We started our day with a short tour the Fisherman's Wharf area before dropping us off at the ferry terminal where we would board the boat to Alcatraz. As with most of the popular tours etc we are shuffled into the the sheep dip pens as Peter calls them. Once on board it was a short tried to the island.
Once on the island there was an orientation to the island by one of the park rangers as it is now a national park. After this we make our way up the very hilly site to the cell block where our included audio tour starts. The tour starts at where the inmates were processed and given their prison uniform. As we make our way to where we will actually pick up the audio tour we pass the showers which originally had some kind of door but these were taken away so it was an open shower with no privacy at all.
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| Checking in |
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| Uniform issue |
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| The shower stalls |
Without going into too much detail as I could give you a lot of history, the audio tour was fabulous. It was well narrated by people who were there, prisoners, wardens and the children of the wardens that lived there while their fathers were in charge. It gave clear instructions on the path you were meant to take and gave you an opportunity to experience some of the cells. It was very informative, and being a guide myself I always go for the audio tour or guided tour if available but Peter quite often opts out but even he really enjoyed it and thought it was well done.
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| Guard tower |
It is a fascinating place which I would have liked to have spent more time at but as we only had limited time we made the most of our time there. The island originally started as a fortress to protect San Francisco and there recessed windows on the first building we see was where the cannons were mounted. It then was used to house Civil War prisoners of war. as time went on the prison population from Spanish-American War grew from 26 to over 450. It also held conscientious objectors during WW2. It officially became a federal prison in 1934. During the 29 years it was open it held some of America's most notorious criminal such as Al Capone and Richard Stroud known as the Birdman of Alcatraz.
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| A typical cell |
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| Cell block D solitary confinement |
Alcatraz closed in 1963 but was occupied by Native American activists for 19 months beginning on November 20 1969. They were protesting federal policies related to American Indians. The occupation ended 19 months later after President Nixon rescinded the Indian termination policy about which the occupiers were protesting about.
All in all a very interesting place to visit. We make our way back to the boat to rejoin our tour. As we board the repurposed cable car we are given our lunch which was really good consisting of a sandwich, an apple, a bag of chips, a cookie and a bottle of water. It was very tasty.
As we make our way around the landmark places in San Francisco Geoff regales us with lots of interesting stories and anecdotes about the places we drive past. We make our way to go across the Golden Gate Bridge and the traffic is chaotic. Geoff asks the passengers if they would prefer to sit in traffic to go to the most popular spot to get a photo of the bridge or just drive over and go to his "secret spot" to get a photo. Well everyone didn't have to think long about that. The secret spot was Fort Worth which had great views as well as visiting an old fort. Along the way we drove through lots of the districts of San Francisco like the Presidio, Pacific Heights where we saw Mrs Doubtfire's House, Nob Hill, Chinatown and quite a bit more. Back to the Fisherman's Wharf area to make our way back home.
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| Fort Worth |
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| Houses with more than 3 colours of paint on the exterior are called Painted Ladies |
A few more photos from our day out.
We found a great Italian restaurant to have dinner without a queue which was great and it was only just up from the hotel.
A much better day than yesterday.
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