Days 4-7 (Monday - Thursday 27th-30th Dec 04’):
Nicky, her boyfriend (Parthiv) and I set out at 6 am to go to the airport. SJ was kind of cold, so the walk to the VTA was more like a run to it. We took the VTA to the airport, where we picked up our rental car from a rather soft-spoken and prejudiced gentleman (He actually had the audacity of saying to me, in return for a rather genuine question I posed to him, "Are'nt New Yorkers 30 years behind Californians?") Not exactly my favourite way of starting a day, as I wondered to myself, "How not-Californian can that get, a person talking to you so rudely?" As long as I lived in California, I had always maintained that Californians are like their weather; warm and sunny, even to strangers. I remember missing the fact that strangers smile at each other in this state, when I moved to New York, where people barely manage to say "Excuse me" if they are in a rush. And here comes this random car-rental guy, who decides to screw up that whole image. Thankfully, for every rude bloke, there's an entire state full of sunny people, that I've encountered.
We took our car and came back to Nicky's place to pick up our luggage. Parthiv had accompanied us all this while, so that in the drive back from the airport to Nicky's place, he could familiarise her with the car's controls and make her comfortable for the long drive ahead. With our luggage in the boot, we were all set to drive off to what would become a 12 hour journey to Southern California, in a thunderstorm. The plan was to drive on Route 1, a.k.a the Pacific Coast Highway (which runs parallel to the Pacific Ocean), from North to South California. Driving down the length of California, on the PCH is one of those must-do's in the US, so today was our turn to do it!
To synopsize the 12 hr journey, I will just say it was packed with some very good driving/ navigating skills (on both Nicky's and my part) that took us through the rain and storm, some heavenly views of the pacific ocean, the rocky landscapes, the deep blue skies, the thick forests with varying degrees of green and beautiful roads that wound in and out but stayed faithful to the ocean all the time! After having driven for a while on the Route 1 (around 7 hours, to be precise), we decided that the view was getting monotonous and the weather, nasty. So we diverged inwards to join the 101 S Highway, at San Luis Obispo, hoping to reach our destiantion faster. What would now have been about a 3-4 hr journey took us almost an hour longer, thanks to the LA traffic. Driving through LA, made me nostalgic, especially as I navigated Nicky through LA quite comfortably, as though I still lived there.
After some excellent 'against-the-storm' driving on Nicky's behalf we finally reached San Diego (Nicky's sister's place at Del Mar Heights) at 10 pm. Sveta and Prayag, (Nicky's sis and brother-in-law) had just become proud parents of a little baby girl, Radhika. It was good to meet the Patel's (all three generations of them) after so long. We had dinner at their place while waiting for Raga to come pick me up. Raga came with Shruti and her fiance Malhar, a while later and after some post-dinner conversation, we left to go to Raga's place, my pad for the next 4 days in San Diego.
Malhar, Shruti's fiance was also visiting her from TX, that week, which meant we had each other's company for the time when Raga and Shruti would be at work. The POA for the next four days, was to visit some friends in LA, catch up with some in SD and then drive back (this time along I-5) to San Jose, with Nicky on Thursday, the 30th of December. New Year's Eve was to be spent with Raj's family and friends' partying in the San Jose Convention Center.
Turns out California decides to see it's worst-in-a-long-time weather just that week and ruin my plans. My faithful-to-the-West-Coast friends, absolute lovers of the beautiful Californian weather, decided that I had brought the depressing, cold, wet rains with me from the East Coast, to ruin their week. So plans to go to LA next day were cancelled and I spent all my time with my SD friends - not one bit regretting it though:)
I must add here, that San Diego is my different kind of a "home" in the US. Not that I have ever lived there, it's home because that's where I get pampered, spoilt, taken care of, cooked for, loved, shopped for, taken out to restaurants....and all that can be categorised as what Mom does for you, at home!!! It used to my first retreat from LA, when I lived there.
I often wish I have a SD close to me here in NYC...
......which is as close as a 2 hour bus-ride away,
......where I can always be assured of good times, good laughs,
......where I have a friend (almost my twin) who has known me for 26 years,
......another who has been there for me, through my initial unsettling days in this country
......and most importantly, a place where I am always welcome!
In the days that followed, I enjoyed myself thoroughly, catching up with friends, old and new and visiting various places in SD where Raga and I would hang out when I lived in LA. I even managed to have an old friend, Sachin, who lives in Huntington Beach, come to SD for dinner, because I couldnt go to LA and was really thrilled when he obliged.
On Thursday, Nicky and I left SD early in the morning at 6 am, to get to San Jose well before dark. The drive back was really short (6 hours), with several stops en route. The weather was beautiful and we had five rainbows alongside while driving for most part of the journey. As we reached North Cal in the afternoon, we decided to take a detour towards Fremont, to meet a friend of mine, Janvi, from architecture undergrad. Turns out, Janvi is spending her Christmas break with some family friends, who are Nicky's distant relatives. My eyes rolled, like there was no tomorrow (I have always teased Nicky at the profundity and omnipresence of her clan in the US and did not know that I was soon to see a classic example of it, myself). Having caught up with Janvi after ages, we left to resume our journey back to SJ. We must have been in the heart of Silicon Valley, as I noticed the PeopleSoft Office in Pleasanton.
Finally in the evening, after reaching Nicky's place and picking up Parthiv, three of us left to go to Rajs'. We met his family, played with his nephew Arav for a bit and then went for dinner to a 'Yan Can Cook' close by.
After dinner, we finally called it a night at Nicky's place.
Thursday, December 30, 2004
Sunday, December 26, 2004
San Francisco/ Sausalito/ San Jose - Day 3
Day 3 (Sunday 26th Dec 04’):
Today was my last day at Kunal's place as I was scheduled to head out to San Jose in the evening. So the plan was to head out to Sausalito, an elite island up north of the city, from where we could jog across the Golden Gate bridge.
