Goodbye San Francisco

I would say that San Francisco did not like us very much. Or the rumors about the weather here were true. Today we woke up into a gloomy day again. Fortunately there was only the "last" attraction left on the list, the Coit Tower. Symbol and also remembrance of the huge eartquake in 1906 in which many firefighters died. There is a very beautiful view over the city from the top of Telegraph Hill.

The stairs were closed and the only way how to get up to the top was the elevator. I did NOT complain at all and neither did Adela.

The view was great but the colors!!!

The last view of Alcatraz and off we go!!! We got to SF on I-5 and to go back we chose 101. One of the reasons was the town called Hillsborough where our friend Michaela from Indiana will spend next year. She will move to SF area in August and therefore we checked her future home. The area is very nice, literally it is in the woods. Beautiful for a romantic kind of person. I am not sure abut Michaela though. No palm trees, no beaches nearby. Well, hopefully she will like it. It is definitely a better step from Indiana:-)

This is her house.

Then we continued on so called PCH (Pacific Highway) along the coast towards Los Angeles. It sounds fun but it was really 450 miles altogether which is about 724km. But it was worth the effort. PCH is really incredibly beautiful. Most of it is a scenic route and there is no doubt it is scenic area.

On one of the beaches were the sealions. I remember this stop from 4 years ago when we accidentally stopped right here and could not believe our eyes. I was very happy I had found it.

The sealion beach is not far away from Hearst Castle but it is the place where Kylowna will take me one day as she promised. I made it only to the lower level parking lot. The tours were sold out for today. It must be beautiful inside really. I saw some pictures on the walls.

It was a very beautiful day and journey back home. We have driven exactly 898 miles in those four days ( 1445km) and now I am "dead". Tomorrow we are staying at home, relaxing and then the other half of our plan, Grand Canyon, Monument Valley and Four Corners. STAY TUNED!!

Big THANKS to our fourth memeber of our family. I love rentals.

San Francisco - Day 3 - The "Rock"

Since the morning I was really very excited about seeing ALCATRAZ so called The "Rock" today. The weather got better so there was nothing to spoil this day. We decided not to drive the car today and try the cable cars instead. It took us aprox. 30 minutes to walk to Powell Street where we boarded the trams. It is a must and very romantic indeed. Sometimes I had to hold my breath when the old things are climbing the steep streets of San Francisco or "falling" down the hills.

Everything here is still done manually.

On our way to Fisherman's Wharf we stopped at Chinatown.



A typical SF cable car with Transamerica Pyramid, the tallest building of this city.

The view from Nob Hill with Alcatraz in the background is really magnificent.

Before we reached the Fisherman's Wharf I needed to check on the very famous chocolate factory Ghirardelli which has been renovated to a very beautiful center full of restaurants and shops. A very nice place to sit and relax while listening to street musicians.



Then we moved to Pier 41 from where we took the ferry to Alcatraz. Pier 41 and 39 are very nice to walk on by the way.

Then we waited in a loooong line to board the ferry.


Last night I was reading all kinds of historical articles about Alcatraz. Such things just fascinate me and I couldn't agree more with the author who said:" If only the walls could talk". I also read about the inmates there such as Al Capone, Robert "Birdman" Stroud and "Machine Gun" Kelly. What stories they had to tell. It is also said that out of all the escapes nobody survived but there are still some inmates reported missing which gives me the hope:-) It is said that Alcatraz was the only penitentiary with only hot water which kept the prisoners from acclimating to cold water. It is only 1mile from the shore but the water in the bay is very cold.

Alcatraz (pelican in Spanish) served as a fortification in the 1850's, then a war prison during the Spanish-American War and in 1934 Alcatraz became the maximum security prison for members of organized crime.


After we landed on the island there was a surprise waiting for me. One of the former inmates Darwin Coon was there in person signing his book about Alcatraz. Can you believe it??? Obviously I bought the book and I have the REAL Alcatraz prisoner signed my book. How cool is that?? He served 4 years here and was answering peoples questions. He was like a hero there. Funny, from a prisoner a hero. He is said to be the last one though.

To Jiri Harajda ...Darwin Coon.....his number was 1422 and he was there 1959 - 1963

The audio tour is fun and very informative. I don't know how Adela but I loved it. The prison itself is a very scary place. The conditions are just ......well, horrible.

This is one of the cells where the prisoner attempted to escape. They used many different tools and digged the hole in the wall. They also used the dummy heads to mystify the wardens.

This is the scariest one so called "hole" Cold, dark and tiny. The prisoners spent there from 2 to 5 days. They didn't have a notion of time and space. One of the inmates described the activity he did there to make the time run faster. He flipped a button in the air and then turned around many times and then he looked for the button in the dark. When he found it he repeated it over and over again. Can you believe it?? I wouldn't like to do it for 5 hours and he was there 5 days.

