Lounge of Tomorrow - American Journeys. Mortification by me, 1991 (age 25) PART 1

DAY THREE....Sunday December 1st 1991.
We woke up this morning at ten to eight, with the threat of an impending coach tour arriving to pick us up in the lobby at eight thirty. The coach arrived and found us waiting for it (god knows how).

We were driven to the main coach terminal in Sanfrancisco, where we had time for a quick danish and coffee before leaving on our coach tour. Our coach arrived, and we were given a quick run-down of the rules; no smoking, eating or drinking on the coach. We climbed aboard and headed off.

"Rich" was our tour guide, and he kept us entertained with his quick wit and endless anecdotes. On the way through the city he pointed out sights such as "little italy", which was the italian ghetto (made obvious by the unique architecture); Many earthquake damaged buildings which had been restored as faithfully as possible; the ruins of the bay bridge and adjoining freeway, which had fallen on itself during the recent earthquake; the museum of applied arts and sciences, and many more sights.

We soon found ourselves driving over the Golden Gate Bridge, of which we had a glorious view through the glass top of the coach. We passed the large control centre where they monitor the traffic constantly, and adjust lanes according to the flow of traffic. It was thrilling to have seen this unique icon of america, and to have actually travelled over it. Over the bridge we were in Marin county, and found ourselves heading toward the Rainbow tunnel.

In the late seventies, there was a move by the "Bohemian" types, who found the little bayside town of Sausalito irresistable. They moved there in droves away from the Haight/Ashbury area, and settled down to ply their trade in jewellery making, tarot readings and other such things. There is a set of concrete tunnels just past the Golden Gate, and they had painted the arched entrances to look like rainbows. This was the way you got into Sausalito; "over the rainbow".

We went through the town, but didn't stop. We were headed out to the MuirWoodsNational Monument.

We drove through countryside which was alarmingly like Australia, due to the high number of eucalypt trees, until we went down a winding little road, into the valley where the Muir woods were located.

The bus parked and we all got out. The smokers in the group (me) were advised to have our last smokes now, as once through the gate marking the entrance, we were not allowed to smoke owing to the conservation order. I finished the smoke, and we went in.

Muir woods has only one word to describe it....BIG! The major attraction is the giant redwoods, some of which are hollow at the base. There were signs telling you not to go into the hollow trees, but this did not prevent Maree and I from sneaking in to have a photo taken. I took some photos to try and give an idea of the tallness of the trees, but they didn't do it justice. The woods themselves were VERY cold, due to the thick canopy protecting the paths from the sun, and so it was like walking through a giant refrigerator.

We had a bit of morning tea in the kiosk and spoke to a few of the people on our tour. We then bought some View-Master slides, and some other souvenirs, then we left to get back to the bus.

Once back at the bus, we got on and went back up the winding road to Sausalito. As we travelled, Rich recited a poem which had been written in honour of the woods we had just seen, and it managed to convey the sense of grandeur and majesty that we had felt while engulfed by the giant trees. A short while later we ended up in Sausalito for morning tea.

We went through the town on foot and looked at several of the shops. They were all filled with hand-crafted jewellery and fashions and the like. The prices were a little on the expensive side, though. Morning tea was Ice-cream eaten while looking at Sausalito's famous house-boats, which were permanently moored along the edge of the water which ran along the main street of the town. Culture input over, we went back to the bus and continued our tour back to Fisherman's wharf.

We were dropped at the wharf at 12:30. We waited a while and ate (what else?) until our ferry was due to depart. At 2:15 we boarded our ferry and headed out to the next stop on our tour....Alcatraz Island.

We were on the ferry when I discovered the second best thing in the whole world.....Reeses Peanut Butter Cups. These are little patties of chocolate with peanut butter inside. I bought a pack of two, and I had one and a half, with Maree daring to try one half. Soon, though, we got off the ferry and walked onto the dock of Alcatraz.

Once there, we were met by a tour guide who informed us that we were about to tour the "Toughest" prison that ever was. She went over the security measures that were employed by guards minding incoming prisoners. There were around 200-250 people standing on the dock, which was roughly the same amount as prisoners at Alcatraz at any one time. We were then told to make our way up "Heartbreak Hill" to the Cellhouse.

The trip up the steep slope to the cellblock took all your stamina out of you, which is the way it was intended for the prisoners I expect. Once on top, the views were wonderful of the bay and the city. We passed run-down buildings which used to be the guard's "Family housing" and the officers club, and once we had seen these (No going in allowed as they were about to fall down) we went into the cell-house itself.

We entered a small room and were issued with a Walkman with a cassette in it. This was a self-conducted tour of the cell-house which was timed by the tape. It was narrated by various ex-criminals and ex-warders who related their different experiences with the rooms as you went through. The corridors between rows of cells were named after famous streets, so you went down such corridors as "Broadway" and "42nd St."

We saw the cells belonging to such notables as Al Capone, The Birdman of Alcatraz, and many other notorious criminals, including the three men who broke out of their cells and made an escape by the service passage which runs in between the cells. The cells they broke out of were left as they were at the time of breakout, and the dummy heads that they made from the concrete they had chipped from the walls were still in the beds. It was easy to see how the guards could have mistaken the dummy heads for real sleeping prisoners.

We saw the library, which was a barren room with two lonely bookshelves in it, The dining room with the kitchen at the end of it, and the visiting room. The kitchen had a board in it, which bore the silhouette of all the knives, which had to correspond with the number of silhouettes. The visiting room was a series of thick glass panels through which you were allowed to look at your visitor You couldn't hear them very well.

An eeriness was felt by everyone, not only of the hopelessness and despair that these men must have felt, but also of the realisation that this was to be their existence. A place of so much beauty and so much loss. The windows were large and unobstructed, so that in times of celebration such as new year and Fourth of July all the excitement from the city could actually be seen and heard, reminding the inmates of what they were missing. A very cruel trick.

We went down their hill again and watched a 12 minute slide show about "The Rock", saw an actual ex-prisoner who was making a living by selling copies of his book about his time in there, and then we went back to the dock to get the next ferry back to the mainland.