Kunal and I had checked the timings for the ferry, which would take us across to Sausalito the next morning. However, we both woke up late:) and realised we might just be able to make it, if we cabbed it to the Ferry Terminal building. So we found ourselves running across the street and onto the pier where the ferry was to take off from, just in time to get aboard. Once aboard, we went upstairs on the upper deck to get a good view of the SF we were to leave behind and all its water-scapes.
SF was truly living up to its fogginess those days and the once-blue sky had turned grey. The result: not such great pictures, but tremendous fun all the same. It was drizzling on the deck, as I took in the receding SF skyline behind me with the Bay bridge in the distance. The Golden Gate bridge was not clearly visible, so I guessed that I would have to wait till I actually got on it, to see the remarkable 'red' of it. Alcatrass was visible in the distance and I made up my mind to visit it the next time I would be here.
Sausalito, from the ferry, appeared to have tiers of houses on its sloping water's edge. The ferry got us there in about 25 mins. As we disembarked and walked around a bit, I was reminded of O'Bahn (a similar island city, north of Glasgow, Scotland) and Martha's Vineyard, close to Boston, MA. It's the same theory: similar geographies yield similar architectural scapes, obviously! We walked by a couple of stores and restaurants, browsing around for what they had to offer. At a candy store, (Kunal has a big sweet tooth) we bought salt water taffy (I had always wanted to taste it, since I got to know how it sticks to your teeth). We decided to go to a high-end Italian restaurant, by the ocean for lunch. Somehow the place did not live up to it's standards, and we were sorely disappointed by the service and the food.
However that did not dampen the course of the rest of our day. We found out the timings of the bus that would take us to the Sausalito-end of the Golden Gate bridge, from where we could walk across it, into SF.
Turns out, we did get the bus, but due to the lack of communication on my behalf, the driver actually drove us right across the bridge, into SF and stopped there. Not ones to let go off the walking-the-bridge experience, Kunal and I alighted and decided to walk to the nearest pylon and come right back. It was windy on the bridge and the bus timings were highly erratic that Sunday - our perfect excuses for not walking the bridge's entire length.
The walk was unforgettable. The Golden Gate Bridge is one of the most beautiful structures I have ever been in, and like all of SF, it too had its own unique colour, RED. That inherently, enhanced all the pictures taken there. Since I am always drawing references, this came closest to walking on the Tower Bridge and the Millenium Bridge in London. The entire bridge spans less than 2 miles, so its practically walkable, hence walking-the-bridge is definitely on every SF tourist's must-do lists. The experience was equally awesome for Kunal as this was his first time walking across too. We joked about the presence of so many Indian's there (all staring at each other), easily differentiating between the lover's/ newly marrieds and of course the Silicon Valley junkies. It's a joke that in most of America's world-famous tourist spots such as the Niagara Falls, Golden Gate Bridge and the Empire State building you will find plenty of Indians. I must admit, I have been to all three of them and thus am a small reason of why that theory arose:)
We took the bus back close to Kunal's place as it was time for me to pick up my stuff and leave for SJ. The first part of the trip was over and I bid goodbye to him at the bus stop, to get into a MUNI which would take me to 4th and King (CalTrain station). I was to take the Southbound train and travel right through Silicon Valley to Lawrence, where Raj Sr. and Jr. were going to pick me up. The evening was to be spent at their place, meeting their family, especially Arav (Raj Sr's son) and seeing their newly bought house.
After an evening filled with socialising and home-cooked dinner (after long), I got dropped off to my friend Nicky's house in downtown SJ, close to her school SJSU. We were to pick up our rented car tomorrow early morning, to drive along Route 1 to San Diego, our destination for the next 4 days.
Among the various other inferences that are a part of my previous two days' travelogue, there are a few more that I concluded at the end of my SF trip:
As is the case with every city I travel to, I always ask myself at the end of the trip, if I can live here. The answer to that question with respect to SF is 'Yes'. For me the final word on a city and how much I loved it, rests largely with the answer to this question...Kunal, my city-mate had only one thing to say..that kind of sums it all up..."You have been following my route to every city I have lived in, from LA to NYC; and each time you lived there, after I moved out. So just let me know when you have plans to move here, It means it's time for me to move out!!
I 'll let you know Kunal, when that happens!:)
Today was my last day at Kunal's place as I was scheduled to head out to San Jose in the evening. So the plan was to head out to Sausalito, an elite island up north of the city, from where we could jog across the Golden Gate bridge.
Kunal and I had checked the timings for the ferry, which would take us across to Sausalito the next morning. However, we both woke up late:) and realised we might just be able to make it, if we cabbed it to the Ferry Terminal building. So we found ourselves running across the street and onto the pier where the ferry was to take off from, just in time to get aboard. Once aboard, we went upstairs on the upper deck to get a good view of the SF we were to leave behind and all its water-scapes.
SF was truly living up to its fogginess those days and the once-blue sky had turned grey. The result: not such great pictures, but tremendous fun all the same. It was drizzling on the deck, as I took in the receding SF skyline behind me with the Bay bridge in the distance. The Golden Gate bridge was not clearly visible, so I guessed that I would have to wait till I actually got on it, to see the remarkable 'red' of it. Alcatrass was visible in the distance and I made up my mind to visit it the next time I would be here.
