Alcatraz

We had a chilled morning, had the hostel breakfast then headed out to the wharf for a chilled morning.

We watched a magicians show and I was picked to help with magic tricks - cringe!

We them went to pier 33 and collected our tickets and waited to board the boat which was due to leave at 1.30.

We took the short ferry across to the island and headed straight to the place to pick up headphones for the audio tour.

The audio tour was amazing, sky interesting and had commentry from officers who worked at Alcatraz and also commentry from prisoners.

We saw the cells they stayed in, the library, the dining room. We saw where the officers were based and where the prisoners would sit to talk to visitors. 

We also saw the cells where the more dangerous or trouble maker prisoners would go. They would be in complete darkness for up to 28 days, only seeing light to eat food. And their food was puréed up and they would eat it with their hands. These prisoners were not given a bed or anything and learnt to sleep standing up as the ground was too cold. We were put in the cell for 30 seconds to experience what I was like to be in a cell in complete darkness. 

We also head about the attempted/successful escapes from Alcatraz.

The tour was very interesting and would recommend it to anyone visiting Sam Fran.

We got the boat back to the mainland late afternoon and headed to Boudin on pier 33 for the famous sourdough bowl. The most popular one is the clam chowder however Laura and I both had the beef chilli one. It was amazing!