ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ

DAY 11: Alcatraz, San Francisco

No trip to San Francisco would be complete without a trip to Alcatraz - 'The Rock'. This was home to some of America's most wanted (Al Capone and 'Machine Gun' Kelly) until 1963 when the US Government realised it was cheaper to put them up in the Waldorf. Not sure how the guests would have felt about that.

The audio tour around the prison sounds tacky but it's really enlightening and gives you a real flavour of prison life on the island with commentary from guards and inmates.

One particular thing stuck with me from one inmate who said his favourite night of the year was new year's eve. He said that if the wind was right you could hear the music and the people laughing and even smell the fireworks. To cling on to something like that all year must have been hard. But then I guess if you can't do the time and all that.

I stood in the recreation yard with the walls about 15ft high so you can't see anything. But if you go and stand on the top row of steps the view is unbelievable; Golden Gate Bridge in one direction, then a swooping panoramic view of the city of San Francisco across the bay. I bet these rows were popular. Enough to make any man want to escape. It really makes you appreciate your freedom.

When we left to catch the boat back I felt as if I was being released after doing time, even though it was only about an hour and a half. A great, if not slightly surreal, experience.

Arriving back at the mainland in what was now a very hot day, we decided to catch up on our journals with an ice cold drink on Pier 39 before we headed for lunch.

An American work colleague of Jen's had told us we had to go to a burger joint called 'In 'n' Out Burger'. So we did. And it was a great shout. Best fast food burger I've had by a long shot.

After that we strolled back to the hostel, via an ice cream parlour, to upload a few videos to YouTube, although it wasn't as easy as it should have been as we really needed the camera software. So we probably won't be able to do it again, but you can see a few clips at www.youtube.com/JenAndNath

We only had two nights in the private room in the hostel so our third night meant dorming it again. We checked into our shared double dorm which was a double bunk bed (thankfully there was no bowl for the car keys) and headed out for the night to explore the Market district.

This started out promising as it looked quite vibrant - a little like the Oxford Street area of London. Then we went into a mall, came out of another door on the same street and it was like walking on to the set of Michael Jackson's Thriller. Nearly every person was a bit weird or mental.

It started with a guy who was getting a right rollocking from his missus. Don't know what he did, but it sounded like he did it more than once. Then the dude they were with started on some guy who was begging or preaching (or something) who in turn kicked off. So we decided to do a u-turn and head back the way we came. Then we bumped in to a dog with a sign in his mouth saying 'F**k you! Pay me!' - he seemed to belong to a tramp, but funny and weird at the same time.

As if it couldn't get any weirder, this guy who looked normal, dressed in a white shirt and slacks, started belting out an opera version of Meat Loaf's 'I would do anything for love' on a street corner. And then, from behind us, we heard a set of drums start kicking off. From a tramp! Really quite good too, but where did he get them from?

To digest the events of the last hour we dived in a Starbucks. I tried the much loved and eagerly awaited (by Americans anyway) Pumpkin latte (or whatever it's called). Nice at first, but a bit of an earthy aftertaste.

After a stroll back to the hostel we turned in for the night.

I really wish we had another week or so in San Fran - I love it. But we always knew there was going to be so much more to explore than we had time for. I would definitely come back here.