Sausalito, from the ferry, appeared to have tiers of houses on its sloping water's edge. The ferry got us there in about 25 mins. As we disembarked and walked around a bit, I was reminded of O'Bahn (a similar island city, north of Glasgow, Scotland) and Martha's Vineyard, close to Boston, MA. It's the same theory: similar geographies yield similar architectural scapes, obviously! We walked by a couple of stores and restaurants, browsing around for what they had to offer. At a candy store, (Kunal has a big sweet tooth) we bought salt water taffy (I had always wanted to taste it, since I got to know how it sticks to your teeth). We decided to go to a high-end Italian restaurant, by the ocean for lunch. Somehow the place did not live up to it's standards, and we were sorely disappointed by the service and the food.
However that did not dampen the course of the rest of our day. We found out the timings of the bus that would take us to the Sausalito-end of the Golden Gate bridge, from where we could walk across it, into SF.
Turns out, we did get the bus, but due to the lack of communication on my behalf, the driver actually drove us right across the bridge, into SF and stopped there. Not ones to let go off the walking-the-bridge experience, Kunal and I alighted and decided to walk to the nearest pylon and come right back. It was windy on the bridge and the bus timings were highly erratic that Sunday - our perfect excuses for not walking the bridge's entire length.
The walk was unforgettable. The Golden Gate Bridge is one of the most beautiful structures I have ever been in, and like all of SF, it too had its own unique colour, RED. That inherently, enhanced all the pictures taken there. Since I am always drawing references, this came closest to walking on the Tower Bridge and the Millenium Bridge in London. The entire bridge spans less than 2 miles, so its practically walkable, hence walking-the-bridge is definitely on every SF tourist's must-do lists. The experience was equally awesome for Kunal as this was his first time walking across too. We joked about the presence of so many Indian's there (all staring at each other), easily differentiating between the lover's/ newly marrieds and of course the Silicon Valley junkies. It's a joke that in most of America's world-famous tourist spots such as the Niagara Falls, Golden Gate Bridge and the Empire State building you will find plenty of Indians. I must admit, I have been to all three of them and thus am a small reason of why that theory arose:)
We took the bus back close to Kunal's place as it was time for me to pick up my stuff and leave for SJ. The first part of the trip was over and I bid goodbye to him at the bus stop, to get into a MUNI which would take me to 4th and King (CalTrain station). I was to take the Southbound train and travel right through Silicon Valley to Lawrence, where Raj Sr. and Jr. were going to pick me up. The evening was to be spent at their place, meeting their family, especially Arav (Raj Sr's son) and seeing their newly bought house.
After an evening filled with socialising and home-cooked dinner (after long), I got dropped off to my friend Nicky's house in downtown SJ, close to her school SJSU. We were to pick up our rented car tomorrow early morning, to drive along Route 1 to San Diego, our destination for the next 4 days.
Among the various other inferences that are a part of my previous two days' travelogue, there are a few more that I concluded at the end of my SF trip:
As is the case with every city I travel to, I always ask myself at the end of the trip, if I can live here. The answer to that question with respect to SF is 'Yes'. For me the final word on a city and how much I loved it, rests largely with the answer to this question...Kunal, my city-mate had only one thing to say..that kind of sums it all up..."You have been following my route to every city I have lived in, from LA to NYC; and each time you lived there, after I moved out. So just let me know when you have plans to move here, It means it's time for me to move out!!
I 'll let you know Kunal, when that happens!:)
Saturday, December 25, 2004
San Francisco - Day 2
Day 2 (Saturday 25th Dec 04’):
Merry Christmas!
After waking up at 7 in the morning, Kunal and I set off for our day-long tour of the city. En route we stopped by three cafe's (two of which were closed), trying to get coffee and a croissant. I had already noticed how exclusive each cafe was in SF; as Kunal had correctly put, every store tried to do its own thing here. That is why, the idea was to have coffee from a place that specialised in a certain variety of it, such as the Dutch Cafe near his place. Ironically, though we ended up with a Starbucks' cup in hand, since that was the only one open.
Christmas morning was beautiful, crisp and clear with the sun shining in a perfect blue sky. (Soon I was to see that it would be my only ideal "Californian" morning in that entire week). We overheard a lady basking in the sun, with her coffee say " I dont believe I am sitting out in the sun, having coffee on Christmas morning." She must probably come from the east coast, where Christmas is synonymous with the snow, not the sun.
We walked towards Powell St. where Kunal showed me how the trolley turned, literally on a huge wooden turn-table embedded in the ground. From Powell St. we walked towards the SF MOMA (Museum of Modern Art). Kunal is a member with them and thought we could possibly start of our day with a little bit of art. So we walked through a public plaza and the Center for the Arts to reach SF MOMA, which was celebrating Christmas day as well. That left us with two pictures of the building from the outside before we moved on to the Ferry Building while walking through the SF downtown. It was near the Ferry Building that it started sinking into me that this was California, a better version than the one I had lived in before, with its picture postcard palms dotting the blue sky and the unmissable green and white freeway signage! Since the morning was foggy, we could'nt get very clear sights of the Bay bridge in the distance. We walked inside the Ferry Terminal building, which was uncannily empty on account of the holiday. Kunal showed me his favourite fusion restaurant, where his firm had their Christmas dinner last year. That's another thing about him, he's the food and drink connoisseur, almost like a google search machine, you mention the cuisine and he will reply back with the restaurant which serves it best!
An interesting note here, on the parallels of water and architecture. The water's edge in SF was very similar in character to the Thames's bank in London. I think it was by around this time that my mind had established the hypothesis that SF was somewhere between NYC and London ( two cities I am absolutely in love with), thus making SF another one of my favourites.
From the Ferry Terminal building we boarded a MUNI bus, that took us through all the piers and dropped us off at Pier 39. I had been to Pier 39 before, almost two years ago, but somehow it seemed more made-up this time. That can possibly be attributed to my wider exposure to America now, than before. So the Pier 39 experience was highly plastic, pretentious and had this dishonest quality about it, you could feel it's desperation to be a tourist site. The best thing about Pier 39 were the mini donuts that we bought and almost finished too soon. I wondered aloud to Kunal, how this conscise version of the casual donut had not found itself more shores than this one.
