Today we had a booking on the 10.30 boat to Alcatraz. It was raining, but we couldn't complain as it was the first rain we had since leaving home on 11th April - and Christchurch had had a LOT of rain since then.
The ride over only took about 10-15 minutes.
Alcatraz began in the 1850's as a military post designed to hold prisoners and protect the Bay. In 1909, the Army leveled the post and left its basement to serve as the foundation for a new correctional facility. In 1933, it was transferred to the Department of Justice for use as a maximum-security Federal prison. Known as "The Rock", Alcatraz housed the most incorrigible inmates of the Federal system. While there were 14 separate escape attempts, officially, no one ever succeeded. In March 1963, Alcatraz closed after 29 years because operating expenses were too high. In 1973, it opened to the public and has become one of the most popular National Park sites.
There is an audio tour of the main cell block, this was really fascinating. A lot of the narration is from ex inmates and prison guards.
We stayed on Alcatraz Island for about 3 hours, we would have stayed longer and enjoyed some of the outdoor areas more, but it was a very cold day and often raining.
After arriving back on the mainland, we went to Boudin Bakery for lunch. Boudin Bakery has been baking sourdough in San Francisco since 1849, and a portion of the original mother dough is used to start every sourdough loaf they bake today. The adults all had soup in bread bowls, and the kids went across the road and had McDonald's!
Once we were full, we headed down the road towards the famous San Francisco Cable Cars. We stood in line at the turn around area, which we later found out was a bad idea. We probably waited for 45 minutes before getting on a car, if we had walked to the next stop we would have gotten on a lot faster. But it was interesting watching how each car is rolled onto the turntable and turned by hand before heading off again.
When we did get on a car, we were squished into the inside of the car, and couldn't really see out. Although we could see how steep the streets were that we were going up then down again on. When we got to the end of the line, our two families split up and headed different directions. We landed up going to GAP and buying the girls a hoodie each, plenty of photos of them being modeled coming up soon.
It was then time to head back to our house and warm up.
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