Alcatraz the Unescapable Island? 👮🏝🚨

Having now visited Alcatraz myself and hearing the legend of and seeing the Clint Eastwood movie of Frank Morris' escape, I can't help wondering which Schrodinger's Cat like version of the tale is true?

I've heard so many different versions of the escape now that I don't know which version to believe.

I don't think I have ever watched the 1979 movie about the escape before renting it and watching it last night, but it wasn't lost on me that Patrick McGoohan from the TV show 'The Prisoner' plays the warden of Alcatraz in that film.

N0thing But A Number?

Patrick McGoohan
(March 19, 1928 – January 13, 2009) 

I see that Patrick McGoohan shares the 19th of March with the Sydney Harbour Bridge, by the way:-)

Opened 19 March 1932,
Inaugurated 19 March 1932

The Sydney Harbour Bridge Turns 93 Today? 🌉🎂

The day we went out to Alcatraz the water was very calm, but I guess that it would have been very cold, still being winter.

Escape from this place looks deceptively easy on a day like this.

The island certainly does have a history I learned while I was on the island doing some time.

"Beginning in November 1969, the island was occupied for more than 19 months by a group of Native Americans, initially primarily from San Francisco, who were later joined by AIM and other urban Native Americans from other parts of the country, who were part of a wave of Native American activists organizing public protests across the US through the 1970s. In 1972, Alcatraz was transferred to the Department of Interior to become part of Golden Gate National Recreation Area. It was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1986.
Today, the island's facilities are managed by the National Park Service as part of Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Visitors can reach the island by ferry ride from Pier 33, located between the San Francisco Ferry Building and Fisherman's Wharf. Hornblower Cruises, operating under the name Alcatraz Cruises, is the official ferry provider to and from the island."

As far as jails go this place seemed like a resort next to Boggo Road Jail in Brisbane, I thought, not that I would like to do time in either, but given the choice I think Alcatraz would be my pick -

Boggo Road Jail

All Our Shimmering Skies ... and Deluded Eyes?

Welcome to Alcatraz 2025

The audio tour was enlightening, and I would highly recommend it if you are in San Francisco some time.

It's like being on a film set in hindsight:-)

Especially since most of the 1979 movie was filmed here.

There is a lot of bird s#it on the island

You literally have to watch your step when outside walking around on the island:-)

And the seagulls over here in the USA look like they are on steroids compared to the Aussie seagulls I'm used to seeing back home.

Although these seagulls seemed more the size I'm used to at home

How bad can it be when you have plenty of time to read?

1001 Books I Must Read Before I Die ... Including the Banned Ones?📚📖🚫

While the prison tour was interesting, I would have loved to have been able to climb to the top of the Alcatraz Island Lighthouse.

It's the first lighthouse built on the U.S. West Coast according to the lighthouse's Wikipedia page.

The Lighthouse as a Synchromystic Metaphor/Archetype in 2020?

As I was taking pictures of the lighthouse while walking backwards to try and get all of the lighthouse in the shot, I turned around to see a knee-high fence I could have easily stumbled over and to my death by falling over the cliff and wondered if anyone has accidentally fallen over that fence to their death?
Seems a rather small fence for such a potentially big fall over a cliff to me.

I ended up buying an Alcatraz ornament, which now sits on my bookcase, minus the golden string, to remind me of my time on the island, as like Frank Morris I won't be going back, and the island is just now a distant memory now that I'm back on the island of Australia, where Great Britain used to send all of its bad prisoners in the past;-) 

Ironically, with all of Trump's tariff talk, on the bottom of the ornament it has a MADE IN CHINA sticker:-)

My son and I also bought an Alcatraz tin cup each.

He has been drinking his morning coffee from it, while mine just sits on the bookcase like the ornament.

There's No Place Like Home?🛫🏡🛬

Once we got back to the mainland, we headed for Coit Tower, but that's for another post. 

UPDATE: here is that post -

Getting Past the Troll at Coit Tower?🧌🌉

I also saw some seals at Pier 39 before my trip to Alcatraz, which reminded me of my old sync mate Jake Kotze and his Seallion You Tube channel:-)

A seallion outside of our San Francisco hotel:-)

Welcome to the USA?🛫🛬