From Pier 39 we took another bus which took us to the Coit Tower, from where we could see the entire city. Thankfully the fog had subsided by then, so we got some marvellous views of the city, with the piers on one side, the bridges from the other and the city fabric all over. The city's slopes lend it the unique character as do the absence of swimming pools, unlike in LA, flying over which reveals blue pools within each backyard. Another important difference between both these Californian cities. I had begun to fall in love with the 'SF-California', more dynamic, creative, open and wild as I compared it constantly with the 'LA-California', plastic, pretentious and secretive (Had I said 'dishonest' instead, it would equal my experience of Pier 39)
The next stop was to be Lombard St. (a.k.a Crooked St.), but due to holiday service, we were left with two options, either walk it up all the way or view it from far away and set off to the next destination. We opted for the latter choice and after taking a few shots of the famous street in the distance, Kunal and I got into another exclusive cafe to grab a quick bite. The cafe in North Beach specialised in freshly baked bagels and their variety, a welcome break from the typical Dunkin Donut/ street car bagels of NYC. We opted to share a bagel with various veggies in it, while we waited for the trolley. That cafe in North Beach classifies for my "Exotic taste on the trip" list - clearly a list that comprises of eateries, where I eat, on my travels and remember for the rest of my life.
At this point I must also mention some more SF trivia: As I looked at the picturesque houses dotting Lombard St. Kunal mentioned how there were specific designers these days, to allot colours to the exterior facades of the houses. Although, it kind of messed up the theory I had held so far, that these colours are more user-defined than designed, I did begin to notice how remarkably dynamic they rendered the streetscapes. Most victorian-style houses dotting the slopes of SF, had a unique vintage character and colours, but what tied them all together was the 'Bay Window'- a term ( I was convinced by the end of this trip) that comes from the omnipresence of these windows in the Bay Area. A bay window is a window which enhances the function of a window - it lets you seat yourself in it and become a part of it. It's foot print is three-sided and it usually juts out from the facade of a house, over the street. The more techincal description is as below:
Bay window -- most commonly a three-sided window extension projecting out from the wall plane and forming a recess within; delineated by an interior decorative arch, a Victorian walk-in bay window can accommodate a small sofa or chairs, while shallower bays may serve as window seats
Back to the cafe, where we ate, while waiting for the trolley. It was time for my first trolley journey in SF and another historic fact: Kunal told me every trolley in SF has been bought from various cities all over the world. Each trolley proudly displays its unique history and place of origin on its interior. You can say it was my destiny to be on one which displayed "Los Angeles" on it. Figured as far as you may want to run from it, you land right into it.
The trolley took us into Chinatown, where on my insistence, we walked a bit exploring the various shops. The SF Chinatown is the biggest one in N. America and that means it would possibly also be the most authentic one, hence my insistence. We went store to store, tasting chinese titbits, from dried fruits to dried animals (the latter I refrained from) until finally I had this sudden urge to eat dumplings. We ended up at a restaurant that did'nt serve dumplings (It was like the time when I asked for 'mochi'- a delicious japanese dessert ball at a Japanese restaurant and was told they did'nt offer it). Thought to myself, how would it be if an Indian restaurant did'nt serve samosa. Kunal's more logical explanation was that it may be a regional delicacy, hence all Japanese restaurants dont serve it.
I didnt care..I wanted my mochi, the kind I always bought in Little Tokyo, en route to SCI_Arc, and I still had'nt found it anywhere else!
Post lunch, we took off to Kunal's office which was nearby. He gave me a tour of the splendid views his office has of SF downtown/ chinatown and I noticed the designed public places for the very first time in the city. Time for more California trivia: California is primarily man-made and designed, most of the landscapes are trimmed and pruned and very rarely would you find a tuft of grass not touched by a gardener's clippers. Also, cleanliness takes on another meaning here: After living in NYC, I had forgotten that this coast of the country, believed in cleanliness,
seriously!
Kunal then called his friend Cary, who lives in Dolores Park, while I got in touch with my friend Amar who was to meet us in the city somewhere. Turned out that Amar and group were also heading to the Tea Gardens in Golden Gate Park, so we decided to meet there. Cary, works as a medical representative for Procter & Gamble (She was to market Vioxx, until it got taken off the market). She was a recent migrant to SF herself, from NYC, so we had a lot to talk about. Cary drove us to the Tea Gardens, where the three of us walked around and took in the beautiful lush surroundings of the Zen gardens. The garden was to close at 5:00 pm so Amar could'nt make it there in time to meet us.
From the garden, we took off to go to an Asian store where Kunal and Cary wanted to shop for some exclusive asian sweets. There, I finally found my 'Mochi'- the japanese dessert I have mentioned earlier.I bought a box of green tea mochi, which Kunal and I finished off before we even got out of the store, so I bought another box to take over to Raj's place the next day.
Amar had called and mentioned that he and his family were dining at this Indian restaurant called 'Shatranj' in downtown, very close to Kunal's place, so we headed off to meet him there. It was great to meet Amar after so long, although we barely got about 20 mins to talk to each other and catch up. We said goodbye to him and left to drop off our groceries at Kunal's place.
