Alcatraz & cable cars!

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So, after going out with the boys, I collapsed into bed and forgot to book the tickets for Alcatraz! Get up and get on the computer and there are loads left for the day so pick the 12.30pm one thinking that will give us time to get breakfast or lunch & we have to move the car by 11am anyway.

We get there around 12, i have made a packed lunch, so we get coffee and sit and eat. Get on the ferry and off we go! The ferry journey only takes a few minutes and we are there. When you get off you get a sense of the size of the place. It is pretty big. You also get a sense of how depressive it is too.

We make our way up to the main prison because they are going to do the slammer, which means to slam the prison doors. You come into the main shower block which is the first room the prisoners would have seen. They were stripped down and made to shower before being given their prison uniform and having their own clothes taken away. All dignity and privacy was removed. They even had to go to the toilet in front of everyone else.



They give you headphones and you can listen to the tour in 11 languages. It means you can stop it and look at something in more detail. It has interviews from some of the inmates because the last left in 1963 and are still alive! It's eerie walking around and the cells are tiny. I can't work out how they got a bed in the empty ones and then they show you a cell made up and the bed sits right up against the bars and at the other end, where you'd put your head, is a toilet! So either you sleep with your had against the bars and possibly get grabbed from another cell or you slept up against the toilet! Ewwww!! If you were tall you were screwed and would have to sleep with your feet hanging over the toilet!

The next wing is D wing and this is where all the troublemakers were kept. They also have 6 cells which have double doors and could be kept in complete darkness if they wanted and did do if prisoners misbehaved!

They also constantly moved prisoner's around so they can't escape, although a couple manage it by digging out the concrete with spoons and escape through the service tunnels. They don't get very far though without being caught again as the whole island is constantly patrolled. There are a couple of daring escapes which we learn about, including the biggest with 6 prisoners involved which lead to the death of a guard. It's absolutely fascinating! We take a walk up to the recreation ground and imagine this being the only sky you see for the duration of your sentence.

We walk down to the other buildings, but most burnt down in a fire in 1970 when some Native Americans occupied the site and demanded it be given to them to live on. The government knocked some of the buildings down to stop anyone else occupying them after that.



We got back on the boat and said a sad goodbye to Alcatraz, having spent 3 1/2 hours there!



We wanted to do the cable cars so got a 24 hour ticket and jumped on one, we sat on the side rather than inside and had great fun. We went all the way down to Westfields shopping centre! Decided to stop and get my phone fixed as I managed to drop it the day before and smashed the screen to pieces. I wanted a cover for it, but the guy wanted $40! I told him i can get 10 off ebay for a tenner and wasn't paying that! He then offered to fix the screen for $140 & I told him the excess on my insurance was only $100 and im still not paying that! In the end, we settled on $100 for the screen if i bought a case, which i knocked him down from $40 to $20. Worked out at £83! So, i was fairly happy and they did a great job!



As we are downtown we get a bus down to Mission to check out The Armoury and pop into The Armoury Bar for a drink. The waiter is lovely and give Hugh a soft drink cocktail for free as he explains he's driving later. I opt for a gin and tonic and remark to Hugh that's it's luck he opts for a mocktail as I am sure my drink has far more gin than tonic!



Get the bus back to Westfields and then get a cable car back to Fishermans Wharf. It's late and the cable car is empty at this time of night, so we get to play a little bit and take some really great videos! You can sit on the edge of the car and stand to! We have great fun all the way down. It is so steep! Hugh is fascinated with how it works and I get a great video of him bending over studying the cables!





We get back in the car and drive over to meet Holley on the other side of Bay Bridge. Getting out of San Fran means that we get to drive under Bay Bridge! It feels weird being under the traffic going the other way, but cool too. We get to the other side and then get to the back roads. Holley has already warned us that we will be driving into no where. The roads are really windy and close to a sheer drop! Glad i am not driving and have a very strong G & T inside me to settle my nerves! Get to the bar and Holley is right, it's the coolest bar! It's called The Warehouse and is in a cool little town called Porta Costa. Really quirky with a giant stuff polar bear in pride of place! We get to meet Holley's friend and they are a great bunch, sit and catch up over a few beers, which are really cheap! Unlike all the tourist areas we've been drinking in. Hugh insists on wearing his cowboy hat in the bar and gets the other one for me to wear too. We have a really lovely evening and it is over too soon before we have to leave and get back to the bay area.

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