Trolley cars have been imported from countries all over the world!

 

 

 

 

Today was broken up into two seperate tours, this morning I went to Alcatraz Island prison there is so much to tell about this great 3 hour tour that would take up too much time but please google it and read all about the change from Army fort, to Army prison, to Federal prison to State park From the moment I stepped onto the ferry to the island and the return the tour was first class and I was impressed with how close the island is to such lovely scenery, wealth and beautiful vista's yet it was a hell on earth for the inmates. A couple of interesting points was that in the gift shop on the way out was a man selling his own book, he was an inmate here for 4 years. The flowers on the island and views and the #152 cell, that was my Police Number in Bermuda. This was a very impressive tour and I learned a lot of history and of course having the sun shining all the time was a bonus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THIS STORY IS FOR HEATHER, BARBARA AND MARY

What a great country, what a great city this is..I am approaching the toll booth on the Golden Gate bridge and in the lane to my left is a fine looking blonde lady waving at me to put my window down. So I do and she is gorgeous and she asks me where I am from and I tell her Vancouver Island(The big Canadian flag on the back of Ramano is a big give away). She tells me she is from Victoria and asks me to pull over at the next pull out, so I do. We get out of our vehicles and introduce ourselves, did I mention she was gorgeous, and we chat, the talk comes so easily and she invites me to go for lunch. So I leave Ramona in the rest area and she takes me to this lovely Italian restaurant over looking the bay. We get along so well and she is witty, charming and lovely. After lunch we stroll over the bridge and back to our vehicles where she invites me to come to her apartment......

For the rest of my readers the true story..
What a great country, what a great city this is..I am approaching the toll booth on the Golden Gate bridge and in the lane to my left is a fine looking blonde lady waving at me to put my window down. So I do and she is gorgeous and she asks me where I am from and I tell her Vancouver Island(The big Canadian flag on the back of Ramano is a big give away). She tells me she is from Victoria and I tell her I am from Nanaimo and she tells me her mother lives in Berwick retirement home, which is just across the street from where I had my condo. She wishes me a great day and then she is gone...small world filled with friendly people..

Woke up to a sunny morning and got on the road by 8.30am and headed into San Francisco and the RV park I had picked to stay for two nights. This necessitated me driving over the Golden Gate bridge through the town and out to the south end. It was a challenge for my first time driving Ramona in the big city and it's traffic and hazards but it went well and each day I get more confident and comforable. The bridge was an incredible sight the technology to build and sustain it is amazing. I arrived at the camp ground thanks to Sam telling me to turn left, turn right, she was great and delivered me right to the door of the RV park. On a personal note, I received an e mail from my lovely niece, Samantha, this morning telling me how happy she was that I had named the GPS unit after her.

The park is very modern with great facilities and on the ocean in a very secure and quiet area. I quickly got settled and figured the lay out of the area and by 11.30am was on my way to exploring. It is somewhat of a challenge in a strange big city to get around, but without blowing my own trumpet, I think I did pretty well today. I took a bus outside the RV park to the local Bart station then took the train to down town, all very easy.

One of the great perks about having grey hair at my tender age of 47(Kidding) is I am a senior in looks so every where I go I ask for the senior rate and I bet I save hundreds of dollars a year, the bus saved 75 cents, Bart saved 2.50 it all adds up!

This was only a short afternoon so I just did a few things tomorrow I plan to spend all day here with a bus tour in the afternoon. So more about the city then. This is such a cosmopolitan city I have seen everything this afternoon, every colour, creed, race and incredible human sights, I think the best was a man on the subway, he was a punk rocker with more piercings than I have toes and fingers, a big pink Mohawk hair cut and I swear he was at least 75 years old, too much! I love to people watch and although I am not a big fan of big cities being here and soaking it all up is very interesting and makes me realize what a big and diversified planet we live on.

Arrived back at the park about 5pm in time to wash Ramona and catch the lovely sunset. I have just had another Granary supper and after this a nice movie and a cuppa....

 

 

 

 

More China town, the financial district..

 

 

 

 

One of the world's largest China town is located in S.F. a really neat place and very coulourful.

 

 

 

 

Views taken from the cable car.

 

 

 

 

Right outside the gate of the rv park is the local bus that I took to the BART station, where I took the train into downtown S.F. Of course being the cheesy tourist, I took the cable car down to Fisherman's Wharf. What a ride I still haven't figured out what powers those cars because there is a man inside the car constantly pulling on two large hand brake levers. It was a great ride up and down the steep hills.

 

 

 

 

One of the things that I really enjoy is to read and plan about the places I am about to explore and I use books, internet and other people's suggestions. I studied quite a while before I decided on this park for two night's stay. It is expensive, 40 dollars per night, but the other parks were not much less and I think this is the nicest, it is without question in the best location for me and what I want to do. Ramona even has an ocean view, I could have paid 10 dollars more per night to be right down by the ocean but figured it wasn't worth it as I shall be away most of the time. I did get back in time to get the sunset from the rv park.