That's when Cary suddenly remembered she had forgotten to let the dog out, whom she was pet-sitting over the weekend. So three of us, took the little dog out for a walk in the evening, right across from her place, at Dolores Park. Viral had mentioned that Dolores Park has spectacular views of the city, since its on a hill. That was so true. We walked uphill on the lawns in the park and reached the top. As we turned around, this mosaic of lights just spread out before us; from suburban houses, to tall buildings in downtown and even the silhouette of the Bay bridge in the distance. It was similar to the night view, I had witnessed before, of LA, from a friends house on the hill top. It was like the perfect end-of-the-day feast, SF on a platter. I tried my best at steady-hand photography, with some success while Kunal and Cary walked the dog. When we were done, I had about 20 pictures to choose from.
Thus ended my second day in SF, full of walking up and down the streets of different parts of the city, viewing the 'bay' and the 'bay windows' and most of all always admiring the horizon up ahead - as unique as the sloping city it belonged to...
...3/4th street, 1/4th blue sky!
Merry Christmas!
After waking up at 7 in the morning, Kunal and I set off for our day-long tour of the city. En route we stopped by three cafe's (two of which were closed), trying to get coffee and a croissant. I had already noticed how exclusive each cafe was in SF; as Kunal had correctly put, every store tried to do its own thing here. That is why, the idea was to have coffee from a place that specialised in a certain variety of it, such as the Dutch Cafe near his place. Ironically, though we ended up with a Starbucks' cup in hand, since that was the only one open.
Christmas morning was beautiful, crisp and clear with the sun shining in a perfect blue sky. (Soon I was to see that it would be my only ideal "Californian" morning in that entire week). We overheard a lady basking in the sun, with her coffee say " I dont believe I am sitting out in the sun, having coffee on Christmas morning." She must probably come from the east coast, where Christmas is synonymous with the snow, not the sun.
We walked towards Powell St. where Kunal showed me how the trolley turned, literally on a huge wooden turn-table embedded in the ground. From Powell St. we walked towards the SF MOMA (Museum of Modern Art). Kunal is a member with them and thought we could possibly start of our day with a little bit of art. So we walked through a public plaza and the Center for the Arts to reach SF MOMA, which was celebrating Christmas day as well. That left us with two pictures of the building from the outside before we moved on to the Ferry Building while walking through the SF downtown. It was near the Ferry Building that it started sinking into me that this was California, a better version than the one I had lived in before, with its picture postcard palms dotting the blue sky and the unmissable green and white freeway signage! Since the morning was foggy, we could'nt get very clear sights of the Bay bridge in the distance. We walked inside the Ferry Terminal building, which was uncannily empty on account of the holiday. Kunal showed me his favourite fusion restaurant, where his firm had their Christmas dinner last year. That's another thing about him, he's the food and drink connoisseur, almost like a google search machine, you mention the cuisine and he will reply back with the restaurant which serves it best!
An interesting note here, on the parallels of water and architecture. The water's edge in SF was very similar in character to the Thames's bank in London. I think it was by around this time that my mind had established the hypothesis that SF was somewhere between NYC and London ( two cities I am absolutely in love with), thus making SF another one of my favourites.
From the Ferry Terminal building we boarded a MUNI bus, that took us through all the piers and dropped us off at Pier 39. I had been to Pier 39 before, almost two years ago, but somehow it seemed more made-up this time. That can possibly be attributed to my wider exposure to America now, than before. So the Pier 39 experience was highly plastic, pretentious and had this dishonest quality about it, you could feel it's desperation to be a tourist site. The best thing about Pier 39 were the mini donuts that we bought and almost finished too soon. I wondered aloud to Kunal, how this conscise version of the casual donut had not found itself more shores than this one.
From Pier 39 we took another bus which took us to the Coit Tower, from where we could see the entire city. Thankfully the fog had subsided by then, so we got some marvellous views of the city, with the piers on one side, the bridges from the other and the city fabric all over. The city's slopes lend it the unique character as do the absence of swimming pools, unlike in LA, flying over which reveals blue pools within each backyard. Another important difference between both these Californian cities. I had begun to fall in love with the 'SF-California', more dynamic, creative, open and wild as I compared it constantly with the 'LA-California', plastic, pretentious and secretive (Had I said 'dishonest' instead, it would equal my experience of Pier 39)
The next stop was to be Lombard St. (a.k.a Crooked St.), but due to holiday service, we were left with two options, either walk it up all the way or view it from far away and set off to the next destination. We opted for the latter choice and after taking a few shots of the famous street in the distance, Kunal and I got into another exclusive cafe to grab a quick bite. The cafe in North Beach specialised in freshly baked bagels and their variety, a welcome break from the typical Dunkin Donut/ street car bagels of NYC. We opted to share a bagel with various veggies in it, while we waited for the trolley. That cafe in North Beach classifies for my "Exotic taste on the trip" list - clearly a list that comprises of eateries, where I eat, on my travels and remember for the rest of my life.
At this point I must also mention some more SF trivia: As I looked at the picturesque houses dotting Lombard St. Kunal mentioned how there were specific designers these days, to allot colours to the exterior facades of the houses. Although, it kind of messed up the theory I had held so far, that these colours are more user-defined than designed, I did begin to notice how remarkably dynamic they rendered the streetscapes. Most victorian-style houses dotting the slopes of SF, had a unique vintage character and colours, but what tied them all together was the 'Bay Window'- a term ( I was convinced by the end of this trip) that comes from the omnipresence of these windows in the Bay Area. A bay window is a window which enhances the function of a window - it lets you seat yourself in it and become a part of it. It's foot print is three-sided and it usually juts out from the facade of a house, over the street. The more techincal description is as below:
Bay window -- most commonly a three-sided window extension projecting out from the wall plane and forming a recess within; delineated by an interior decorative arch, a Victorian walk-in bay window can accommodate a small sofa or chairs, while shallower bays may serve as window seats
Back to the cafe, where we ate, while waiting for the trolley. It was time for my first trolley journey in SF and another historic fact: Kunal told me every trolley in SF has been bought from various cities all over the world. Each trolley proudly displays its unique history and place of origin on its interior. You can say it was my destiny to be on one which displayed "Los Angeles" on it. Figured as far as you may want to run from it, you land right into it.
