End of Day 1

We ended up having to wait about 20-30 minutes for our trolley to get down to the coast, so we had to hurry past Fisherman's Wharf, in order to catch our ferry out to Alcatraz.

Alcatraz behind us from the ferry

We were both looking forward to the tour, but had no idea how much there was to Alcatraz.  More than just the prison, there was so much to see - gardens, etc.  You could take these trails all the way down to the water & see all the currents swarming around.  David was just a *little* intrigued (ahem...obsessed) with this part & we spent quite some times watching the currents in the bay!

San Francisco in the back of the photo

 After exploring the island for a little while, we headed into the actual prison where we picked up our fancy walk-mans to hear the audio tour.

 It was super neat, they had old guards & prisoners giving you the tour as it gave directions for you to take different turns, and described specific things that happened in different cells.

David in the "black hole" isolation cell

 We really like getting to see it, and I think if you ask David it was his favorite thing we did.  If only we could've gotten tickets to the night tour!

We set off again to find a place in Little Italy we had picked out to eat for dinner.  Because of our hurry to get to our Alcatraz time, and a big breakfast, we had skipped lunch, so by this time I was exhausted and STARVING (come on, I was 9 weeks pregnant!).  We finally found the little whole in the wall place we had heard about, only to realize it was 4:30 and they didn't open til 5!

We set off to find some sun to sit it (it was chilly) while we waited & ended up across the street from a new place that was willing to let us come in.  We had looked it up on Urban Spoon & everyone seemed to love it!

It was such a fun experience.  Since it was so early, we were the only people there, except the staff - who were all Italian.  When this bread landed on our table I was in heaven.  I thought I might eat the whole loaf (and may have gotten close!).

 The food was much more "authentic" than what we were used to, but we still enjoyed it!

After a super yummy dinner, we decided to head back to the hotel to rest for an hour or so before we going for more cheesecake (ha!).  We had walked MANY, MANY miles by this point and I was super tired.  Well, once getting a warm bath, and a chance to sit down, it became obvious that a night of movies and relaxing sounded much better than getting out for cheesecake again!  I loved just getting to sit around & enjoy hanging out without feeling the pressure to get out and see.  Perfect vacation!

Next up - Golden Gate Park, Golden Gate Bridge & Ghiradelli Square!