Of course the first thing we do in San Francisco was Alcatraz. It's a really neat tour an you get to take a ferry across to the island which of course has some nice views of San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the Bay Bridge. I found it interesting that the prison was only in operation for about 30 years before it was shut down due to the high cost of maintaining it but it has such a stigma associated with it. Now Alcatraz is a a national park and is home to a ton of nesting seagulls and other ocean birds. The gardens and flowers on the island are also pretty impressive.
The audio tour takes you through the main cellhouse including solitary, the administration area, and the meal hall. You can look into any cell on the main floor and even walk into a couple of them. There are even shrapnel marks on the walls and floor from one of the escape attempts. It definitely feels like there is a ton of history in those walls.
You can basically stay on the island as long as they're open just exploring but it really isn't that big of a place. Unfortunately it is nothing like it is portrayed in the The Rock.
For the rest of the day we walked around the rest of the harbour and visited the delicious Ghiradelli chocolate store and rode a cable car back to our hotel. It was pretty neat but packed with people.