The trolley took us into Chinatown, where on my insistence, we walked a bit exploring the various shops. The SF Chinatown is the biggest one in N. America and that means it would possibly also be the most authentic one, hence my insistence. We went store to store, tasting chinese titbits, from dried fruits to dried animals (the latter I refrained from) until finally I had this sudden urge to eat dumplings. We ended up at a restaurant that did'nt serve dumplings (It was like the time when I asked for 'mochi'- a delicious japanese dessert ball at a Japanese restaurant and was told they did'nt offer it). Thought to myself, how would it be if an Indian restaurant did'nt serve samosa. Kunal's more logical explanation was that it may be a regional delicacy, hence all Japanese restaurants dont serve it.
I didnt care..I wanted my mochi, the kind I always bought in Little Tokyo, en route to SCI_Arc, and I still had'nt found it anywhere else!
Post lunch, we took off to Kunal's office which was nearby. He gave me a tour of the splendid views his office has of SF downtown/ chinatown and I noticed the designed public places for the very first time in the city. Time for more California trivia: California is primarily man-made and designed, most of the landscapes are trimmed and pruned and very rarely would you find a tuft of grass not touched by a gardener's clippers. Also, cleanliness takes on another meaning here: After living in NYC, I had forgotten that this coast of the country, believed in cleanliness,
seriously!
Kunal then called his friend Cary, who lives in Dolores Park, while I got in touch with my friend Amar who was to meet us in the city somewhere. Turned out that Amar and group were also heading to the Tea Gardens in Golden Gate Park, so we decided to meet there. Cary, works as a medical representative for Procter & Gamble (She was to market Vioxx, until it got taken off the market). She was a recent migrant to SF herself, from NYC, so we had a lot to talk about. Cary drove us to the Tea Gardens, where the three of us walked around and took in the beautiful lush surroundings of the Zen gardens. The garden was to close at 5:00 pm so Amar could'nt make it there in time to meet us.
From the garden, we took off to go to an Asian store where Kunal and Cary wanted to shop for some exclusive asian sweets. There, I finally found my 'Mochi'- the japanese dessert I have mentioned earlier.I bought a box of green tea mochi, which Kunal and I finished off before we even got out of the store, so I bought another box to take over to Raj's place the next day.
Amar had called and mentioned that he and his family were dining at this Indian restaurant called 'Shatranj' in downtown, very close to Kunal's place, so we headed off to meet him there. It was great to meet Amar after so long, although we barely got about 20 mins to talk to each other and catch up. We said goodbye to him and left to drop off our groceries at Kunal's place.
That's when Cary suddenly remembered she had forgotten to let the dog out, whom she was pet-sitting over the weekend. So three of us, took the little dog out for a walk in the evening, right across from her place, at Dolores Park. Viral had mentioned that Dolores Park has spectacular views of the city, since its on a hill. That was so true. We walked uphill on the lawns in the park and reached the top. As we turned around, this mosaic of lights just spread out before us; from suburban houses, to tall buildings in downtown and even the silhouette of the Bay bridge in the distance. It was similar to the night view, I had witnessed before, of LA, from a friends house on the hill top. It was like the perfect end-of-the-day feast, SF on a platter. I tried my best at steady-hand photography, with some success while Kunal and Cary walked the dog. When we were done, I had about 20 pictures to choose from.
Thus ended my second day in SF, full of walking up and down the streets of different parts of the city, viewing the 'bay' and the 'bay windows' and most of all always admiring the horizon up ahead - as unique as the sloping city it belonged to...
...3/4th street, 1/4th blue sky!
Friday, December 24, 2004
New York to San Francisco - Day 1
After one and a half years, I decided to go back to what had been my first destination in the US - California. As the plan was conceived, it grew ambitiously from a long-weekend in California to almost ten days touring its entire North-South length. I took a week off from work, between the two long weekends of Christmas and New Years and flew westwards.
Day 1 (Friday 24th Dec 04’):
Raj and I left for San Francisco this morning, from JFK expecting to take our pre-scheduled flight at 10:30 am. As goes my luck with flights, this flight was oversold and all volunteers for the next flight were offered a free round-trip to any United destination in the US. Since we were on vacation, I was game but Raj was a little hesitant. Eventually though, as my luck would have it, I was scheduled to fly on the later flight and Raj could travel on the pre-scheduled one. But since we were travelling together, we both stayed back for the later flight and pocketed the free tickets. Started of the vacation in profit:)
On the flight, time was spent talking most of the time (This was our first flight together and I was telling Raj how much fun it was when Raga and I flew together earlier this year). I also discovered the assets of a long-battery life in a laptop (that Raj perpetually keeps bragging about), when we watched a Hindi movie (Hulchul) on his laptop and the battery still kept running after that. A six hour flight reduces to half its duration with a Hindi film. Cool!
At SF airport, our baggage had already arrived and with it we waited for Raj Sr. ( Raj's elder brother, a.k.a RajMohan) who was to pick up Raj Jr. ( a.k.a RajSekhar). For convenience and to avoid confusion, two years ago when I met them both together, I started using these suffixes for this set of brothers, both otherwise referred to as 'Raj' by their respective friends. After greeting Raj Sr. and chatting up with him for a while, we bid goodbye and I set out to take the BART to Powell Station, as advised by my host for the city, Kunal.
