The Last of my San Francisco Pics: Our Tour of Alcatraz Island and Prison.....

So I have here just one more trip-related post in order to upload the last of my photographs from our recent San Francisco excursion.  Hard to believe it was already EXACTLY two weeks ago (pretty much to the minute!) today that we were on Alcatraz Island's night tour -- and a fascinating experience it was indeed.  So fascinating in fact that we weren't quite ready to leave it when it was time for the last ferry to depart the island for the day -- I hadn't finished my self-guided audio tour tape before I had to relinquish my earphones to the guides trying to corral us out, nor did any of the four of us have the chance to watch the informational movie set up for tourists in the old building that houses the gift shop (which we didn't get to check out either).  It's our own fault really for being so pokey I suppose -- we (well, mostly me) are those annoying types that if there is ANY information, we have to read every word of it, as well as linger upon any and all details, and crawl over every available nook and cranny.  But oh well -- just leaves stuff for us to get back to NEXT time we go out there.....

And so, here are my many and gratuitous Alcatraz Island tour pics....:

Getting ready to board the ferry from the Fisherman's Warf/Pier 39 area.  We had been looking forward to our tour for a long time and were pretty excited (Note:  The tours fill up fast so it's important to book them well in advance)....

While standing in line for the Alcatraz Island ferry I snapped this pic of the iconic TransAmerica Pyramid  in the distance....

Plus a photo of this well known S.F. hilltop landmark, the art deco Coit Tower.....

This photo gets them both together in the same shot.....!

The hilltop Coit Tower getting smaller and smaller in the distance as the ferry pulls out of the harbor on its way to The Rock.....

Looking over the other side of the boat at the Bay Bridge in the far distance, connecting S.F. to Oakland.....

And there it is, The Rock.....!

 

Getting closer to Alcatraz....(and might I just say how super chilly and blustery it was out there on that boat....?)....

Lots of cool old outbuildings that made up the Alcatraz complex.  Most of these predate the actual prison itself.....

Civil war era buildings near the waterside, with the Prison behind on the top of the hill....

Looking on the other side of the boat, you can see the sun is setting (this was the Night Tour after all), and the fog rolling in (if it weren't for the mist, you would otherwise be able to see the Golden Gate Bridge toward the left).....

My daughter with Alcatraz Island in the background.....

We disembarked, ready to explore.  On our hike up the hill to the prison we passed lots of old buildings, some of them mere shells of their former selves, like this one.....

Lots of angles and geometry looking down upon the roof line of the outbuildings from our vantage point from further up on the hill.....

Alcatraz is today now a haven for birds -- they are everywhere on the island....

There are also tons of lovely, colorful wildflowers that thrive there (plus you can lots of HUGE tanker ships, like this one that I managed to capture in the shot,  cruising back and forth across the Bay).....

Inside Alcatraz -- an example of a typical prison cell.....

My daughter hanging out inside a a cell in 'D' block, reserved for inmates sentenced to solitary confinement (and my most fervent wish as a parent that this is the closest she EVER gets to experiencing prison life!)....

My son checking out one of the infamous 'Holes' -- solitary confinement combined with light deprivation for the folks who REALLY blew it (As they say, the folks that broke society's rules went to prison.  The folks that broke prison rules went on to Alcatraz.  And the folks who broke the rules of Alcatraz...went on...to The Hole (temporarily anyway)....)....

A cell with some examples of the personal effects an inmate might have had....

Looking down into The Yard, where the prisoners could access the outside and take exercise....

It was incredibly blustery out there that evening, the wind and mist whipping around something fierce, but we braved the elements and checked everything out.....

Looking up at the prison from down in The Yard, and the steps the prisoners would hang out on...

Another view from The Yard....

Heading back upstairs into the prison....

Always lots of steps everywhere in S.F. no matter where you go....

More steps.  And nesting birds are everywhere, having claimed Alcatraz as their own (those black specks on the rock down at the water's edge are all birds)....

Moonrise.  A shot looking over the bay from the hilltop just outside the prison doors....

The original old lighthouse -- it survived a severe fire....

The one-time visitor's entrance into Alcatraz prison....

A display mannequin modeling a typical 1950's-era guard uniform (Alcatraz closed for good in 1962)....

The mess hall.  At one time it would have been crowded with prisoners taking their meals....

Fun to tour at night!  Creepy too.  But, they kicked us out, so reluctantly we had to go and head back to the last ferry to leave the island for the day (definitely NOT a place I would care to be stranded to spend the night!)....

Hiking back down the hill toward the dock....

Passing the old ruins....

One last view of Marin County on the other side of the bay, and what I'm guessing are the lights of Sausalito......

And the night lights of the San Francisco skyline, welcoming us back as we return to town on the ferry (note I was pretty much the only soul to brave the damp, chill and blustery gale to stand outside on the boat deck to snap this pic.  Brrrr!  As the venerable Mark Twain once quipped: "The coldest winter I ever spent...was a summer in San Francisco".  Ha!).....