California Dreamin'
Sorry for the silence ... It's been quite a ride.
So, I left you last in Vegas.
We had a wonderful meal at Bouchon restaurant in our hotel - not cheap, but definitely better than the foodcourt or fastfood we'd been eating. Dvora had chicken, I had trout. Delicious!
The night before we left, I popped down to the casino to do the necessary. I played the 25c slots (means my money lasts longer before the inevitable)... Turns out, the inevitable, isn't.
I walked away around $40 richer, leaving as soon as I struck the windfall.
We left Vegas really early Wednesday morning, and flew to Los Angeles, where we got a car. Drove to our downtown hotel, and dropped off our luggage. During our stay, we saw Beverly Hills, Bel Air (magnificent homes!), Santa Monica (we walked along the beach, and had lunch at the pier), Venice Beach, Hollywood (photographed the sign, visited Mann's Chinese Theater) and Malibu. We wanted to visit a studio, so stopped at Sony Studios but they don't permit children under 12 so we were turned away.
We also tried Popeye's Chicken and Biscuits, as recommended by a few friends ... unanimous (amongst Dvora and I, anyway ;) ) is that KFC wins *hands down*, no contest!
After 3 nights in LA, we drove down to San Diego, where we spent the afternoon at Sea World. Wholesome family fun - highly recommended. That night we went to dinner with Searle, a school friend of mine, and his girlfriend.
Sunday morning we departed with much time to spare, heading for the airport. Of course, using my uncanny sense of direction we got hopelessly lost and I raced into the terminal to be told we'd missed our flight. I then unpacked all our luggage, took the rental car to its depot, and returned, only to find out that there was an earlier flight into San Jose - we were on time for ours. Yay!
Arrived at San Jose, got a lift with another passenger to the rental car depot (was going to take a cab, but she offered...). And we've been in Mountain View for 4 weeks now.
Life here is pretty good - the weather is great, and work is really good. Learning loads, and the content is nicely challenging. I'm working with some really smart people.
I bought a bicycle (Marin - aluminium frame, carbon forks/seatstays, tiagra components) after a week, and have been a two-wheel commuter since. It's great. For the past three weekends, I've joined colleagues on a leisure-cycle in the local hills. Last weekend we tackled a stretch called "Redwood Gulch", which rises at over 18% incline in parts. Yesterday I did "Old LaHonda" during our 3+hour stretch, which while much longer than the Gulch, is much easier on the knees (and the lungs ;) ). I definitely want to do both again before we leave.
We've had take-aways from Subway and KFC a number of times [yum], had lunch at Olive Garden (mediocre) and joined a colleague and his wife yesterday for lunch at an Italian restaurant on Castro Street (quite tasty).
D joined a friend's wife and her kids for a trip to Gymboree, and to the beach. They meet once or twice a week for playtime. She also joined up with a few local mums in a park one afternoon.
I opened a local bank account with Wells Fargo, and received a debit card. This makes local purchases much easier, as we don't need to use our Swiss cards nor carry around wads of cash.
I'll upload some pics to our Flickr account in the next day or two, and hopefully will keep it a little more up to date, so be sure to check back there frequently.
So, I left you last in Vegas.
We had a wonderful meal at Bouchon restaurant in our hotel - not cheap, but definitely better than the foodcourt or fastfood we'd been eating. Dvora had chicken, I had trout. Delicious!
The night before we left, I popped down to the casino to do the necessary. I played the 25c slots (means my money lasts longer before the inevitable)... Turns out, the inevitable, isn't.
I walked away around $40 richer, leaving as soon as I struck the windfall.
We left Vegas really early Wednesday morning, and flew to Los Angeles, where we got a car. Drove to our downtown hotel, and dropped off our luggage. During our stay, we saw Beverly Hills, Bel Air (magnificent homes!), Santa Monica (we walked along the beach, and had lunch at the pier), Venice Beach, Hollywood (photographed the sign, visited Mann's Chinese Theater) and Malibu. We wanted to visit a studio, so stopped at Sony Studios but they don't permit children under 12 so we were turned away.
We also tried Popeye's Chicken and Biscuits, as recommended by a few friends ... unanimous (amongst Dvora and I, anyway ;) ) is that KFC wins *hands down*, no contest!
After 3 nights in LA, we drove down to San Diego, where we spent the afternoon at Sea World. Wholesome family fun - highly recommended. That night we went to dinner with Searle, a school friend of mine, and his girlfriend.
Sunday morning we departed with much time to spare, heading for the airport. Of course, using my uncanny sense of direction we got hopelessly lost and I raced into the terminal to be told we'd missed our flight. I then unpacked all our luggage, took the rental car to its depot, and returned, only to find out that there was an earlier flight into San Jose - we were on time for ours. Yay!
Arrived at San Jose, got a lift with another passenger to the rental car depot (was going to take a cab, but she offered...). And we've been in Mountain View for 4 weeks now.
Life here is pretty good - the weather is great, and work is really good. Learning loads, and the content is nicely challenging. I'm working with some really smart people.
I bought a bicycle (Marin - aluminium frame, carbon forks/seatstays, tiagra components) after a week, and have been a two-wheel commuter since. It's great. For the past three weekends, I've joined colleagues on a leisure-cycle in the local hills. Last weekend we tackled a stretch called "Redwood Gulch", which rises at over 18% incline in parts. Yesterday I did "Old LaHonda" during our 3+hour stretch, which while much longer than the Gulch, is much easier on the knees (and the lungs ;) ). I definitely want to do both again before we leave.
We've had take-aways from Subway and KFC a number of times [yum], had lunch at Olive Garden (mediocre) and joined a colleague and his wife yesterday for lunch at an Italian restaurant on Castro Street (quite tasty).
D joined a friend's wife and her kids for a trip to Gymboree, and to the beach. They meet once or twice a week for playtime. She also joined up with a few local mums in a park one afternoon.
I opened a local bank account with Wells Fargo, and received a debit card. This makes local purchases much easier, as we don't need to use our Swiss cards nor carry around wads of cash.
I'll upload some pics to our Flickr account in the next day or two, and hopefully will keep it a little more up to date, so be sure to check back there frequently.
posted by Gary Colman | 7:06 AM
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