I have a feeling this will be a long day. We were up at 3 am with a sick girl. Perhaps it's the chocolate covered bacon? or the chocolate covered orange? or maybe it's wolfing down dinner at 9pm? Whatever it was, not pleasant. Sorry! No pictures of puking child. Poor Rémi! He walked to Walgreen's at 3:30 am - thinking it was a block away... ends up it was more like 2 km away! Oh well, look on the bright side - he has 1/5 his steps done for the day! ha!
It's 3:40 and we are taking a little rest. Thought I'd get a head start on my entry.
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| Washroom at telegraph hill - unfortunately it was out of order. |
So far today we've walked 14 km or so. I have 25 000 steps done and we aren't even close to being done for the day! This morning, we walked up (my goodness they are trying to kill us with all these very steep hills! Who thought it would be a good idea to build a city here?) Lombard street to Telegraph Hill. On the way, we went up Lombard street and down Lumbard Street - the crookedest street in the world. You can't really see it in the picture but between each row of flowers, the street turns. We were hoping to see the parrots at Telegraph Hill but no luck. They were nowhere to be found. We did catch a glimpse of them flying though. Perhaps we will be luckier tomorrow.
We then walked to Pier 39 to visit the aquarium. On the way, we saw this random fire alarm... Why would you need that on the sidewalk? The aquarium was beautiful. A place filled with all sorts marine life. We managed to touch a stingray and a leopard shark I believe it was. The ray is very soft while the shark feels more like a lizard. In the other touch tank there was a variety of starfish and some anemones. After the aquarium, we walked around the pier. The seals were not on their docks. Must have been fishing time for them. We had lunch - we ate delicious crêpes with strawberries and chocolate. 
We walked back to the hotel to change as it has finally decided to be warm outside. Off to Crissy Field we went. This is a large park, beach, bike paths, sidewalks, walkway to the Golden Gate Bridge. We park and started walking. Problem is, the parking we chose was a long way from the bridge... not knowing there would be parking spots much closer... that's why our walk ended up being 10Km! The parking lot was over 2km from the bridge! Good thing it's a pretty location... Our adventure took 2 hours. Took lots of pictures, got a decent picture of the bridge - as decent as will get - seems like there is always fog here. Weird.
Alcatraz - What a great experience! It was so interesting! I should've known to bring tissues... but no... of course I didn't! Don't ask me what was sad, I couldn't tell you. Perhaps it's the voice of the actual prisoners and guards. Maybe it was their stories. Either way, there were sad parts, funny parts, interesting parts - I really enjoyed the tour and would recommend it to everyone - especially the night tour. Something that really doesn't have to do with Alcatraz but is cool - on the grounds, there are nesting sea birds of various kinds. We could see baby seagulls and could practically touch them. Very cool!
Other things worth mentioning:
- We saw brewer's blackbird, an egret, gulls, surf scoter, great blue heron, some other bird we have no clue what they were - will try to find out.
- the hills are brutal. If you are not going, you are going down. There is pretty much no flat parts except at the pier and Crissy Field
- Make sure you bring more than one pair of pants - even when going south -or else you look like you only have one thing to wear - my suitcase is filled with clothes. I just can't wear them because it's too cold!
- I ended the day with 38 125 steps - walked up many very steep hills, walked up hundreds of stairs - and appr. 25 km!!! No wonder my legs feel like they want to fall off!
- In the city, we saw someone trying to scare away the gulls with a little drone - then, on Alcatraz we see signs do not disturb the birds. Make up your minds!
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