The Cube: San Francisco: Alcatraz

"Break the rules and you go to prison, break the prison rules and you go to Alcatraz"

If you ask me, I'll say the first rule of going to Alcatraz is plan and buy the tickets online early. This is of course to prevent disappointment of not able to secure a ticket (I believe Alcatraz is one of the top attractions in SF), also guaranteed of not to put yourself in the dilemma of not going to Alcatraz or pay cut throat price to touts.

Hmm.. second rule is please be there earlier. Ferries to Alcatraz departs on time. Departure time is printed on the tickets, you'll need to make the ferry prior to the given time but can leave any time as you wish (of course before the last ferry)

Ferries to Alcatraz departs from Pier 33, which is a short walk after by taking F line Street Car or cable car. At the point where we were going to Alcatraz, we thought it could easily be reached by foot. We could, but I'll say allocate more time. We started by strolling from Union Square area, by the time we reached Chinatown, we realised we only have 10 more minutes prior to ferry depature. It doesn't help that it was all uphill from there.

See the tower? That's Coit Tower. The walk from Chinatown brought us passed by the foot of Coit Tower. My heart sank when we reached the end of the road as shown on the map. So near yet so far. From there, it was climbing some flights of staircase and run towards Pier 33. We made it just in time.

Ferry ride from Pier 33 to Alcatraz takes about 15 minutes, with beautiful scenary of Oakland Bay Bridge.

Once reached, there was a short briefing. We joined one of the free talk called "Escape from Alcatraz". Apparently there's a movie called "Escape from Alcatraz", starred Clint Eastwood. I have never heard of the movie, maybe I should give it a go. I've watched "The Rock" though. :P During the briefing, they asked "Has anyone escape from Alcatraz aside from Clint Eastwood?" Haha.

Also, it is said that one could hear the cheering and wine glass toasting during New Year in SF city from Alcatraz, making prisoners' life even more difficult. So near yet so far.