Kunal is a senior of mine from my MR+D (Masters' days) at SCI_Arc. Since our program is only a year long, the outgoing batch meets the incoming one, for exactly one day - their graduation. Around that time, in May 2002 is when Kunal and I first met in LA. Since then we have barely spent two days in the same city, but have graduated to becoming 'city-mates' ( a term that can be loosely described as a mate with whom a city is seen). Kunal showed me Los Angeles, part of New York and now San Fransisco.
In the BART, I looked at the SF city map, bleakly reminiscent of NYC. As I later told Kunal, SF was a lot like NYC on the map ( only without Staten Island and with Brooklyn actually extending further South of Manhattan), Of course later, I was to discover that the distances were far lesser in this city that I was going to transcend in the following two days.
Powell St. where Kunal picked me up from, is the shopping hub of SF. We walked from Powell Station, passing Union Square through a medley of tourists ( mostly Indians, to our astonishment and amusement). Later we realised, that since it was Christmas eve, we obviously would'nt find locals roaming the streets, unless they are really late in shopping for gifts. Union Square, reminded of a similar square in the heart of Downtown LA and of course of Bryant Park; a wide public space surrounded by tall buildings in downtown New York City.
As we continued to walk towards Kunal's place, I was introduced to the sloping SF streets, a characteristic of SF I will always remember. I remember telling Kunal at the end of my trip, that I barely remember my feet being perfectly horizontal in this trip. Besides, the two rare times that I wore heels, trekking up and down the slopes was quite a fiasco.
On reaching Kunals place, we invited his next door neighbour Viral over. "Mumbai-talking" is my personal phrase for the following: Meeting someone from Mumbai who knows the half of Mumbai I know. Viral is an architect from Mumbai, like Kunal and me, so we Mumbai-talked for a while, while Viral ate his dinner and we watched. Then we architects got in action - our natural instincts to conversate over maps got the better of us, and three of us delved on the SF city maps, trying to plan my weekend there.
Interesting aspects from the conversation were how SF was a square 7 mile x 7 mile city, the Golden Gate park was larger than the Central Park (in NYC), the various transportation options I could pursue in the city and that SF was 93% liberal and 7% conservative in the 2004 presidential polls. After planning tomorrows POA, Viral left to get me some more maps/ books on the city and his MUNI pass to use over the next day. Kunal later mentioned how he has never seen Viral be this generous to anyone.
What can I say Kunal, I just cant help bringing out the good side in everyone:)
After refreshing myself, Kunal and I left to take my first bus ride in the city to a place called Fillmore; a quaint little locality with exclusive designer stores, ranging from clothes to furniture; kind of like a SOHO equivalent, only more SF in nature. Every store window we glanced into, reminded me of the stores in London, where extensive attention was given to design. I remember telling Kunal how non-American the SF experience was because of qualities such as these. NYC has this non-American feel to it, it is lesser a part of America, more a part of the World-City syndrome. SF, on the other hand, just did'nt seem to care, like a reckless child, it just did what it wants and you can either accept that or leave it. "We are like this only" it seemed to say to me. Kunal mentioned as we looked up at a window in one of the buildings "Only in SF will you find someone putting up a lit "peace" sign instead of a snowflake at Christmas" As we walked upwards and downwards, the horizon kept decreasing to reveal a dark ocean with dotted lights in the distance. We finally paused at a junction where the road sloped so steeply, that the sidewalk was actually a stair...incredible! From there we took in the marvellous night view of the bay and the lights in the distance. It had still not sunk into me that I was in California, somehow this did not seem like the California I had lived in for a year!
We walked back on the other side of the street, looking for a store Kunal's office was designing at the time. Of the few restaurants, we found a Vietnamese place open, where we decided to dine and catch up on our lives since we last met. Post dinner, some walking and a bus-ride later, we got back home and called it a day, since I was still on NY time and tomorrow we were to set out at 6:00 am.
Day 1 (Friday 24th Dec 04’):
Raj and I left for San Francisco this morning, from JFK expecting to take our pre-scheduled flight at 10:30 am. As goes my luck with flights, this flight was oversold and all volunteers for the next flight were offered a free round-trip to any United destination in the US. Since we were on vacation, I was game but Raj was a little hesitant. Eventually though, as my luck would have it, I was scheduled to fly on the later flight and Raj could travel on the pre-scheduled one. But since we were travelling together, we both stayed back for the later flight and pocketed the free tickets. Started of the vacation in profit:)
On the flight, time was spent talking most of the time (This was our first flight together and I was telling Raj how much fun it was when Raga and I flew together earlier this year). I also discovered the assets of a long-battery life in a laptop (that Raj perpetually keeps bragging about), when we watched a Hindi movie (Hulchul) on his laptop and the battery still kept running after that. A six hour flight reduces to half its duration with a Hindi film. Cool!
At SF airport, our baggage had already arrived and with it we waited for Raj Sr. ( Raj's elder brother, a.k.a RajMohan) who was to pick up Raj Jr. ( a.k.a RajSekhar). For convenience and to avoid confusion, two years ago when I met them both together, I started using these suffixes for this set of brothers, both otherwise referred to as 'Raj' by their respective friends. After greeting Raj Sr. and chatting up with him for a while, we bid goodbye and I set out to take the BART to Powell Station, as advised by my host for the city, Kunal.
Kunal is a senior of mine from my MR+D (Masters' days) at SCI_Arc. Since our program is only a year long, the outgoing batch meets the incoming one, for exactly one day - their graduation. Around that time, in May 2002 is when Kunal and I first met in LA. Since then we have barely spent two days in the same city, but have graduated to becoming 'city-mates' ( a term that can be loosely described as a mate with whom a city is seen). Kunal showed me Los Angeles, part of New York and now San Fransisco.
In the BART, I looked at the SF city map, bleakly reminiscent of NYC. As I later told Kunal, SF was a lot like NYC on the map ( only without Staten Island and with Brooklyn actually extending further South of Manhattan), Of course later, I was to discover that the distances were far lesser in this city that I was going to transcend in the following two days.
