Alcatraz

Wandered down towards the bay to see the Golden Gate Bridge. We walked through some expensive housing areas to get to the front. It was lovely along the sea front, just really windy. Headed towards the Bridge and got some good pictures. It was only built in 1933, which was quite surprising. We walked across the bridge (we didn’t see any apes), where we were going to get a ferry back to the bay but it was still miles away so we decided to walk back across and got an Uber back to the hotel.

Headed to Fisherman’s Whalf for a bite to eat before heading to Pier 33 to catch the boat to Alcatraz. This was a short ferry trip over to the island, was quite rocky, (not as bad as the P&O ferry to Bruges). On “The Rock” we had a tour guide who took us up the zig zag to the prison. She told us some stories on the way, which was interesting. We were taken in through the main entrance like the prisoners would have been, through the shower area, where we were given a audio guide which then took us around the cell block, library, administration rooms, dining area and kitchen. It was a very interesting tour. We also went to the see the hospital wing which was quite eerie, and only open in the evenings, for some unknown reason.

Alcatraz is currently a national park and lots of birds and wildlife reside there, it closed in 1963, as they couldn’t afford to maintain the prison due to its location. I was quite shocked about the kinds of inmates that they kept there, I thought they would have all done really bad things, however it wasn’t a prison for that, it was for those inmates who had the worst attitudes, the confinement at Alkatraz was supposed to change them.

Outside in the open areas we got great views of San Francisco. The guides also offered talks on various topics, which were also very interesting. “Modern day Super max prisons” and “The Sound of the Slammer”, this was the sound of the cells doors open and closing, quite powerful and the sound has been used in several films. I didn’t really think we would stay as long but we took the last boat from the island at 9.25pm.