Location: San Francisco, California, USA

I woke up this morning just rearing to get out of the house! IT’S ALCATRAZ DAY. Ahhhhhh! I had always wondered what the infamy was really about, and heard so many crazy stories I couldn’t wait to see if the tales I’d heard were all tall or true.

We ate breakfast at the station and caught an early train into the city. A few missed connections and a cab ride later and we made it to the ferry terminal. Right off the get go we could see Alcatraz from a distance and it was so much closer than I originally thought! Maybe two and a half kilometres across the white capped windy ocean channel. As we approached the island the lighthouse loomed off the edge and the prison came into view.

It was pretty imposing! I had no idea they just let you loose on the island to explore however you wanted. We spread open a map and made our way straight for the cellblocks, passing through the wardens house, the guards gate, the morgue and the gardens along the way. The whole thing was so well displayed: nothing was showy or overdone or exaggerated. There was an audio guide narrated by some of the old prison guards, punctuated by comments from some of the old prisoners. It was a bit surreal to hear the explanations of what I was seeing by the people who had actually experienced living there.

A few things I didn’t know about Alcatraz:

1) There were a few successful escape attempts, although the people who made it out and tried to swim across the channel are presumed to have drowned. (I mean 2.5km is far but not impossible for a desperate prisoner…)

2) One of these escapes was attempted by Bernard Coy, who starved himself so he could fit through the bars of his cell that he had very slightly pried open with a screw and a small pipe.

3) The island functioned like a small town. There were houses for the guards family’s, a play area for children, gardens tended by the wives and even a small grocery store.

4) Guards didn’t carry guns on the prison floor, only a whistle.

5) The prisoner that served the longest amount of time was a Canadian named Alvin ‘Creepy’ Karpis. (26 years).

6) Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly were imprisoned here. Also today is the day that I found out Al Capone is a real person… (I thought he was a made up movie Mobster can you even blame me he has a very fantastical story.)

7) They let all 200 prisoners have KNIVES during dinner. (WTF).

I was so baffled by everything. I am excited to come back one day and do the night tour… it’s supposed to be super creepy but they were all sold out (much to Alex’s delight).

We decided something a little lighter was in order after this tour, so back on the mainland we meandered through the very touristy Fisherman’s Wharf, over to Ghirardelli Square and up up up to the top of Lombard Street. Lombard street claims to be the most photographed (and crookedest!) street in the world. The road was basically all switchbacks and hairpin turns that cars had to manoeuvre around, lined with bright flowers and beautiful Victorian houses.

We were running out of steam, as we had been walking up and down and around nearly all day, and we had a dinner date planned with one of Alex’s friends from University, Sachin. We met him at Zareen’s, an awesome but insanely busy Pakistani restaurant in Palo Alto with free Chai. It was nice to relax with some warm tasty food after such a long day.

We are back in the car tomorrow and I’m so looking forward to seeing where we end up! San Francisco has been fun, I’m certainly excited to return someday when I get a chance!

Sav