California adventures, Part 2

On another lovely and sunny California day we decided to see a famous institution of learning---University of California-Berkeley. It was a nice drive along the bay---Northern California is absolutely beautiful. Berkeley itself was an interesting place. On the one hand, there is the university---even the campus had the atmosphere of a great and long-standing place of learning. On the other hand, there is the town of Berkeley---when people told me it was the hippy capital of the US, they were not exaggerating. Everything was very earthy, with lots of dreadlocked people walking around, and even some tie-dye stuff spotted around.

Next we drove to an overlook from where you could get an incredible view of the Golden Gate bridge. Driving on it doesn't really do it justice. Looking at it from a nearby cliff really takes your breath away. The sun reflecting off it made it look glowing. It is one of the grander sights that I have ever seen.



After taking about a thousand pictures of the majestic architectural structure, we went over the cliffs down to a beach. While it was too cold to get into the water, we did get our feet wet in the Pacific (cold:). We then had a mini-hike in the nearby hills overlooking the ocean and a scenic drive back, topping the evening off with a delicious Puerto Rican dinner.

California adventures, Part 1

For my birthday this year, I decided to fly out West and celebrate it with my dear friend Erika, whose birthday is a day before mine. Her and her husband live near San Francisco with their adorable white fluffy dog Lily. When I got to their apartment, I was greeted by this abominable sight:

(For the uninitiated, this Yankees blanket is a major offense to a Red Sox fan).
However, my disdain was relieved the next morning, the day of my actual birthday, I woke up to this on my door while my hosts were at work:

After Erika got back from school (she's a teacher), we embarked on a tour of the wine country. We started out at the cute and historic town of Sonoma. After raiding a fabulous cheese store, we went to a winery where we tasted some wine, learned about the history of the place, and toured a small wine cellar. Afterwards, we drove around the actual vineyard and even got to taste some grapes.

Then, we embarked on a scenic tour of Sonoma valley, which turned into a beautiful drive all across Napa valley with a stop at another vineyard, where we got to see how the grapes are pressed (with a water/candy stop at a randomly-located Dean and Deluca on the side of the road). The views of the wine country were absolutely breathtaking.

The day ended with a festive cup-cake filled double-birthday celebration

St. Petersburg, Part 6

Our last morning in St. Pete, we decided to make a quick tour of the monastery and the adjacent cemetery where many of the Russian nobility and famous painters, composers, singers, and dancers are buried. It was quite interesting walking around the graves of Tchaikovsky and Glinka and some others about whom I learned in school. Before leaving town, we had yet another sushi meal and got on a place to Moscow and a train to Vladimir.

St Petersburg, Part 5

On our last full day in St Pete's, we decided to visit one of the most famous museums in the whole world, the Hermitage. It is actually housed in the former Winter Palace, which itself is a gorgeous building. As it turned out, we weren't the only ones who wanted to see the museum---we stood in the longest line in the world for over 2 hours. However, once we got in, it was definitely worth it. After walking around the magnificent halls of the former palace, we toured the Italian halls where we had an opportunity to see some Michelangelo, Rafael, and Da Vinci, including 2 famous Madonna paintings by Rafael and Da Vinci (while trying to break through the crowds of over-excited Italians eager to see their countrymen's works). After walking through some ancient sculpture halls, we decided to call it a day---after al, you can't cover all art epochs in one day.

St Petersburg, Part 4

The next day we decided to take it a bit easier and just walk around the city and visiting some of the famous landmarks. Among them were the famous bronze statue of Peter the Great (lovingly nicknamed by me, "Peter on the horse"), the beautiful St Isaac Cathedral, which had a very interesting resemblance to St Paul's Cathedral in London, and the Hermitage (or the Winter Palace) and the Palace Square, the seat of the tzars and the site of several historic events connected with the Russian Revolution.

St Petersburg, Part 3

We continued our intensive sightseeing the following day. The destination was the Peter-and-Paul Tower, which is sort of similar to the Tower of London in its structure and purposes, even though the architectural style is completely different. This structure, located on what is called the Hare Island, was actually the first building in St. Petersburg and is considered the site where the city was founded by Peter the Great. It used to be a military/defensive structure, the site of the first church, a prison, and the site of the first Mint, which is still functioning in some capacity. Every building there is a museum, spanning the history of the Tower, the city itself, and Russian monarchy. A particularly interesting one was an Air and Space Museum---very interesting to see clippings from newspapers when Yuri Gagarin did his flight around the Earth in space (Yes, Russia was the first country to send the man into out space, despite what the US textbooks will tell you). The church is quite unique also---it is actually the burial site of most Russian monarchs, including Peter the Great and the last Russian tzar and his family.


In the evening, we took a boat tour around the city's numerous canals. St. Petersburg is actually build on a man-mind island, amidst swamps and marshes, and on the banks of the Neva River. Besides, its particular geographic location allows it to have the "white nights" (nights when it never gets dark) and long light evenings. The boat ride took us around some of the more historic areas of the city, even though there is hardly a building in the vicinity of the downtown that was not at one point a home to a famous poet, painter, musician, writer, or a member of Russian nobility.

The last stop of the day was actually just a few blocks from where my brother lives---a site of this incredibly beautiful Cathedral and the adjacent building that serves as the seat of the mayor of St Petersburg. This group of building actually played a prominent role in the Russian revolution. It used to be a prestigious boarding school for the daughters of Russian nobility, but was overtaken by Lenin and his posse on the eve of the revolution---it is from this building that all the main decisions were made during the final hours of the pre-communist Russia.

St. Petersburg, Part 2

The next morning my Mom and I took a boat ride to Petergof, another former royal residence of the Russian monarchs. This place is especially beautiful: some incredibly gorgeous fountains of different themes scattered over a park with a magnificent palace on top of the hill overlooking the Finnish Straight that connects Russia to Northern Europe. I actually remember visiting this place when my family first traveled to St Petersburg in the summer of 1992. We walked around, took numerous pictures, went into a few auxiliary buildings, went underneath the Palace to examine how the fountain system works, and just strolled leisurely on the vast grounds of this estate.





In the evening, we took a walk around the city after dinner, going to perhaps my favorite church building in Russia: the Church of Christ the Savior. The domes are so unique that they look like they are made of mozaic, not of stone.

A visit to one more famous landmark that evening: St Isaac Cathedral.