Some good times last the whole day.
Ashlene's call woke me up, and she told me she'd come meet me, 'cause we'd made plans to go to SF together, and hang out with Venky and Gapa. Gapa picked us up at about 11, and we drove to SF. We first went and looked at a house Gapa had applied to move into (renting a house here works very differently - you need to look for open apartments/apartments on rent and call or write to the person who's renting it out. Then, you complete an application which lists your credit history, your income blah blah so they know you can afford to live there) and it was really crowded, so we ended up not seeing the inside of the house.
SF is pretty different; the air is much colder, it's windier. Ashlene and I who were merrily walking around in shorts in Santa Clara (where it's beautifully warm), were in for it in SF. The houses are a lot smaller here, and it's much more crowded than Santa Clara. It's proper city life, you can say.
We met Venky after that, went to his place as a pitstop (picked up jackets!) before lunch. Nee is in India, but I could see from the moment I stepped into that house, how "Nee" it was. :) Beautiful house, some 150 years old, quaint, with wooden flooring and quite compact. All the stuff that's in the house was so nicely kept, with Nee's art work hanging on the walls, and it was just such a pretty house. :) Loved it! We went from there to this Thai food restaurant next to his house, which was also kind of quaint in how small and compact it was. We were served HUGE portions of Thai food (I ate silver noodles) and I wasn't able to finish it. I had Thai ice tea as well, but it has a strong coffee aftertaste, so I wasn't as big a fan of it.
Ooh la la.
After we ate, we went back to Venky and Nee's for a bit, and then Venky showed us around SF.
We drove all over the city - down Lombard street - the windiest (bendiest?) street I've seen (kind of like the roads on the Western ghats in India, except with more tight but less sharp bends), then we drove around the ghetto area, the rainbow area and market street in Mission... so many sights to drink in that I'm sure I'll need another couple of similar drives down those roads to remember everything I saw. And then we went to the twin peaks. Which was high up in the hills, so the weather was suddenly so different - it was foggy and cold! Ashlene and I (if you remember) were in shorts so we were knock-kneed with shivering! But the view from there, although clouded (by couds) :D was pretty spectacular! Thankfully, I had my camera with me! :)
Then we went down to Haight street and went to the marketplace there, which has a MULTITUDE of things. :) Every shop there is so interesting, they sell such bright things, they sell hookahs and bongs and stuff right there, it seems almost as if marijuana is not illegal. It's not, I think, in California, but I'm not sure. We were on that one little road for a long, long time. I even saw trans-gender folks and lots of rainbow folks, and so many people dressed Goth, dressed arty, whatever! I felt like I was seeing stuff that I'd only seen on TV and in the movies for real! :) It was pretty darn awesome.
We then went back to Venky and Nee's and had a little champagne while Venky packed Mr. Flambe's (their fish) bowl into a box so I could take him back with me and fish-sit him for a month while Venky and Nee are in India (Venky leaves tomorrow). Gapa, Ashlene and I (and Mr. Flambe) then came back to Santa Clara, where we dropped him off.
From here, we headed to Castro Street, Mountain View for dinner. We ate sushi at Baracuda. That street is so awesome! I saw a monster truck there :) And then Ashlene was feeling jetlagged, so she (although she was supposed to stay at my place that night) decided to get dropped off at her corporate apartment which was round the corner from Castro Street. But we'd already bought wine and champagne for her, Gapa and me to drink till Niranjan got back home and Gapa had to leave.
Drink-talking.
We got back to my corporate apartment, and while we were waiting for Niranjan to reach his place so Gapa could go back there, we opened a bottle of champagne to have a glass each. We were sipping on it and talking, and talking and talking. I haven't talked like that in a while. We also video chatted with Iyer and Sas who were on the other side of the time zone, and spoke to them for a bit. No clue where time flew to, but we ended up drinking and talking till almost 6am! I don't know what happened with Niranjan. :D
Gapa slept here at 6am for like 3 hours, and then left.
