Started on May 19, 19 and 19 when the plane arrived from Philadelphia bringing my first visit: M. It was a surprise to see her exit from ramp with other passengers without luggage. It seems that in the small airport of SFO relatives and friends can pick up their bags of other people, so I guess it is easier to travel alone and if they come to pick you. Once we had the suitcase we took the train Alameda where we would spend the days until she left.
The first day we saw a bit of San Francisco,went to the Piers we got off in the Ferry Building the other ferry must broke down because we had to switch to another to get to Pier39, where we were walk, eat cherries and and look at shops. We ate lunch at In-n-Out, the first American hamburger, and we finished the tour at the Maritime Museum where we saw the boats from the pier and just a little of the Golden Gate and Alcatraz. But then we had to take the tram to the Civic Centre where we had to meet with others Catalans to share experiences. We met in Union Square, there was a friend of my cousin who was with a girl and her uncle who lived in the East Bay. We went to eata little of ham and cheese on a Catalan restaurant near there, B44. After a while we take turns going to the corner of the alley to take pictures of the solar eclipse. Once it set we saw how late it was and everyone returned to their respective homes.
Next morning I had to work so I left early leaving my friend sleeping, a friends of mine would bring her to SF and we would meet for the FotoWalk, the first activity of the conferences organized by Google+ Photographers. The conferences were the next two days, full of workshops, lectures and was a good opportunity to meet photographers from everywhere. When we did not have lectures or workshops, there were several exhibitors with things that might be of our interest, from tablets to cookies. We exchanged a thousand experiences, conversations and cards during those two and a half days.
In the afternoon the first day I had to go to rent a car to bring a friend to the airport, but when I got there at the San Bruno dealer, they told me that my driving license was no good because it was not in English. Thinking about it later seemed quite illogical because if you come to England would be more dangerous to drive even if mylicence would be in English... Angry and without a penny I called my uncle if he could picked me up in the middle of nowhere and drop me in Millbrae. It took an hour I waited patiencely and with low battery trying to communicate with the world. Telling a friend that couldn’t drop her at the airport, and the other that I wouldn’t return to Alameda trying to find somebody who would pick her up at the farry station. So the next day I had to leave in the morning on the last day of the conference to go to say goodbye to my Japanese friend who I met on the first day of orientation. It was actually the first time he had to say goodbye to someone who I would not see in a long time. It left me restless, but I didn’t had much time to think about it because I had to go back to the conferences and we went sightseeing without stopping for the rest of the week.I worked during the morning while she would be in town and we would meet at the afternoon at some place. We went to Golden Gate Park, on the night of the Academy of Sciences and the Presidio.
It arrived this weekend and the anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge for his 75th years from its construction, we a walk down the coast but soon we found a spot at the beach where they said that there were good views and we saw the sunset and then the spectacular fireworks.
Monday was holiday, and we used it to go to see a little beyond San Francisco, so taking the motorway from direction Berckley from Alameda and across Oakland we got to Sausalito, a town that across from San Francisco on the other side of the bay. It was a very good day and even if it was filled with tourists. Wewandered around before we could park and found what we wanted to see which was San Francisco and the houseboats. We managed to do it after lunch and having made the afternoon coffee and dessert we went to find houseboats that luckily the other tourists seemed to have no interest in it because we only saw neighbors. On the way back we stopped to Tiburon, a small village very beautiful and perfect to catch the ferry back. It was hidden behind Angel Island, where immigrants from Asia to San Francisco accessed. We took more pictures and then went back to sleep in Alameda.
The weekend ended with a family trip to the University of Berkley which most Catalans seem to have studied. It's a huge university and quite nice. It's worth the trip.
Next day we took the car, got up early and after we got ourselfs a road map south we went. The first stop was in the forests of Big Basin, a little farther down from San Jose. We did not know very well where we were and it took us some time to get out of the woods. The purpose of this trip was to take pictures and enjoy the good weather and beautiful landscapes that California offers. Getting out of there took us 3hours but then we ended up in Monterey. I knew we had to go mainly to the aquarium, which would be worth it and we could take beautiful pictures with enough patience. We had no luck because we arrived just about an 1 before they closed and no one warned us, so we did not have much time to see anything. My friend decided he wanted to fill a complain and, after sending us from one person to another, a girl asked us what we want in exchange, and we agreed to come back Wednesday for free.
A little further down from Monterey, we found a beach where the sun was about to set and we got a little distracted to take pictures. Then we climbed back in the car and we went down south to the next stop where wetook exceptional photos of the sun melting into the horizon.
It soon went dark but we did not stop until we found a motel a little south of Hearts Caslte. Hearts was a man who worked at his father newspaper eventually became the director and expanded it, he created other businesses and invested in many entertainment projects. He even made some movies. Obsessed with Europe, he build a huge castle in the middle of his land where he had Ranchos and filled up the castle with antiques and art pieces of the old continent. A visit to the castle was very expensive to ourcrisis economy so we settle for the small museum that is just next to the souvenir shop. We bought a few postcards and happily we went down to Santa Barbara coast.
Half way we found a cemetery where all waving flags of the United States, the wind had yet to stop blowing. The cemetery was a small but very curious because it had everything, 1800 tombstones and oldest graves, others more modern, some Asian, some with statues ... In the end we realized that all that variety was because it was a veterans cemetery. And continuing south we approached the coast where we found a beach pass a train station and a second time in life I could set footin the Pacific! It was the first time to my friend
Finally we got to Santa Barbara for lunch. We stopped at a Burger King and then we went to see the Mission. Then I remembered that I thought was the Mission San Jose orCarmel but then we found out that it was the San Juan Bautista and because the one in Santa Barbara closed we thought maybe we had time to return to San Francisco and stop along the way. We tried to go to the beach where it was supposed to have had the possibility of seeing a hollow rock, but instead we ended up lost to UCSB (University of California Santa Barbara). My gps insisted on turning right when there was no place to turn and all students, dressed acording to the fashion of Baja California surferscouldn’t stop staring at us. Eventually we were out of gas and we though that filling the tank and go back north was much better idea than keep trying to turn right.We went back up the highway that was much faster and we in 3h we arrived in Monterey, we found a Motel in Carmel and in the morning we enjoyed a good breakfast before going to the aquarium. This time we did spend as many hours as we wanted, looking jellyfish, fish, sharks, otters, birds and many others. We spent much of the morning closed in that area but we decided to try to find the Mission San Juan Bautista and eat there. The thing of this mission is something I have never forgotten since I saw the first time about 14 years ago. The mission itself remains quite like the first day, but so are most of missions that can be visited, which makesthis one special is that it is in a square where on the other corners there are other buildings from the gold rush are also preserved. You can clearly see the life of the gold prospectors of centuries ago and the rooms and carriages, dresses and even the salon. Everything is well-preserved over the years. So it' like a time capsule in the form of a square that faces the San Andreas Fault on its 4th side.
We had lunch at a Mexican and I remembered that when I came when I was 10 years we also ate at a Mexican. With my cousins we spent the meal running tothe bathroom because the food was too spicy and our parents told us that we had to stop asking for so much watter, I guess hoping that we’d stop eating the spicy food, but we did not. I don’t know why water in this country if the tap is free. But as I recall the efforts were largely in vain.
The mission was the last stop before arriving in Millbrae where we spent the night before my friend had to catch a flight early in the morning back Barcelona.
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