Birds & men on Alcatraz

Doing as we pleased, many of us could not miss out on visiting the notorious island prison of Alcatraz. After picking up supplies of delicious, fresh sourdough bread and trying not to be downwind of the seals near the boat departures, we took a short boat ride to the island. Our entrance fee included a recorded tour commentary which everyone agreed was brilliantly informative and atmospheric.

Of course, a visit to San Fran also had to include a ride on one of its trams and though the queue was long, it was worth the wait. Apologies to any San Franciscans we startled by our screaming and shouting!

The evening began with dinner at Sam Woo's in Chinatown, infamous for its surly service, as well as its tasty cheap food and ended, for some of us, at a blues bar, featuring the cool Brass Monkeys band - a lovely bunch of guys!

Murder!

After just a week, Mark decided he'd had enough of us and suggested murder! Thankfully it was just a game he'd played with other groups. One of us was picked at random to be the 'murderer' and had to 'kill' as many group members as possible without getting exposed as the killer. The weapon of choice? A deadly kiss! Our safety was guaranteed by being in our tents, being in the company of others and by the wearing of sunglasses. So you can picture it now, 13 shifty people wearing sunglasses - even at night - walking round in threes or scurrying to our tents! Mmm, maybe we took it a bit too seriously?!