Almost Escaped Alcatraz: Amazing Alcatraz Tour

                                                                      I was there!

The first time I heard about Alcatraz was on TV. I was being lazy sitting on my ex-boyfriend's couch, I was watching the TV and I changed the channel to History Channel. The show called, Escape from Alcatraz was playing and I immediately got hooked. The escape from Alcatraz in 1962 forced the US government into a man hunt. If you come to think of it, it was the only successful escape attempt in the history of Alcatraz.  I mean, it is only fair to do so because those who escaped were not normal people.  

The Island of Alcatraz

We started our journey by getting our Alcatraz island tour tickets online and we head down to Pier 33 Alcatraz Landing, located along San Francisco's northern waterfront promenade, on The Embarcadero near the intersection of The Embarcadero and Bay Streets. I was a little surprise that there was a long line of people waiting for the ferry. It reminds me of that long line for Grizzly River Run in Disneyland. After about an hour or so, our ferry was full and we were on our way to the island. 

After getting off the ferry, this was the first thing I noticed and I immediately was able to snap a photo. We went on with our tour and followed the group of people ahead of us. The tour was really organized and the tourists were very respectful. I guess, you don't want to be detained here if you misbehave. LOL

From the outside it looked really nice and pleasant because of all the flowers and trees and an awesome view. We head on inside and started our guided tour. 

We toured the Cellhouse at our own pace with  audio presentation "Doing Time: The Alcatraz Cellhouse Tour”. The audio has a lot language choice to accommodate all tourists. In this audio tour, I heard the stories of life inside from real prisoners, and felt the intensity of a prison breakout from correctional officers who lived and worked on the Island.

Bathhouse 

While I was doing the guided audio tour, I couldn't help but think about the three prisoners who made an escape attempt in June 1962. I watched the whole episode of that in History Channel and I somehow got a glimpse of the life they had at that time and how this place transformed them into becoming the most wanted prisoners of all time. I think this place put those prisoners into a true test rather than being sentenced, made them more resourceful rather than turning into a new leaf and made them think of the unthinkable.

We then went outside and took some pictures and I can help but mesmerized by the beauty of this island. You can almost forget that this island housed the most notorious prisoners and they claimed to be the most impenetrable prison in America. But at that time, all we saw were remnants of what happened a long time ago.

A view of the Golden gate bridge

It was quite the experience. From where I was standing, I had a really nice view of the old buildings below, the beautiful flowers and the golden gate bridge. Once a maximum-security, minimum-privilege facility for the most hardened and unrepentant criminals in the U.S. prison system but now a tourist paradise.

I still believe that the three prisoners were able to successfully escape, survived and hopefully this island changed them for the better.







Thank you so much for visiting my blog. I will speak to you guys on my next post.
Have a great day!

xoxo
-jeramie





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