Alcatraz Tour
Trip Start
Sep 15, 2008
1
11
13
Trip End
Oct 03, 2008
San Francisco,
California,
United States
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
We arrived in plenty of time for our 9:30 departure so grabbed a quick bite to eat before boarding. Once again, the Americans take photos of everything that moves at tourist activities, and then charge a fortune for it. We had our photo taken in front of a picture of the "Rock" and were asked to fork out $25 for what was clearly a "fixed" photo - we are sure our photos will come out better then that.
About 10 minutes across the bay to Alcatraz and we were on the dock listening to the National Park Ranger who though he was a comedian giving a welcome speech. It actually felt like home as we were doing the Aussie salute - there were flies everyone down on the dock.
We grabbed an Audio Tour which had us weaving in and our of different cell blocks and passageways. The prisoners gave different parts of the prison names, for instance, there is a part that was know as Times Square and another Broadway.
Audio Tour was conducted by 4 ex prison guards and 4 ex convicts - given the prison closed in 1963 it would have been recorded some time ago, but was still very informative. I expected more from such a infamous house of incarceration - its not that it was bad, I just thought it would be more gloomy and scary then it was given the reputation it had - that said, I am still very glad that we were not locked up in a cell and subjected to the Prison at its finest.
Some great views across the bay to San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge could be had from the South West corner of the Island, not any surprise to find out this was the corner that the Admin Section and the Guard's residences were located.
Back on the Boat to get away from the Flies. Off to Pier 39 - commonly known as Fisherman's Wharf. Basically just a bunch of boutique shops and food outlets - I think we may have bought something at every food outlet!!
Sat down and watched a magician - and then wandered to the end of the pier. We saw a sign for Sea Lions and I thought, yeah yeah, whatever, as if they would be there, they'd be there in summer only, but to our surprise, there was about 20 man made piers and probably 300 Sea Lions just relaxing and chilling about 5 metres from the pier - absolutely amazing to see wildlife in its own habitat (see live webcam during US daytime hours at attached link http://www.pier39.com/) They were barking, fighting, relaxing and just having a good time - we literally spent about 1 hour just watching them go.
Back onto the transport and back to downtown. It was time for a bit of lunch and one final shopping expedition. I wanted to get a pair of Crocs (yes, I have finally been won over by the number of people here who wear them - they must be good). Ange however scored more then me though - Old Navy appears to be her new favourite store. Heaps of good stuff and all relatively priced. I wont say it is as good as NYC, but the shopping here is also pretty good, and all within a reasonably small area for walking.
It was time to go back to the room as the bags were starting to weigh us down. Just relaxed and transferred some photos before getting ready for dinner. Again had a massive meal, without the need for an entree. Ange had a steak, and for a fine dining restaurant it was prob three times as big as a steak at a fine dining place at home. The funniest part was Ange chose Broccoli as her vegetable. No, not 1 or 2 flowers, but a whole head of the stuff!!!! I had chicken parmi - not what I was expecting but it was OK.
