I found it hard to put into words the experiences I’ve had until we had the day at Alcatraz, I have more than enough to say about this place!
Apart from the concentration camps in Europe, this tourist attraction was more than just seeing an old prison!
To be honest, I didn’t really even have that much interest in going there but thought ahwell, might aswell do the tourist thing..
We found out that tickets were booked out for the rest of the week, unless we went at 6am and lined up for the 20 tickets they left at the gate… And that is what we did!
Bright and early, but totally worth it!
It first started off as an audio tour that took you through the prison & made you truely feel like you were there.
The voices of the prisoners, wardens and guards painted a perfect picture of what it was like.
Every room looked completely untouched from the day the prison had closed down.
We also had the chance to meet the author & ex prisoner – William A. Baker.
My other Aussie mate made the cringe-worthy joke to him claiming that we already have something in common – we’re both ex convicts! Awkwardly funny..

We were lucky enough to be there on the day they held an art exhibition in a prohibited area that had never been accessed by any of the public! This was the @Large exhibition by Ai WeiWei. Ai WeiWei is an outspoken political human rights activist who has been detained from the Chinese government for the last … Years. He wasn’t actually aloud to leave the country because his passport was confiscated so volunteers had to set up the exhibit.
Ai WeiWei had a strong, powerful message to get across & he did it very well! His Lego piece display called “Trace” showed the many faces who were subject to political detainment in the present day. Many of which were detained for having freedom of speech that wasn’t agreed with.
Ai WeiWei’s work gave me a whole new perspective of the Alcatraz prison, & every prison for that matter. They aren’t all just bad people but some are innocent & haven’t received their justice.
It was an extremely moving exhibition & I would urge anyone to look into his work!

So my point to this is that if your heading to San Fran, make sure you leave a day to check out Alcatraz! You’ll be blown away!