Alcatraz tour & Tram ride

Alcatraz
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Up at 9.00am both still knackered and aching like hell. First job was to return the hire bikes (good ridance!). Then we came back and had 2 lots of breakfast to re fuel from yesturday. Then walked down to Fishermans Wharf and saw another baby seal near the coast. We walked up to the piers and sat in the sun and wrote our postcards home and then went to see the seals sunbathing by pier 39 where we ate our lunch. We caught the 3.15 Blue & Gold Ferry to Alcatraz. Alcatraz was very interesting and quite surreal and we spent about 1.5 hours on the island walking around the old cell house listening to an audio tour. The cells were so small and dingey, especially 'The Holes' (solitary confinement) and we even got to go in them though a couple of minutes is long enough! We learnt about various famous prisoners and the escape attempts including the one which was possibly successful as there has been no trace of the escapees since. When we got back we eventually got on a tram at Victorian Park on the Powell Hyde St cable car line (boy their slow at getting you on these things!) It was great riding the tram as we were both 'hang on passengers', quite literally holding onto bars whilst travelling up and down the very steep streets of San Francisco. We got off at California Street and walked passed the Transamerica Pyramid Building up to Coit Tower which is at the top of Telegraph Hill (another steep climb). The views up here were great, especially with the sun beginning to set. Back at the hostel it was dinner and washing/drying our clothes before going to bed. Another blue sky and sunny day but the usual strong cold wind.