Sonya's Blog - Day 306 - Alcatraz
Sonya’s Blog - Day 306 - April 23rd - Alcatraz
The Golden Gate Bridge from Alcatraz:
Today is the day we visit Alcatraz, the day that Isaac has been waiting for. We are booked to head over there at 3:20, so we can do some wandering around first. We left a little later today, than yesterday, because we will be later coming back. We can only leave poor Kizmet for so long.
On our way to the ferry, we popped into a Farmer’s Market that was on the way. We only had about 10 minutes to look around, which was plenty of time. It was only a small market and there was lots of local veggies and fruit there. We couldn’t buy anything, since we were just about to get on the ferry and we didn’t want to carry around veggies all day. There was a little bakery cart, so Blake bought a couple of things for the ferry trip.
After some frustrating moments with the ticket dispenser machine, we finally had our tickets and were ready to board. This was good timing, as the ferry was already boarding. As soon as we arrived in San Francisco, we headed up into the hills towards Chinatown. When we got out of the station, this is what was there to greet us:
Yes, they are naked, older men. Well one had a cape on, or something, but essentially naked. They were holding up a sign, but it was too awkward to read it.
Blake was excited to go and this was a good day to make the trek. It was about a 10 to 15 minute walk and we entered Chinatown. It was amazing the difference in the number of people on the streets, it went from hardly any to jammed packed streets and lots of stuff going on. It was a little overwhelming and then we kept getting approached and handed pamphlets for places to eat and stuff to buy. It was too much for me. We walked around for a bit. I made the mistake of stopping to look at some pants and was totally unprepared for the high pressure sales tactics. Before I knew it, I had bought said pants and it was all a little fishy. I am pretty sure the sales lady pocketed my money, but anyhow. Hope they fit. Blake wanted to have lunch, but it was hard to find a sit-down restaurant. There were lots of eateries, but they didn’t have tables. We finally went in one and bought some steamed buns and dumplings and then ate them as we walked. Of course, as we were walking back down, towards the harbour, we saw quite a few restaurants that had tables - it is the way it goes.
The Trolley Car we caught to Pier 39:
We got back down to the harbour and hopped on the tram to take us to Pier 39. It was very busy at the pier today, but it was a Saturday and sunny. There was one store dedicated to key chains and another store dedicated to magnets, so the kids wanted to check out those. Isaac also checked out the magic shop and the sock shop. I went into a few shops, but it was too busy for me, so I went outside. We stopped to watch this guy playing his instrument (cannot really tell you what it was) and he was pretty good. We spent about an hour at the pier and then it was time to walk down to Pier 33 to get on the boat to Alcatraz.
Pier 39:
We had to be at the boat 20 minutes prior to departure, but then we just stood in line for 20 minutes, which is always annoying and boring. We finally got on the boat, after the obligatory picture. All major tourist attractions do these pictures and we detest them. The thing is, they get very pissy if you won’t take the picture, even if you insist you will never buy it. So now, we just make faces at the camera and then laugh at our picture, that we will never buy. It is such an annoying practice, and such a waste, since so many of the pictures are not bought. This is, probably, the 30th time we have had our picture taken since being on this trip and we have bought none of the pictures.
We snagged some good seats on the ferry, by the window. We could have sat outside, but it was getting windy and it would have been pretty chilly. There was a short information video while we headed over to Alcatraz, which is only a mile and a quarter from San Francisco so the ferry ride took 10 minutes. Once we were on Alcatraz, there was a short introductory welcome by a NPS employee and then we headed up the road to the jail. Once we were at the jail we had to line up in the shower area to get our audio guided tour. We each got our own and it guides you through the whole jail area and tells the stories of Alcatraz. It was a good tour and we learned a lot about the guards that worked here and the inmates that were incarcerated here. We got some good pictures. The Audio tour was narrated by a former guard and there were clips throughout from other guards and prisoners describing life on Alcatraz. There were a few escape attempts that were covered during the tour as well. The first, in 1946, went horribly wrong. The inmates that were trying to escape ended up with the guns and had put the 8 guards in a jail cell. One of the guards had hidden the key and the inmates couldn’t get out, so one or two of the would be escapees started shooting the guards in frustration. There was then a 2 day battle for Alcatraz, during which grenades were dropped into the prison. A few of the attempted escapees and guards were killed during this battle. The escapees that survived, all except one, were executed for their crimes. There was then the infamous escape of the three inmates that is portrayed in Escape from Alcatraz with Clint Eastwood. Three prisoners dug holes through the concrete and escaped during the night. They had fashioned fake heads, that they had placed on their beds to fool the guards in the morning. Everyone knows they made it to the water, but nobody knows what happened to them after that as they were never found. Some people think they drowned, trying to cross the water and others think they made it to safety and escaped to Central America, as they were all learning Spanish before their escape. It’s a mystery.
