The cold and rain didn't affect our day much, in fact, it probably added to the experience of being on The Rock. The pic of Michael above shows him standing at the wharf with The Rock in the background and the one of me is when we're actually on the island looking out at San Francisco. From both sides, it's a spectacular view (even in the rain). To get to the island, you get on a ferry for about 10 minutes. Alcatraz is huge, to say the least...we took a very interesting audio tour that walked us through the cells (the pics above are of Michael actually standing in the solitary confinement cells). You walk through a 1st door, then into the actual cell and it.'s complete darkness. The entire building is old, completely of concrete and metal and the cells are about the size of small walk in closet. I actually couldn't bring myself to stand in any of the cells (the way Michael did), I just found it very uneasy. The audio portion was done by several people who were actually in Alcatraz: a warden and 2-3 of his officers and 3 prisoners who all spoke about their experience. The inmates spoke of what it was like to never have visitors, never come out of their cell (some were only allowed to come out of their cell once a week!)There's actually more to The Rock than just the famous "escape" that most of us have heard of. It was once a military base. Also, it was - after its closure -overtaken by natives who were protesting against US government. And I didn't realize that most of the staff and their families actually lived on the island as well! The island is now considered a National Park and there are strict rules about itws conservation (don't bother the birds, vegetation, etc.)

The pics of us eating are to show what I think is the best clam chowder I have ever tried. Served right by Fishermans Wharf, in a sourdough bread bowl, it was the perfect thing on a cold rainy day.

We ended the day browsing a bookstore called Cityline. It's actually one of the 1st bookstores opened during the "beatnik" generation and it actually looks as though it hasn't changed one bit. It's old, small, there are actually signs everywhere saying, "feel free to sit down and read or browse through books"....you definitely don't see that at Chapters back home. We bought a book with different images of SF cafes and popular hotspots...we had to buy something!

Tonight, we're eating at Pazzia, an Italian resto someone recommended. Tomorrow, we hit the road towards wine country.

Tonia