Day 128 - Alcatraz

We were up and off by 10:00 to walk to the Alcatraz landing at pier 33. We did make very good time though and so had to wait a bit before it was time to queue up; though this was fine as Danny got a hot dog and Corrie got a large pretzel to help pass the time. The queuing took a while but we eventually made it onto the boat which would take us on the 10 minute or so journey to the old prison.

We listened to the intro talk after we left the ferry and then opted to go and check out an “escapes” tour that was to be led by a little old lady who was a former guard of the prison. She was an odd and quirky character to say the least but the tour was interesting as it explained about the escape attempts of former inmates including the very famous one by Frank Morris and the Anglin brothers. It was funny to hear how many of the attempts we almost completely successful but were never completed or failed entirely due to the extreme coldness and strong currents of the water that they’d have to cross. The bodies of Frank and the Anglin bros were never found and the question still hangs as to whether they truly made it or not.

After this tour we then took the audio tour of the main prison itself; this was a very good tour but the atmosphere was strangely eerie and sombre. It must’ve been horrible for the prisoners to hear, see and smell San Francisco city just over the waters yet not be able to be part of it and the whole feel of the place would be enough to put most people off ever doing anything bad enough to end up there. We got to see where the famous and bloody riot took place along with the cells that had had the walls dug through with spoons where the vents were for the famous escape. It was so hard to see how the guards could have overlook such holes in such tiny cells but the guards on tape said it was easily done due to the cell search procedures they had. At the end of the audio tour we also got to hear some of Al Capone’s niece’s take on events as she was in the dining room speaking and promoting her book Uncle Al Capone.

Back in the city we stopped at the popular (and featured on Man Vs Food) Fog City Diner where we got an early bird special and shared four sampler dishes between us which were very nice. We then buckled and ended up getting pudding also. Corrie got a delicious molten chocolate cake with ice-cream whilst Danny got their signature lemon meringue pie which was marvellous.

After this early tea/ late lunch we went back to the hostel though we detoured slightly along the way to check out another of the city’s famous offerings – the switchbacks of Lombard Street. This street has a section at the top of a very steep, 31% hill, where a one-way downward road winds back and forth with eight hairpin turns. The section of street is considered to be the most crookedest street the world and came about as an effort to reduce the steepness of this section of Lombard Street. We walked up this crazy road and took a few snaps along the way too.