This is what greets you when you get off the boat to Alcatraz. This is not the prison block, these are buildings that were put up for the Civil War (I think). You can see evidence of the Indian Occupation:
The Cell Block referred to as Broadway:
Demonstration of the opening and closing of the cell doors:
This was the gun gallery, referred to as Times Square:
Natasha testing out a cell in D Block:
Blake in the Hole: Solitary Confinement:
The Ringleader of the 1946 escape attempt use this bar spreader on the gun gallery, to gain access to get the keys and guns for their escape. He had lost weight so he could fit through the bars. The gun gallery bars were weak where they had bent to connect with the wall behind them.
The Prisoners were allowed to make their cells their own:
The one thing I didn’t know, was that the guards lived on the island with their families. There were quite a few children that lived on Alcatraz and would catch the boat to the mainland for their schooling.
The views from Alcatraz:
Alcatraz was also used during the Civil War as a Fort and was first used as a prison for secessionists. There was also an Occupation of Alcatraz in 1969 for 19 months by American Indians, who called themselves Indians of all Tribes (IOAT) and used as a protest point.
Some scary stats for the US Prison System:
We wanted to catch the 5:15 boat back to San Francisco, but we missed it and had to catch the 5:45 one. We needed to be on Pier 1 by 6:25 to catch the return ferry home. This made things very tight for us. The boat back from Alcatraz didn’t arrive back at Pier 33 until 6:06 and we didn’t get off the boat till quite a few moments after that. We raced to the trolley stop, as this was the only way we would make our ferry, it was too far to walk in that short period of time we had left. The trolley came pretty quickly and we were back at Pier 1 in no time. We raced to the Larkspur ferry and made it on board with 2 minutes remaining. Cutting it pretty close. The boat left about 1 minute after we had found seats for ourselves. We were so happy to have made that boat, because, due to the fact that it is a weekend the ferries do not run as frequently and the next boat wasn’t until 7:25. That made it too long of a day for Kizmet and a super late supper.
Our Trolley Car back to the ferry, it got us there just in time! Each trolley is decorated according to various eras. This one was Dallas 1940's, as you can see from the sign in the window:
Blake and Isaac got to work on supper, quesadillas, which was Isaac’s choice and that was why he had to help. Natasha fed Kizmet while I took care of the laundry. I then took Kizmet on a nice long walk, while supper was being made. There is a river path, that is not far from our campground, so I took her down there. While we were walking along, there was a cyclist that had wiped out on the path. I didn’t see his crash, but stopped to help him and see if he was okay. Cyclists love the clips for their pedals, but I know lots that have crashed when they couldn’t get them unclipped on time, which is what happened to this guy. He was slowly getting back up, when Kizmet and I came upon him. He said he was okay, he felt like he had fallen well and wasn’t too injured. He wasn’t cut up, or anything, just a little dazed. He was up and back on his bike in a few moments and Kizmet and I continued on our walk. The rest of our walk was pretty uneventful, it was very pretty on the river. We started heading back home after another 10 minutes or so, and supper was ready when we got back. Awesome.
It was pretty late by this time, so we just had time for supper, an episode of Corner Gas and then bedtime. We had walked a lot today, so we were all tired and ready to call it a night.
Sonya