Alcatraz
We met Mart with just enough time to get on the boat. We found a starboard place to stand on the side outside as the boat road out for a clockwise spin around the rock before docking there. Upon disembarkation everyone leaving the boat was issued with an audio guide and told that they must be back in time for the one and only boat back that day. We were led inside and the three of us started our guides playing.
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We were led from room to room being told the stories of the prison of Alcatraz as we went. We saw where prisoners had overcome guards and grenade blast marks from the siege that followed. We saw the central path down the main cell block called Broadway by the prisoners and we saw D Block where the solitary cells could be seen. We saw the cells where prisoners had painstakingly chiselled out the air vents and made manikins as part of the escape attempt which was dramatised in the Clint Eastward film, Escape From Alcatraz. And we saw the buildings surrounding the prison that formed the small village where the prison staff lived.
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The view on the island from outside the prison was quite something and we got out there just as the sun was setting. The skyline went from deep blue through purple and yellow to orange, creating spectacular silhouettes. We had quite a while to look around, but eventually it was time to regroup and head back to San Francisco.
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