After another lazy start, we ventured down to the local drug store to get some breakfast, which consisted of chocolate muffins and a bottle of OJ. We booked to go on a tour of the city, which started late morning. The tour guide had lived in San Fran all his life so he knew some good facts about the city. He started by taking us round the homeless and dodgy area of the city, where u can purchase cannabis very easily from some shops. We then headed towards an area called Mission, which is where all the Mexicano's live, then on to Castro, which is famous for its gays. We then took the climb up to Twin Peaks where you get an awesome view across the entire city. We were very lucky with the weather once again with blue skys, apparently for most of the summer San Fran is usually covered in thick fog. We then went to the hippie area called Haight Ashbury, where most of the walls are covered in very colourful paintings. We then drove through Golden Gate Park, which is similar to Central Park in New York in the way that its all man made, including the lakes in the park. Next we headed to the Military area in Presidio, which has mostly old military buildings that people rent. There is also a big cemetery in the area where soldiers who fought in WW1, WW2 and the Iraq war are buried. We then drove across the famous Golden Gate Bridge which was amazing. They paint the bridge all year round, the colour is called International Orange. Following this we headed up to Muir Woods, which is famous for really tall red wood trees. It was a cool place but not as good as Yosemite Park. Whilst on the trip we got chatting to a girl from Bristol. San Fran was her last stop before flying back to England. She'd been to New York, L.A & San Diego. It was her 1st day in San Fran so after the trip we ventured back down to Fishermans Wharf with her to show how cool it is down there. After a bit of chilling back at the hostel, me and Timmy went out for food and drinks.

We'd booked up to go to the Island of Alcatraz on Wednesday, which is most famous for its jail where USA's most dangerous criminals went until 1963. So another walk to Fishermans Wharf was in store. We ventured through China Town, where we came across loads of cheap t-shirts for sale. After about a 20min walk in sweltering heat, we arrived at Pier 33 for our departure to Alcatraz. We arrived on the island after a 15 minute boat trip and were welcomed by a midget on a stool. She had the most annoying American voice ever! She directed us up to the jail from the dock to collect our voice commentary headsets, which guided us round inside the jail. There was commentary from a few ex in-mates of Alcatraz, and a narrator talking you through what happened throughout the jail’s history. It took about 2 hours to go around the site. Following this, like most places, it guides you into a shop at the end of a tour. The shop had loads of replica items that the in-mates would use on a daily basis like, food bowls, clothing, books etc. There was an old guy in the shop that was an in-mate on Alcatraz. He was signing copies of his autobiography. Tim was stood there reading it for about 20 minutes in front of the guy but didn't buy it, the tight git! Following the amazing trip to Alcatraz we had lunch on Pier 39 on Fisherman's Wharf at Wipeout, a restaurant/bar. In the evening we headed back to the Irish pub for a few drinks again on our last night in San Fran.

Our flight to Tampa wasn’t leaving until 10.30pm on Thursday so we had a whole day to waste. I had some stuff to send home so we went to the Post Office, which was located at the very bottom of Macy’s, right in the corner. Such a stupid place for a Post Office. After that we had a look around the shops, then went to find a café to use the internet, as the hostel wifi had been down for the last two days. In the afternoon, we went to the cinema and watched Disaster Movie. It was awful. Worst film ever! Got some food afterwards then headed to the airport.

Mark