San Francisco--Crown Princess Wine Coastal Cruise, Day 4, April 28, 2015
After spending the night on the ship docked at Pier 27, we were ready for another day of exploration. Over the years, we have visited SF many, many times both for pleasure and for business. We have been to most of the popular sights here including Alcatraz. There is this one place that I have always wanted to visit but have not had a chance yet so far, and that is Angel Island. Angel Island holds an important part in Chinese immigration history here in the US, with so many heart breaking stories of early immigrants who spent their first days/weeks/months here being detained and interrogated as new arrivals until they were cleared to go or sent back.
Angel Island:
Angel Island is a California State Park in San Francisco Bay. Other than being an important site as a US Immigration Station from 1910 to 1940, the US Army also set up camps here during the Civil War period. As I looked at the map of the island, there seems to be many picnic areas and camp sites around the island and places like Camp Reynolds, Nike Missile Site, Battery Drew, Battery Ledyard etc. that certainly sound interesting. But for us, we just wanted to see the Immigration Station here.
I have purchased the ferry tickets the day before at Pier 41. I believe they have two ferries going to the island and three coming back to Pier 41 everyday. The tickets cost $18pp round trip. Most people opt for visiting Alcatraz when they are in SF and not that many people consider going to Angel Island so it was pretty easy to get tickets. I was told that it would not be a problem to even get tickets on the same day. We took the first ferry leaving Pier 41 at 9:45 and returned on the 1:55 ferry.
We boarded the ferry behind this building.
The ferry that looked kind of old.
Not a clear picture, but this was inside the ferry, upper deck.
Other than a group of college students, there were only a few tourists on this trip.
Fort McDowell (East Garrison) on Angel Island.
Beautiful Ayala Cove
Visitor Center at Ayala Cove
They run a tram tour twice a day from the cafe near the dock which takes people around the island for $15pp, I believe. For those who wants to see the other sights on the island, this would be an excellent option. I wanted to go to the Immigration Station and they said that the tram will take us there but won't wait for us and we would have to walk back to the pier if we leave the tram so we decided to just walk instead of doing the tram tour.
We took the North Ridge Trail near the dock and hiked up to the main road. This is not for people with mobility issues. We were told that it would be a 15-minute walk between the dock and the Immigration Station but it was more like a 30-minute hike.
It was beautiful though!
At the top of the trail looking back down at the dock.
Now we are on the main road, a much easier walk.
Near the Immigration Station.
From this main gate, we walked about 10 minutes downhill to the station.
The Barracks Building (Detention Building) where the Museum is located.
Museum Hours: Mon~Fri 11:00am - 3:00pm; Sat & Sun 11:00am - 4:00pm
Hours may change. When we were there they had a student group there and the museum did not open to the public until 12:30. Admission: $5
Immigrants spent from two weeks to two years being detained and processed here rather than within hours or days on Ellis Island. Families were separated in different parts of the building as a way to prevent collaboration during interrogation. One can easily understand the frustration of these newly arrived immigrants.
Memorial
First Floor of the Barracks Building
Shoes for the bound feet.
The carved poems on the wall are now covered with coats of paint, but still can be seen if looked carefully. These poems expressed the anger and frustration of the writers as detainees here.
200 bunks were put in the men's dorms, a much more crowded scene from what is shown here.
Men's Recreation Room
International Men's Dormitory
After our brief visits to the Immigration Station and the Museum, we left the island with a much better understanding of the Chinese Immigration history of this country. I have to say that this was a memorable trip that I won't forget.
Fisherman's Wharf:
We were on a newer ferry coming back to Pier 41 and after arrival we all went our separate ways. ChC and I had one thing in mind, go to Boudin Sourdough and have their clam chowder in a bread bowl.
Bread creation at Boudin, Fisherman's Wharf.
Instead of going upstairs to the restaurants, we just ordered ours at the cafe downstairs. Yum, but it was actually way too much for me to have the whole order myself.
We also shared a delicious turkey sandwich.
After a satisfying lunch, we decided to walk towards the Ghirardelli Square direction which we had never been before.
Usually we would just be in this area of Fisherman's Wharf.
Chinese sampan
You can also purchase tickets to go on and see the inside of these ships at Hyde Street Pier.
Beautiful!
Ghirardelli Square
A very popular store and we were given samples of their chocolate as we entered.
Then we walked back to Pier 39 and caught the complimentary shuttle back to port. We were definitely very tired after all the walking we did that day so we rested up for the rest of the afternoon before our ship leave port at 8:00.
Crown Princess sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge one more time while we were having dinner at Botecelli. We thought that it would be too dark for any pictures at that hour, otherwise we would have dinner at the buffet that evening.
Excellent burger!
Creme Brulee was on the always available menu.
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