San Francisco #2 - Alcatraz

To begin, we visited Alcatraz - not Azkaban. I have accidentally called it Azkaban multiple times when recounting our adventures... I do realize that one is real and the other is not.

James, being the amazing socializer that he is, got us tickets to see Alcatraz while we were in San Francisco. When we got there on July 4th, the security/info guy said that they were totally sold out for the next ten days or so. James decided to go ask the ticket desk anyway - just in case. And wouldn't you know that he returned with two tickets? Apparently someone had just canceled and there were two tickets available so we took them! How fun is that?

I will put a warning here that I am posting lots of pictures of Alcatraz and
if you plan to visit it yourself, there may be spoilers here but it would still be very worth visiting even after seeing our pictures because I can't explain all the cool stories you learn when you go.

This is some sort of Market that I can't remember the exact name of right on the bay and in this building, there is a bakery that makes the BEST macaroons with almonds rather than coconuts.


This is me figuring out how many things we've seen in San Francisco that are on the list in our trusty travel guide 1000 Places to See in the US and Canada Before You Die. Now that I type that out, I realize that that is a slightly morbid title. Sad...

And here I am again on the ferry that will ferry us to Alcatraz. (I still have to stop and think about whether it's called Alcatraz or Azkaban. This is serious confusion here!)

And there it is! By the way, this is a chilly ferry ride. I can only imagine how very cold the water must be considering it is July and I'm wearing a sweater.

And the docking station for the ferry.


What is super fun about Alcatraz is the presence of SO much history. Alcatraz changed hands multiple times going from the Spanish to the Americans around the Civil War era, to the Federal Government for the prison, to the American Indians for their civil rights campout. I love the old buildings and especially all the various details leftover from all these groups of people.


Here are the seagulls for which the island is named. Aren't they darling? And talk about camouflaging the babies! They totally blend in to the rocks!


Had I realized that my legs were going to be showing in this picture I probably would have tried to sneak my whole self in like I had been doing the whole week but, alas. Maybe it's better that way since this is the Morgue and still the burial place of many people.

This is where the prisoners were issued their fresh clothing and other supplies each day.

And here are the showers. I just love this picture for the sign.



And here is a typical regular guy cell. I can't imagine spending my life in this much space. Thankfully, I don't think I realize what a loss of privileges inmates suffer. And hopefully I never do.

Here I am in the rows and rows of cells...
This is the "doorway" into the recess area where they could be outside for a couple hours each day. The baseball field is the furthest away point in the middle of the picture at the bottom of the bleachers.

I don't remember what D Block was specifically. I think it was the isolation area for the hard core criminals. Sad. But still a cute picture.

Here is James in a D Block cell. These were the 24/7 cells where you just don't get to come out.

And sad me in the same cell. :(

And here are the kinds of people who occupied these cells on occasion. I am super interested in some of their crimes and am amazed that they received such punishment as the highest security prison in America.

Here's a picture of the windows. I just think it's interesting how the window cages are engineered to allow the windows to open without allowing escapees.

And here is a total isolation cell. These men remained in total darkness for a majority of the days they were in here. The whole tour of the prison building is done from an audio headset which is a fantastic recording. They have interviews with previous residents of Azkaban - guards, families, prisoners, Indians, etc. At this part of the recording, they interviewed a guy who had spent time in a total isolation cell and he talked about how he had torn a button off of his shirt and he would drop it in the completely dark room and then crawl around looking for it until he found it. Then he would repeat that process over and over to keep himself occupied. Otherwise, he said he would go crazy.

And here I am again in the big room of semi-isolation and total isolation cells. Yeah, I'm pretty sure this is D Block.

And here is James at the same place.
Here is interesting information about the most deadly breakout attempt. Again, I can't explain the whole story - the details are too interesting to leave out and it's so much better on the recording where they have sound effects and whatnot. The basic story is that six guys attempted breakout by overpowering the guards in the gun walk (a barred walkway two stories up where armed guards patrolled because guns were not allowed in the floor of the complex) and when other guards came in to see what was happening (without guns of course) they were held hostage and many killed by the prisoners. One guard is especially memorialized as he broke regulations by keeping the key the men needed to escape so that they couldn't find it and thus foiled the escape plans. He did get shot however by the prisoners and died.

These pock marks in the floor are from bombs dropped by the good guys while the prisoners were holding out with the hostage guards. Pretty intense, eh?

Here is the warden's home where he and his family lived.

There's not much left but you can still tell it was a beautiful house at one time and it still has some very prevalent Spanish influence.

And here is the testament to the validity of The Three Little Pigs story. Yes, brick will hold up. The roof and floor of this building are gone but the fireplace is still totally standing. Brick is always better than straw or wood... I guess that is the moral of this post.

Another great shot of the seagulls.

Cool evidence of several eras of construction on Alcatraz... The granite island, the gray brick foundation, the red brick walkway, and the cement sidewalk. Fun!

Here's a lamp that is being overgrown by plants and moss. This is why this place was shut down. The upkeep was just too expensive. Plus, I had never thought about this before, but it's a tiny island. All their food AND fresh water had to be ferried over and all their trash and sewage had to be ferried back each day. That is a huge chore.

Here is the Indian message to the world when they claimed Alcatraz as their territory in the... 70's I think?

And the San Fran coast...
Us on the ferry headed back to San Fran.

AND... the very delicious macaroons that are a MUST-DO when you visit San Fran. I nannied a bit for a family while we lived there a couple summers ago and she took me to eat these macaroons. James and I never made it back before we left so we made a point to get some on this visit. I kept telling James how delicious they were over and over and when we finally got to the place, he saw the price and yes they are expensive little cookies - $1.75 each. BUT they are so worth it when you're on vacation and want a treat to remember San Fran by. (Way better than Ghirardelli's.)


And this is hard to see but we passed a random building with this cool mirror and I took a picture so that someday when I'm rich and have time and space for this, I'd like to have/make a mirror just like this for my house. It's basically a bunch of small mirrors placed at different angles so that from a distance (if it didn't reflect anything) it would look like a regular rectangular mirror, but since it does reflect all the various images, it makes everything look totally broken. Ok, that makes no sense but it was cool. I'll just leave it at that.

James and I love San Francisco! It's definitely a favorite vacation spot for me. The people are great, the city is lovely, the food is yummy, and the weather is fairly nice. Go visit San Francisco!