Alcatraz and the San Francisco Giants

You can tell I like writing headlines can't you?

I enjoy the sound of this one very much - it rolls off the tongue like a chapter heading of a fairy tale.

Anyway, on a recent business trip to the states my meeting schedules meant that I had to over-weekend it in San Francisco (poor me). And so I took the opportunity to visit the old Alacatraz prison - something I've been meaning to do for well over a decade.

I wish I'm made the pilgrimage earlier - it was a great way to spend 4 hours or so (would not want to be banged up in one of the TINY cells for a long period of time however! They do offer sleep-over tours. No thanks! Not for me). They had one of those sound-stick affairs - where each room is on a closed loop and so it relays a voice over specific to your location. This one was particularly atmospheric - it was narrated by the screws and in-mates. Fascinating. They claim that no one successfully escaped from the place - a few made it off the island but they reputedly were never seen again (although there have been sightings in South America).

I really can't imagine what it would have been like to be cooped up there on that island with San Fran teasingly on the horizon (apparently if the wind was right the in-mates could hear noises of parties etc on the mainland). SF appears tantalisingly close - but the sea remains very cold all year round and there are wicked currents. As a further deterrent, the authorities did not dispel rumours of sharks in the Bay! Reminded me to re-read Papillon - a book I read many times as a kid despite it being a bit trash and 500+ pages in length. The movie's great too (1973!) - one of the only movies where I can tolerate looking @ Dustin Hoffman (I find him immensely irritating - it's his teeth).

Alcatraz was followed up by a trip to the ballpark. A major league baseball game between San Francisco Giants and the San Diego Padres.

Everyone told me I'd be bored rigid. But I had a wonderful afternoon - they Yanks do this kind of thing really well - good atmosphere; beer; pizza; crowd-rallying organ music etc etc. It was a tied game at the end of the 9th innings. It was an exciting period leading up to the tie and so at the end of the ninth, I started getting up ready to go (happy I'd seen an interesting game). Everyone looked at me like I was mad! What I had not realised is that, if it's a tie, the game has an extra innings. The Giants scored a home run in this extra time - so the crowd went home delirious.

In addition to being told it was boring, I was also warned that it'd be freezing. So I wrapped myself in 4 outer layers. It was a bit cold (thanks to the wind coming off the Bay) - but I had a shock when I got back to the hotel. My face had really bad sunburn. I had to go to the office next day with a face like a radish!

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