Saturday we started our day at the Ferry Building Market, which is an indoor food market that also has a farmer's market outside. We walked around looking at stuff and got some lunch - including Argentine empanadas! We tried a parking service called Zirx where they meet you at a place, take your car and park it, then bring it to you wherever you are when you're ready for it. It was amazing. We found a discount code, so the entire day was free and we didn't have to worry about finding a place to park or getting back to that place at the end of the day. It was wonderful!
Jaime's friend Jed met us at the ferry building then hung out with us the rest of the day. Our biggest activity of the day was going to Alcatraz. It was such a cool place! The history there is fascinating. An audio tour is included in the ticket price, and it's all done by former prison guards and inmates. It was really interesting to hear the history told through their personal perspectives. I loved it and would totally recommend it. It's a bit pricey to go, but it was really worth it.
I had no idea there was a Native American occupation there in the 60s after the prison closed. I also had no idea that a lot of the guards and their families lived on the island in this happy little world next to such a sad world for the prisoners. So much history on this tiny island!
The showers in the entrance.
I was struck by the absolute beauty of the island. The grounds are beautiful, the birds are beautiful, and the view is beautiful. No wonder this place was a special kind of torture for those forced to live there. To see the free life they so wanted right there but just out of their grasp - that'd be terrible!
The exercise yard.
There was an artist who was exhibiting his artwork there, including these Lego portraits of famous people who'd been imprisoned for...something...their beliefs maybe? I'm not a great appreciator of art.
The Rock
When we got back, we headed to Chinatown for dinner. We found a restaurant recommended online and when we got there, there was a line outside, so that was encouraging. We asked some people in line what they'd recommend and a couple guys recommended just telling the server you were hungry and they'd bring you food. We're adventurous, so that's what we did. They brought us an appetizer along with a chicken dish, a beef dish, and a shrimp dish. It was all delicious. I have no idea what the dishes were called but we loved them all and it was fun to be surprised!
After dinner, we explored Chinatown. It's the biggest in the country, but I have to say that I enjoyed the Chinatown in New York City more than this one. The stores were lacking and I felt like there wasn't a whole lot going on.
That night we stayed with our friend Annie Shattuck, her husband Robbie, and their baby Aleida. We lived with Annie for a semester back when we'd both just returned from our missions. She's great and it was fun to catch up with them. They live in a pretty nice neighborhood in North Beach, but that night Annie warned us that there had been some car break-ins, so we cleaned out the car and made sure there was nothing in there to steal. Didn't work, though, because we came out the next morning to go to church and the driver's side window was busted! Dumb criminals - they took nothing because there was nothing in there to take! You'd think they'd take a second to scope it out before taking the risk of smashing a window. We didn't lose anything, but it was very inconvenient and Jaime did have to pay for a new window! Super lame.
Robbie was great and helped us clean out all the glass. It was the only car on the street that had been broken into.
After church, we hit up a hardware store and fashioned a pretty impressive makeshift window out of transparent vinyl. It held up nicely for the rest of our trip, with the added benefit of looking super classy.
That afternoon we headed north to see the Redwoods. We passed through some gorgeous vineyard country. It was such a pretty drive!
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