Alcatraz

Set off at 9 to get to Pier 33 by 10.30. Yes excessive but got there is plenty of time on the street car. Long line up even though we had purchased our tickets online. It was a foggy day, bit cool. The ferry trip over was great, good to get a perceptive of SF from the bay. When we arrived we joined a tour that gave the story of Henry Young who the movie 'Murder in the First' was about. Ranger John took us through some of the history of Alcatraz while walking up the incline (yes it was steep Gayle). Henry had tried to escape and was caught, he then stabbed one of his fellow escapees as this man had caused them to be delayed in their attempt and hence Henry attributed the failure to him. In 1941 Henry was able to convince the jury that he was innocent of murder because of the cruelty he had suffered at Alcatraz. Eventually in the late part of the 20 Century he was finally released and there is no trace of what happened to him. Next was an audio tour of the cell block, well done and interesting. I will have to watch the Birdman of Alcatraz again! We then watched a Discovery TV documentary of Alcatraz and the Indian protest of the late 1960's. The Indian occupation was interesting, from Nov. 20, 1969, until June 11, 1971, Indians occupied the abandoned Island, reclaiming it as Indian land and demanding fairness and respect for Indian peoples. This lead to much support and turned the tide for Indian people(well according to the video clips). This history was unexpected and interesting. Many of the historic buildings were burnt during this time, not sure who was responsible. The island is worth the visit, we spent about 4 1/2 hours there and the time flew. The ferry trip back was great and we headed for more chowder. After lunch we lined up for another cable car trip back to Union Square and had to wait over an hour in between French and Italian tourists. Interesting, finishing the day with an nice Californian vino! Finally found some nice wine.