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| Alcatraz -former inmate |
We had an early start and headed straight down to Pier 39
via the famous cable car and walked to Pier 33 and had breakfast at the
Alcatraz Landing Cafe.
The hot food was woeful and this place is ok if you are
just having coffee and a croissant.
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| Downtown |
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| Cell |
Alcatraz Island
is only 15 minutes by ferry. As with most tourist attractions there was a long
queue to board.
Alcatraz operated as a high security
prison from 1934 until 1963 and first person accounts through an audio tour
makes this a worthwhile trip.
Alcatraz was not a first
stop prison, rather a prison for the difficult ones. A reformed inmate was
doing a book signing while we were there.
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| Tour Bus |
Our
Alcatraz tickets were combined
with a 4 hour city highlights tour.
One of the first stops was the
Beat
Museum chronicling the history of
the non conformist beat generation.
The tour took us to the
Japanese
Garden in
Golden
Gate Park, Lands
End, the Presidio,
Coit Tower,
Chinatown and
North
Beach. The tour soundtrack was
Summer of Love with lots of easy listening songs from the flower power era.
The tour dropped us at Fishermans Wharf where I had a clam chowder and Charlotte had fish and chips.
We had an early start and headed straight down to Pier 39
via the famous cable car and walked to Pier 33 and had breakfast at the
Alcatraz Landing Cafe.