Scary, isn't it??

The only good thing about the "Rock" I can think of is the view over San Francisco. It is really beautiful and it must have been even more beautiful for the prisoners.

I really did loved the visit today and I would love the walls to be able to speak!!

On our way back to our hotel we had to stop to take some picture again. Do you like it more with such weather?? It is prettier, isn't it?


Lombard Street with the Coit Tower in the background.

San Francisco - Day 2

The weather is the same but the forecast is better for tomorrow. It needs some finger-crossing I guess.
Our first stop in the morning were so called "Painted Ladies" the old victorian houses on Alamo Square. They are really beautiful. The most photographed spot in SF.


After that we went to the Pier 41 where I bought tickets for Alcatraz for tomorrow. Actually I am very happy about it as I missed it last time and I do want to see it. Al Capone....hmmm.

Then we drove over the Golden Gate Bridge, which was in fog and therefore we did not enjoy it that much, to the Muir Woods - Red Wood National Monument - kind of Sequoia trees.

The climate in San Francisco is really funny and the weather unpredictable. Just a two miles off the bridge it was sunny and beautiful so the visit to Muir Woods was nice.


The trees here belong to the longest trees on Earth. Incredible.

On our way back we stopped at the Fort Spencer which was used as the protecting fortress during the WWI and WWII. There is a beautiful view over the bay and the Golden Gate Bridge.

And the last stop today was Golden Gate Park where apparently Arnold Schwarzenegger also contributes as a governor and its Japanese Tea Garden. Really beautiful place.

The Tea Garden.

Karate Kid

The First Stop - SAN FRANCISCO- Day 1

Our original plan was Grand Canyon first. I happen to have a good friend who works there on the North Rim and was willing to put us up for two nights but Man proposes, Nature disposes. Right before our arrival the trees caught on fire and all the area needed to be evacuated. It was a bad news but hopefully it will stop before we get there. We changed our plan and went to San Francisco first. I was here 4 years ago and to be honest I didn't like it that much as LA but there are some people who really adore this city so what I am doing now basically is, I am giving to it a second chance.
We rented a very nice car and set out early in the morning. The distance from LA is about 370 miles and surprisingly we got there by 2pm. Therefore there was enough time to explore the city a little bit even the same day.

Bay Bridge brought us into the city but the weather did not welcome us very pleasantly. It was very foggy, we couldn't even see the downtown.

We are staying at the Best Western Hotel right in the heart of SF, a walking distance from Civic Center.

Adela is always very excited about traveling and staying in different places. It is amazing how much she has experienced this year. She is still 3 years old and she has been to so many places that many adults will never see. Hopefully she will remember some of it.

I was tired after the long drive but I wanted to see how much it has changed since the last time I was here so we went for a very short walk to the Civic Center and I must admit the homeless people multiply faster than anything else. The buildings there are beautiful but the sights of lying drunk people in the streets (everywhere), dirty people pushing their shopping carts and beggars asking for money on every corner spoil the beauty of this city. Very shocking is the fact that people here smoke in the streets and the streets are very dirty. It is weird though. I can not help not to compare SF to LA and for the first day the score is 0:1. We will see tomorrow.

Summer Vacation Has Just Begun

Going to school every day brought some kind of a rhythm or pattern to my life here. I have already discussed this with Kylowna but still I have this weird feeling of emptiness now. I know I should simply enjoy myself and just "be" but I guess I need some kind of a plan to follow. Well....I will see what it is going to be like those few following days that remain. Before the school ended I already had made plans for some more traveling here. It should help to kill the boredom I believe. My plans are to visit Gran Canyon, Monument Valley, Four Corners and San Francisco and Muir Woods. Literally explore the northern part of the precious Golden State.

So before I do so I would like to share one special moment Kylowna and my parents have experienced in the Czech Republic while visiting the Presidential residence in Lány. They were very lucky that day and met the President of the Czech Republic, Václav Klaus with his wife.

Last SOKOL class meeting

Sunday, June 25 was our last time we saw all our Sokol memebers. It is such a wonderful group, a real family, with the roots from the Czech Republic. I will never stop admiring them. Czech people love traditions and try to keep them as long as possible. Sokol in LA is a perfect example. Everytime we went to see their Czech lessons we experienced them all in a good mood, having fun there with the language and with one another. I dare to say my family and I will miss them terribly as they were a little piece of home for us. It has been an honor to me to get to know them all. I wish them to keep gathering together and be healthy as long as possible.

We also had a delicious lunch with them. Milly insisted on SOKOL paying for it so thank you very much again and just to let you know, I was very happy to give you that hug :-)


Don and Ruth celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary (can you believe it??) so we also had an opportunity to taste their cake. Yum!

Don and Ruth saying thank you for the gift they got.

Milly and Jim