Ashlene's call woke me up, and she told me she'd come meet me, 'cause we'd made plans to go to SF together, and hang out with Venky and Gapa. Gapa picked us up at about 11, and we drove to SF. We first went and looked at a house Gapa had applied to move into (renting a house here works very differently - you need to look for open apartments/apartments on rent and call or write to the person who's renting it out. Then, you complete an application which lists your credit history, your income blah blah so they know you can afford to live there) and it was really crowded, so we ended up not seeing the inside of the house.
SF is pretty different; the air is much colder, it's windier. Ashlene and I who were merrily walking around in shorts in Santa Clara (where it's beautifully warm), were in for it in SF. The houses are a lot smaller here, and it's much more crowded than Santa Clara. It's proper city life, you can say.
We met Venky after that, went to his place as a pitstop (picked up jackets!) before lunch. Nee is in India, but I could see from the moment I stepped into that house, how "Nee" it was. :) Beautiful house, some 150 years old, quaint, with wooden flooring and quite compact. All the stuff that's in the house was so nicely kept, with Nee's art work hanging on the walls, and it was just such a pretty house. :) Loved it! We went from there to this Thai food restaurant next to his house, which was also kind of quaint in how small and compact it was. We were served HUGE portions of Thai food (I ate silver noodles) and I wasn't able to finish it. I had Thai ice tea as well, but it has a strong coffee aftertaste, so I wasn't as big a fan of it.
Ooh la la.
After we ate, we went back to Venky and Nee's for a bit, and then Venky showed us around SF.
We drove all over the city - down Lombard street - the windiest (bendiest?) street I've seen (kind of like the roads on the Western ghats in India, except with more tight but less sharp bends), then we drove around the ghetto area, the rainbow area and market street in Mission... so many sights to drink in that I'm sure I'll need another couple of similar drives down those roads to remember everything I saw. And then we went to the twin peaks. Which was high up in the hills, so the weather was suddenly so different - it was foggy and cold! Ashlene and I (if you remember) were in shorts so we were knock-kneed with shivering! But the view from there, although clouded (by couds) :D was pretty spectacular! Thankfully, I had my camera with me! :)
Then we went down to Haight street and went to the marketplace there, which has a MULTITUDE of things. :) Every shop there is so interesting, they sell such bright things, they sell hookahs and bongs and stuff right there, it seems almost as if marijuana is not illegal. It's not, I think, in California, but I'm not sure. We were on that one little road for a long, long time. I even saw trans-gender folks and lots of rainbow folks, and so many people dressed Goth, dressed arty, whatever! I felt like I was seeing stuff that I'd only seen on TV and in the movies for real! :) It was pretty darn awesome.
We then went back to Venky and Nee's and had a little champagne while Venky packed Mr. Flambe's (their fish) bowl into a box so I could take him back with me and fish-sit him for a month while Venky and Nee are in India (Venky leaves tomorrow). Gapa, Ashlene and I (and Mr. Flambe) then came back to Santa Clara, where we dropped him off.
From here, we headed to Castro Street, Mountain View for dinner. We ate sushi at Baracuda. That street is so awesome! I saw a monster truck there :) And then Ashlene was feeling jetlagged, so she (although she was supposed to stay at my place that night) decided to get dropped off at her corporate apartment which was round the corner from Castro Street. But we'd already bought wine and champagne for her, Gapa and me to drink till Niranjan got back home and Gapa had to leave.
Drink-talking.
We got back to my corporate apartment, and while we were waiting for Niranjan to reach his place so Gapa could go back there, we opened a bottle of champagne to have a glass each. We were sipping on it and talking, and talking and talking. I haven't talked like that in a while. We also video chatted with Iyer and Sas who were on the other side of the time zone, and spoke to them for a bit. No clue where time flew to, but we ended up drinking and talking till almost 6am! I don't know what happened with Niranjan. :D
Gapa slept here at 6am for like 3 hours, and then left.
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