escape artists

alcatraz...one of the most infamous and notorious federal prisons in the world - the subject of hollywood films and many a popular myth. you can see the island from san francisco itself of course...a mile and a half off-shore and usually covered slightly in mist it looks spooky and uninhabitable. but today we took a deep breath and traveled to the place where the most hardened criminals were sent when there was no where else to go...the place that most san franciscans would have preferred to forget existed only 40 years ago.

the rangers on the national park that is alcatraz island obviously take great pride in regaling the general public with the stories of former inmates. as we followed 'ranger joan' (who could well have been an inmate herself by the look of her...) she told us stories of escapes and attempted escapes...made all the more real as we looked over the frigid water and swirling currents which, it is said, killed those escapees who were never found....the government is very quick to make the statement that no one ever successfully escaped from alcatraz....but there were convicts who escaped and whose bodies were never found floating on the shoreline....did they survive??

There is one inmate who certainly did not escape...who is, in fact, still at alcatraz. admittedly he no longer sleeps behind bars but has written a book, presumably about his horrific experiences, and now sits on a comfy chair in the cellhouse bookshop, signing his autograph and answering the questions of curious tourists. (sir, did you ever meet Al Capone....? um lets see shall we you stupid tourist....NO - alcatraz wasn't exactly a social club..) Seriously though - if you had done time in what was, in the day, the most hardcore prison in the USA...would you really go back of your own free will to work each and every day years later?? having heard what i did of life as a convict as i walked around the now empty cells, I found the whole idea quite strange.

this afternoon i made my own escape...for me the forbidden land is the magical world of american department stores...Macy's, Bloomingdales, Saks 5th Avenue.................for a few free hours i was in heaven. San Francisco has awesome shopping and i'm still making good use of a very nice exchange rate. God bless America.

tomorrow we escape again - this time to Seattle for one night only and then escaping the USA entirely as we finally make our way back into canada....

stay tuned. xxxx