Sin All Round

Our last day in San Fran was pretty cool, spent travelling out to Alcatraz and wandering round the island. It was a spectacular day on the water, brilliant sunshine and really calm. We took the audio tour around the prison and heard tales of attempted escapes and life as a prisoner there. Walking down the walkways between cells it was very reminiscent of scenes from 'The Green Mile'. One of the big deterrants for people to attempt escape from Alcatraz was the cold water and deadly currents. Where the currents meet and sweep you out to sea is pretty easy to spot.
Most of the buildings are closed now, and the main call house is really the only one open which is a shame, but still well worth the visit! These was even a former inmate - Bill Baker on the island doing book signing in the gift store.
After one last wander around the city we settled on an early night to get ourselves ready for Vegas. Just a short one hour flight that next morning and we were there (albeit a little late after being caught in a traffic jam on the runway getting out of San Fran.)
Well, our accommodation in Vegas is huge! Around 70 square meters at a guess. The kitchen is a little smaller than ours at home, a full lounge, bedroom with superking bed, dining room, laundry and two bathrooms!
It is a little off the strip, but a free shuttle is provided....however on our first day in true Kiwi style we decided to walk to see how far, because the shuttle finished at 10pm each night so we needed to know our way back.
About 15 minutes walk, and in 16°c it wasn't too bad. It was bloody cold the first day and we were rugged up in scarves and jackets! All of the locals have said it is very unusual to be this cold....and we swear we saw snow on the top of the mountains that surround the basin (5°c overnight).
We settled on a bit of a wander for the first afternoon heading in the general direction of the RIO where Rock of Ages has moved to. Well you would think after the length of time we spent in Vegas last time we would have learnt the trick of distances, but apparently we had forgotten and decided to walk, as it was only just behind Ceasars Palace.....Not!
Well a 20-30 minute walk later, after having to cross the freeway we were there.
Rock of Ages was absolutely fantastic just as it was last time. A lot of new cast but same lead female and lead guitarist.
We tried to get a tour after but the ushers wouldn't have a bar of it.
After the show Logan spotted the lead guitarist at the bar across from us while I was waiting in the merchandise cue and went up to say Hi. Well it ended in us having a pretty lengthy conversation with him and he gave us his card to send him photos of our production as he is quite facsinated by how the amateur productions work.
Turns out he was the lead guitarist for the show on Broadway and got asked to transfer to Vegas when it ended in NYC.
By the time we left the whole cast was there having a drink so we congratulated them on our way out.
We spent Thursday cruising around the strip and exploring all of the casino's that we didn't get a chance to explore properly last time. We finally managed to see the Volcano show at The Mirage, where it rained in the middle of the show, and the Atlantis Show at Ceasars Palace. Absolutely amazing considering they are all free, the money that must go through is mind blowing!
After musing that we never saw a single Elvis on the street last time, we saw about 6 in the space of two hours! We even saw 'Big Elvis' performing in one of the bars. We reckon he would have been around 200kg. He had a special oversized throne to sit in while he was singing.
We also had the pleasure of seeing a dude dressed as a very disheveled Marilyn Monroe and an overweight black man dressed in a bikini showgirl outfit. Logan has a special shirt made in San Fran which we had a bit of fun with.....check out our photos on Flikr!
We were always intending to have dinner one night at Gordon Ramsay BURGR, so seeing as we had no plans we headed there for dinner. We timed it quite well as we only had to cue for around 20 minutes to get in. By the time we got out the cue snaked out into the casino. My burger and truffle fries were the best I have had in the States, but Logan's fish dog was pretty average.
Needless to say by the end of Thursday we both had aching legs from the miles of walking we had done.
Friday was a little more of the same, Logan had another go at Blackjack....I got asked for ID again (about the 5th time so far), had a visit to Dicks Last Tesort for old time sake and then we settled on going to see Raiding the Rock Vault at the Tropicana. It was a fantastic journey of rock from the 60s to the 80s done concert style with an all star cast!! It included the likes of Stephanie Calvert, Andrew Freeman, Doug Aldrich and Hugh McDonald. We were lucky enough to meet them all after the show and have them sign our programme!
We are just having out last drink in Vegas and waiting for our shuttle to the airport....next stop, New Orleans!

San Francisco

So far San Francisco is pretty nice. It is a really pretty city with a lot of likeness to Wellington and Melbourne. At only 800,000 people it is not to much of a metropolitan city.

We have been fairly jetlagged the last few days, but getting into the time-zone okay now.
We got in just under an hour early which was nice, and despite a small wait at immigration, skipped customs, so all in all was a pretty quick move through the airport. Logan was pretty disappointed that there was no Duty Free in arrivals, but everything is so cheap here that its not much of a loss.

We jumped on the BART (high speed train) into the city which only took around half an hour, and then a small walk to the hotel we were staying in for the first night. Thankfully we were only part way up the hilly parts - and only fairly gradual slopes - I have to say I thought Wellington was hilly, but its got nothing on this place!

We dumped our bags and in an effort to stay up and get into the time zone went straight back out and jumped on one of the Cable Cars from Union Square. Perfect location as it is only 2 blocks away from us. Being Spring Break (Easter Weekend) it was crazy busy, so we actually got to ride the Cable Car hanging off the side!

