San Francisco - Day 6

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Day 6 started with our trip to Alcatraz! We walked about 30-40 minutes from our hostel downtown to the pier where we had to catch our boat. They then took cheesy photos in front of a backdrop like they do when you first get onto a cruise ship, then we were off. As we left the pier, the view of the city behind us was awesome.

When we arrived at Alcatraz Island, they herded us over to one area where they gave a brief introduction and then let us go off on our own. The welcome sign for the place also had painted "Welcome Indians" and what I learned that I hadn't known, was that Alcatraz became a squatting place for the Indian natives in the 60s as a protest to the land and rights that their people were losing. Activists occupied it. I also didn't know that before it was a prison it was a military fort. The island is most known, however, for it's use as a prison from 1934-1963.

We walked up to the cellhouse where they had free audio tours that are included in the price of your ticket. We LOVED the audio tour, as it had sound effects and the people conducting the tour included former inmates, guards, and children that had lived on the island. Yes, guards lived on the island with their families, commenting that they didn't even lock their doors to their houses most of the time, as it was a wonderful community where they felt safe.

It was eerie to see the cells and think about the convicts being there. These were the worst criminals of the time. There was a posted quoting an inmate that said, "If you break the rules, you go to prison. If you break the rules in prison, you go to Alcatraz."

It was cool seeing the recreation yard, as I recognized it from some shows and movies I watched before going that did filming at Alcatraz. I also loved the history of it all and hearing/reading about all the history of the escape attempts and such. It was definitely worth the visit and I'm so glad we got tickets.

OH YES, NOTE TO TRAVELERS: GET YOUR TICKETS WELL AHEAD OF TIME. I went online to book ahead of time only because I heard that the night tours book fast. What I discovered is that not only were the night tours booked months ahead but even the day tours were booked weeks in advance. We weren't able to get the basic day tour as it was booked that week so we were forced to book a joint tour of Alcatraz Island and Angel Island.

Angel Island is also referred to as the "Ellis Island" of San Francisco. Pretty much as soon as we arrived, we were all loaded onto trams that took us on an hour tour of the island. It was kind of boring to be honest. I would say about half of the people on our tram (mostly an Asian tour group) literally fell asleep during the tour. The cool part were the views of San Fran, although it was a fairly clouded day so even the views were limited. It did look like a cool place to picnic, as it had a large picnic area with tables and BBQs. It also would be a great place to hike and camp. It just wasn't all that exciting for the hour and a half that we were there.

When we got back to San Francisco, we stopped in at the Ferry building to look around a bit and both boughts some great earrings from the crafter's market across the street (all vendors who sell their handmade goods). We then had subs from Subway (Alisa's uneasy stomach was in need of bread and veggies). Alisa then head back to the hostel while I shopped around Chinatown for a carry-on suitcase. I did it for the extra room since Southwest airlines allows 2 free checked bags, but also because I needed a carry-on suitcase and don't have one. Found a great one for under $40 so that was a good purchase.

The two of us were so funny this night, just sitting and chatting in our room, waiting for it to be late enough for us to sleep! haha. We're such old ladies. 😉

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Photos

Hole in the Wall
The bottom left shows the hole that 3 inmates dug in each of their cells to escape. It was successful, as the men got to the water. They were never seen again but rumored to have drowned in the water.