(See also the SEKE'03 conference page and the
SEKE harbour cruise page).
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Helen Arrives |
Helen came over to San Fran and we hung out
for a few days that cost far too much money. But heh, its so
rare we ever go anywhere just to be tourists so whatdaheck.
When she came, we
stayed at the Hotel Soifitel at Redwood City (halfway between downtown
and Silicon Valley). The hotel
cultivates a deliberate and somewhat surreal
French atmosphere. The menus
are in French (first) then Englsh and they always answer the phone in French.
Their music selection is bizarre:
the same selections from Frank Sinatra every day at the same
time (strangely, as accompaniment to my first bowel movement).
Inside,
they've recreated a mock French boulevard around the bar- complete
with a French pastry shop with many yummies.
The first night Helen was in town,
we caught up with Steve and Erin. They're getting married in
three weeks in Hawaii and they were full of news about the
arrangements. Some many details! Scarry!
Memo to the great god of Murphy: please ignore their wedding
cause if anything upsets their plans,
there will be hell to pay and we WILL be coming to collect the bill.
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Santa Cruz |
Started the day at the crack of noon with
a pilgrimage to Apple at 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino. The address should
have warned us- we couldn't find a car park and the wrong turn
sucked us back out onto the expressway. Guess there is no stopping in
an infinite loop.
Then, like ever other resident of San Fran, we drove to the beach. Many miles
of bumper-to-bumper stopped traffic later, we hit Santa Cruz. There, we
turned north and left behind everyone else heading for the Monterey beaches.
Don't know why everyone was so keen to skip past Santa Cruz.
We walked along the cliff tops there and found
it a real pretty place.
The sea was beautiful and the rocks off-shore were full of birds.
Up the road was at USC marine biology unit with the HUGE
whale skeleton out-front.
Much further north was a windy beach full of parasurfers.
How they don't crash into each other and wind themselves
up like ribbons on a gift, I'll never know.
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July 4 Fireworks |
That night, got a little scared about going into town to see the
fireworks (Bernt Fischer told me all these stories about having
to wait three hours for a train back from downtown).
So instead, we went to the fireworks at Redwood City, at a marina
just
down the road from the hotel. The crowds
all head into the marina but there's a little
grassy park just opposite that gets nearly as good a view.
So we waited there, with only a handful of others, for
sunset to fade and the sparks to start.
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Around Downtown |
Next day we drove into San Fran for a walk around the town.
The Chinatown here puts Sydney's Chinatown to shame.
San Fran has some great architecture.
And a seemingly never-ending supply of bay windows
on insanely steep streets (reminded Helen of Wellington).
It also has a wonderfully named "Treasure Island" (which is actually
a Naval Base) half way over
the Oakland Bridge. We didn't actually plan on going there but
San Fran is one of those towns where if you get in the wrong lane
then BAM! you are whisked over a bridge to a remote shore.
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Aquarium |
Our strolling took us to Fisherman's Wharf that was so crowded,
it looked like a scene from Soylent Green.
To escape the throngs, we bashed our way over to
the aquarium.
Turns out, that going to the Aquarium
was a really really good idea.
Downstairs, there are two perspex tunnels that let you walk
through these huge fish tanks.
Quite a cool time.
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Wisdom |
Wisdom
in California is found smeared on cars.
For example: lord help me to be the person my dog
thinks I am and
Karma, its everywhere you will be.
But our favorite was
My governor is dumber than yours.