Somebody said: "you breake the rules and you go to prison, you break the prison rules and you go to alcatraz".
Tuesday( 31/07) I went on an offsite with the google team to Alcatraz,even though i didn't break any prison ruls :D.
The trip to the island was pretty short and we stayed there for about 2.5 hours. If you ever have the opportunity to go there you should really take the audio tour and listen to it. Also if you can you should take a couple of minutes to hear one of the stories that rangers tell to the public.
The first thing that I noticed was that the prison is a lot smaller than I expected.
The main compound is located on top of the island so after a pretty long walk I got up there and I think that I found out one of the reasons why Alcatraz was a dreaded prison: imagine that you are locked up for 30 years or smth and that a mile away you can see San Francisco(you will see photos pretty soon). One of the inmates was telling on an audio tape that sometimes when a yacht club or smth were throwing big parties the sound of the music and of ppl laughing was brought by the wind to the cells of the inmates. It must have been unbearable to know that you are only miles away from freedom but chances are you'll never get there.
Although the park rangers try to keep the place in the best conditions time has taken its toll on the island and the buildings. Inside the prison there aren't a lot of things left, most cells are empty without appliances,beds and stuff like in the old times. Still... there are some that have been recreated with accuracy. Perhaps the most important ones are those in which 3 detainees that made one of the most famous escape. There are even the papier-mâché dummies in their cells,which they used to conceal their escape.
Another famous escape attempt(and the most violent one) was named Battle of Alcatraz in 1946, in which three prisoners and two guards were killed and two prisoners were later executed at San Quentin for their participation in the battle.
If you want to learn more on the escape attempts or on Alcatraz you can use ( as usually) the wikipedia : link.
The prison was "home" to a lot of famous criminals including Al "Scarface" Capone but now it is mainly the home of hundreds of birds. The prison has also been turned into a "national park" hence the rangers present.
So.....I've been to jail and all I have to show for it are these lousy pictures( i left the exposure compensation to +0.3 so they came out a "little" overexposed < <> >). Pictures coming up ....now:
San Francisco pictures for
1 comment:
Interesante amintiri, mon cher, doar ca pozele sufera tare de tot la capitolul post-prelucrare. Sa pastrezi originalele, ca sa scoatem ceva din ele, cand ne-om intalni la prima bere.
(en) Nice memories, my friend, just that the pictures need more post-processing. Keep the originals so we can get masterpieces out of them at the next beer.
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