We took this all the way over Nob Hill and down to Fishermans Wharf, passing Lombard Streets crooked section on the way.
After a wander around Fishermans Wharf and taking in the breathtaking views across the harbor to Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge we jumped onto the Hop-On-Hop-Off bus. We had great intentions of doing a full circuit on the last round of the evening, but we hadn't taken our jackets with us, and on the top of the bus the wind chill went right to the bone, and we only made it back to Union Square where we quickly disembarked to head to a pub to find some food and drinks. We retired Saturday night at about 8pm local time, and woke feeling a bit more human 13 hours later.

Sunday we needed to check out of our temporary accommodation and get our bags down to the Wyndham so we could head out and enjoy the day. On arrival (about 5 hours before check-in) we were greeted by the pleasant surprise that our room was ready and we could head on up. We were already fairly impressed by the foyer, but the room is absolutely fantastic!!

After spending a little time checking out the room and enjoying the hotel we headed back to Union Square and jumped back on the bus. This time we were armed with our puffer jackets and scarves!
On the way down the street we got followed by what you could only describe as a 'crack whore'. She was a skinny mid-50's woman with a chain smoking gravel voice scavenging for cigarettes on the street. On finding a half smoked cigarette she was pretty stoked and made it clear to everyone that it had made her day by lighting up and walking between the buildings and kerb yelling 'yeah, fuck yeah!'
We didn't think the homeless scene in San Fran was too bad compared with a lot of other cities we have been in, but on the bus ride through town we passed 'Glide Memorial Church' which was used in the filming of 'The Pursuit of Happiness' and we saw huge numbers of homeless lining up outside the church for food, and lining the streets with their trolleys and wheelchairs.
The bus was great, we saw all sorts of locations used in films including Mels Drive-In (used in 'American Grafitti') the apartment 'Mrs Doubtfire' was filmed in, the Tanner hourse from 'Full House', the stadium used in Dirty Harry, and the homes of a lot of actors and sports stars.

One of the little bits of useless information we have picked up, is that San Francisco has the highest number of restaurants per capita than any other city in the US. You could eat out for breakfast, lunch and dinner for 3 years and never go to the same place twice!

We jumped off the bus on Haight-Ashbury to have a look around. There were some amazing shops in there! We went into a steampunk shop (which is the only one we were allowed to take photos in) and an amazing costume/second hand shop. They sold all vintage articles from the 20's through to the 80's. We could have spent hours browsing some of them.

Everywhere in that area you can smell pot coming out of the door of the apartments and even blatantly on the side of the street - of course Marajuana is legal fro Medical use in California and apparently there are a lot of sick people ;)

After Haight-Ashbury we headed over the Golden Gate Bridge to get some photos and some beautiful views back over the city. This is the longest suspension bridge in the world (the two supporting pillars are furthest apart) and the suspension cables on the bridge would be enough to wrap around the world 3 times. We also found out about the fog that blows in over summer caused by the cold Alaskan breeze blowing in and hitting the warmth from the harbor.....no wonder that wind is so freaking cold!!!

We finished up back at Fishermans Wharf at the end of the bus route and decided we should have dinner down there.....seafood heaven! So we jumped into the Franciscan Crab Restaurant for dinner........need I say more. Beautiful views our over Alcatraz to enjoy while you are eating your meal, and Logan got adorned with a stylish plastic crab eating bib!

We wandered the shops and then made our way back to where the cable cars stop to figure out a way back into town. The cue was around 30 minutes so we did a dodgy side deal with a Limo drive to be dropped off for the same price as the cable car. Well, I can see why he parked the car around the corner until after the deals are done LOL. I'm sure it was an original 80's Limo complete with semi detached bumper, bogged seams, and cracking leather upholstery. Oh and did I mention the driver also has his Chihuahua with him. That Limo ride put a whole new meaning into the phrase 'drive it like you stole it' and I'm sure he would need to invest in a new clutch every 12 months!

Anyway, we rocked up to the Wyndham in our banged up old Limo to a few funny looks, but it did the trick. We then decided to head out for a night cap at the bar down the road....which turned into a few pubs and a few cocktails later it was pretty late, so we made our way back to the hotel to catch some zzzzz's before our wine tasting tour.

This morning we went on our  wine tour of the Sonoma and Napa Valley. All I can say is I don't recommend wine tasting with a hangover! Hair of the Dog at 10am in the freezing cold wind was not what was intended. However the countryside is really nice up north and we got to taste a lot of Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs, which is what they grow in these regions.

We visited Nicholson Ranch and Madonna Estate in the Sonoma Valley and Sutter Home Winery in Napa Valley. Some of the Chardonnays were okay, but we are not really fans....certainly nothing like NZ wines! We stopped off at Yountville Township for lunch which was lovely. It is where all of the rich and famous spend there time apparently, lovely restaurants, quaint bakeries, and a really nice atmosphere.

We are off now to find another of the many restaurants in San Fran to have dinner, and get an early night before heading out to Alcatraz tomorrow.