to be to negotiate the San Francisco streets all day every day. We collect our tickets and then we have a bit of a wait before we board our 6:45 boat.

Alcatraz is a highlight of our whole trip. It’s such an iconic place, and booking an evening ticket makes the whole experience so atmospheric. There’s a lot of walking involved, so maybe leaving it til our last evening when we had walked the length and breadth of San Francisco wasn’t such a great idea. But aside from the history and the fantastic audio commentary, there are also stunning views of the San Francisco skyline, and of the sunset if you’re lucky to visit at the right time.

We purchase the first souvenirs of our trip from the gift shop – a couple of “Alcatraz Regulations” mugs to remind us of our trip whenever we have a cuppa back home. We return on the final ferry, along with all the Alcatraz staff. The temperature has turned considerably cooler, and I’m glad I’ve brought plenty of layers with me.

We stop at one of those tacky gift shops that I loved so much at Fisherman’s Wharf to purchase gifts for the family back home. San Francisco fridge magnets. San Francisco key rings. And San Francisco snow globes. Despite our big lunch, we’re hungry. Wanting fast food as fast as possible, we pop in to In n Out Burger. Despite extensive pre-trip research, I can’t remember anything from the Secret Menu so it’s just plain ol’ cheeseburger and fries.

And the funniest sight of the whole trip? Mr Fletche being spooked by The Bush Man waving his branches. Mr Fletche screamed like a girl, and I could hardly walk for laughing.

We head back to our hotel for the final time. After walking for almost two days solid, we hope to flag down a passing taxi, but by the time we see a solitary cab with its “available” light, we’re practically home anyway. We hit the sack at 11:30pm; we’re all packed and almost ready to leave this wonderful big city behind.