California Vacation, Day 3: SFMOMA and Alcatraz

Day 3 in the city of San Francisco was in my opinion the nicest day in the city. I had forgotten to pack a swimsuit and Nancy wanted to use the hotel hot tub, so we took a walk to Macy's, about 10 minutes from the hotel. From there we found the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. We spent about two hours walking through the museum. There was one very cool exhibit where the artist painted shadows on the walls, ceiling and floor, as if you were looking at the shadows of a view from a window. It was subtle and very beautiful, made on site at the museum. We did not get a picture of the museum but we did see this odd display on the top of a building next to the museum.

Around 1:00 we stopped at the restaurant called Ducca's that was part of the Westin Hotel. They had a nice outdoor seating area and the weather was warm so we sat outside. Lunch was spectacular. We had the arincini appetizer and they were perfectly cooked balls of risotto with a warm cheese center and a light dusting of crunchy sea salt. There was a single leaf of fried sage, and the waitress was telling us we really needed to try it. As she picked up the plate to pass it to us, it flew away in the breeze. Our main courses were brought and I had chosen the mushroom risotto with shaved truffles and Nance had chosen the papardell with lamb. Both were fantastic. Since we would be going to Alcatraz at dinner time we wouldn't have time to eat a full supper, so the big lunch was great. Just when we were about to dig in to the the main course the waitress came out with a small plate of 5 or 6 of the fried sage leaves from the appetizer plate. Talk about great service. By the way, the sage was very delicate and tasted good. It had the slightly salty taste that was also on the arincini. I know we had desert, but by then I was in food heaven so I can't remember what we had. We walked back to the hotel and saw this really unusual building cube sitting on it's corner.
































We sat by the pool and took a dip in the hot tub. As usual, the hotel tub was way too hot, but it was relaxing and a good way to spend some time while waiting for our trip to the jail. We were taking the evening tour of the jail, so we weren't scheduled to leave on the boat until 6:00. Here is a view of the city from the boat on our way to Alcatraz.





This seagull followed the boat all the way to the island, hovering in the same spot for the entire ride.















Different views of the island buildings follow. The state of California now owns the island and it is designated a state park. The tour has a nice combination of ranger guided tour and an audio tour. The audio tour is told by former guards and prisoners and is very compelling. Although I didn't love the tour, I thought the audio portion was good.

If I had this kind of company in jail I wouldn't want to leave!


















They finally caught up with me!



















The view of the city at night from the island is great. Many of the inmates remarked on how bad it was to be able to see the beautiful city from their windows and not be able to go there.



Tomorrow: The Pacific Coast Highway and Moonstone Beach.