Cable Car, Angel Island, Alcatraz and Dinner with Natalie, Ash & Sameera

Up nice and early this morning and we walked to Union Square and found where the Cable Cars depart from, met a really nice Beat Policeman there who told us heaps and gave us lots of advice and told us which Cable Car to catch for the best trip down to Fishermans Wharf. It was loads of fun, and even though the streets look really steep on TV in real life they are even steeper. Got down to Fishermans Wharf and then walked until we found Pier 33 and where our tour to Angel Island and Alcatraz departed from.

Boarded our boat at 9.30 and took loads of photos along the way of the city, Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge, Bella started playing with the girl behind us, she had loads of fun copying her and getting her to copy her actions. When we got off the boat they were inseperable so we all introduced ourselves to Sarah (Bella’s new best friend, who is about 17/18 not sure her exact age and she is studying at University to be an Elementary Grade Teacher) her sister Alison and her mum and dad Dean. They all hail from Austin Texas and were a really nice and friendly family. We spent the day together, at Angel Island the tram car was too full so we all had to wait for the next one an hour later, so we headed off to have a look at the visitors centre and then went hiking up a big hill, all the time Bella singing out run Sarah run. Afterwards we went to the café and had ice creams and sat chatting to each other.

Bella and Sarah were inseperable and then we got on the tram for our tour around the island, it was really interesting and the island has a rich history, we got some group photos taken by our guide overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge. Before we knew it was time to get back on the Ferry and head off to Alcatraz.

At Alcatraz we all went on the Audio tour which was very interesting and gave us a great insight to what life was like in there, again took loads of photos. Bella held hands with Sarah all the way along and continued with the Run Sarah Run all afternoon.

Caught the ferry back and walked back to the tram with the Guilfoils said our goodbyes, kisses and hugs all around. At the tram stop the line was really really long we wer e told a 45 minute wait and thought bugger this, there was a guy out the front saying that we could get a limo back to Union Square so we decided to do that instead, was so much fun and definitely worth the $5 each.

Got back to the hotel freshened up and rang Natalie to let her know we were back, I was really excited and looking forward to finally meeting my friend of so many years. Nat came and picked us up and took us for a drive down Lombard street, that was really cool fun, and then we went for a drive through the Presidio and that was really interesting to see. We stopped out the front of Robin Williams home and yes I took some photos :)

Lombard Street

Robin Williams house

Had a wonderful evening with Nat, Ash and the gorgeous Sameera, were were joined by Nat’s neighbour Gino from upstairs too. Have to say what a little sweetie Sameera is, Bella had a great time playing with her and they were so cute together. Nat cooked us a beautiful Lamb Roast and Vegies, was so nice to eat normal food and yummy veggies, and got to try some nice Californian Wine too, we had fresh berries for desert and that was awesome too.

We are meeting up with Nat tomorrow night and going out for tea, so am looking forward to spending another night together.

We caught a taxi back and had the best nights sleep I think we have had all trip so far.

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