Powell St. where Kunal picked me up from, is the shopping hub of SF. We walked from Powell Station, passing Union Square through a medley of tourists ( mostly Indians, to our astonishment and amusement). Later we realised, that since it was Christmas eve, we obviously would'nt find locals roaming the streets, unless they are really late in shopping for gifts. Union Square, reminded of a similar square in the heart of Downtown LA and of course of Bryant Park; a wide public space surrounded by tall buildings in downtown New York City.
As we continued to walk towards Kunal's place, I was introduced to the sloping SF streets, a characteristic of SF I will always remember. I remember telling Kunal at the end of my trip, that I barely remember my feet being perfectly horizontal in this trip. Besides, the two rare times that I wore heels, trekking up and down the slopes was quite a fiasco.
On reaching Kunals place, we invited his next door neighbour Viral over. "Mumbai-talking" is my personal phrase for the following: Meeting someone from Mumbai who knows the half of Mumbai I know. Viral is an architect from Mumbai, like Kunal and me, so we Mumbai-talked for a while, while Viral ate his dinner and we watched. Then we architects got in action - our natural instincts to conversate over maps got the better of us, and three of us delved on the SF city maps, trying to plan my weekend there.
Interesting aspects from the conversation were how SF was a square 7 mile x 7 mile city, the Golden Gate park was larger than the Central Park (in NYC), the various transportation options I could pursue in the city and that SF was 93% liberal and 7% conservative in the 2004 presidential polls. After planning tomorrows POA, Viral left to get me some more maps/ books on the city and his MUNI pass to use over the next day. Kunal later mentioned how he has never seen Viral be this generous to anyone.
What can I say Kunal, I just cant help bringing out the good side in everyone:)
After refreshing myself, Kunal and I left to take my first bus ride in the city to a place called Fillmore; a quaint little locality with exclusive designer stores, ranging from clothes to furniture; kind of like a SOHO equivalent, only more SF in nature. Every store window we glanced into, reminded me of the stores in London, where extensive attention was given to design. I remember telling Kunal how non-American the SF experience was because of qualities such as these. NYC has this non-American feel to it, it is lesser a part of America, more a part of the World-City syndrome. SF, on the other hand, just did'nt seem to care, like a reckless child, it just did what it wants and you can either accept that or leave it. "We are like this only" it seemed to say to me. Kunal mentioned as we looked up at a window in one of the buildings "Only in SF will you find someone putting up a lit "peace" sign instead of a snowflake at Christmas" As we walked upwards and downwards, the horizon kept decreasing to reveal a dark ocean with dotted lights in the distance. We finally paused at a junction where the road sloped so steeply, that the sidewalk was actually a stair...incredible! From there we took in the marvellous night view of the bay and the lights in the distance. It had still not sunk into me that I was in California, somehow this did not seem like the California I had lived in for a year!
We walked back on the other side of the street, looking for a store Kunal's office was designing at the time. Of the few restaurants, we found a Vietnamese place open, where we decided to dine and catch up on our lives since we last met. Post dinner, some walking and a bus-ride later, we got back home and called it a day, since I was still on NY time and tomorrow we were to set out at 6:00 am.
Thursday, December 23, 2004
Snehi!
Today Snehi sent out an email saying that she is finally getting married on the 2nd of May 05'.
Snehi has come a long way from her immature, cranky days to her mature, can-laugh-at-herself ones. Throughout all these years of our friendship ( 14 years I think), she has been my classmate, close friend, critic and even inspiration at times. But the one thing she has always been, is an unbiased shoulder I could lean on, someone who has always loved me and accepted me the way I am. In fact, I can take the liberty of saying that my other two close friends ( also part of our group) who live in the US now, feel the same.
Snehi and I have lived in different countries for the past three years and are not exactly in regular touch. Yet when we meet, we pick up from where we last left off. She is one of the few people, who cherishes and values my friendship as I do hers and I know she will be there for me, come what may.
Looking back, I feel good about having made the Agra trip with her when I was home a couple of months ago and I remember her saying to me then, " Sweetoo, the next time we meet, I will be married!"
That is why, today is a special day for me and my other two friends who are far away from her, but will celebrate all the same!!
Toasting to Snehi and her happiness to come:)
Snehi has come a long way from her immature, cranky days to her mature, can-laugh-at-herself ones. Throughout all these years of our friendship ( 14 years I think), she has been my classmate, close friend, critic and even inspiration at times. But the one thing she has always been, is an unbiased shoulder I could lean on, someone who has always loved me and accepted me the way I am. In fact, I can take the liberty of saying that my other two close friends ( also part of our group) who live in the US now, feel the same.
Snehi and I have lived in different countries for the past three years and are not exactly in regular touch. Yet when we meet, we pick up from where we last left off. She is one of the few people, who cherishes and values my friendship as I do hers and I know she will be there for me, come what may.
Looking back, I feel good about having made the Agra trip with her when I was home a couple of months ago and I remember her saying to me then, " Sweetoo, the next time we meet, I will be married!"
That is why, today is a special day for me and my other two friends who are far away from her, but will celebrate all the same!!
Toasting to Snehi and her happiness to come:)
Saturday, December 18, 2004
Swades...
Easily one of the best movies I 've seen in a very long time...Being a hopeless romantic myself, I can relate to the script of the movie and the character of the protagonist himself.
I know a movie moves me, when it brings a tear in my eye and goose bumps on my hand...all for the love of my country!
GOOD WATCH: Swades
I know a movie moves me, when it brings a tear in my eye and goose bumps on my hand...all for the love of my country!
GOOD WATCH: Swades
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