February 18th
– February 24th 2013
This was a quiet and low key week. J.
had her three days of work and we had to move at the end of the week
(to start our extended eight weeks). On Monday we drove to Golden
Gate Park in San Francisco. The drive was not too bad (if you can
avoid rush hour you can drive around pretty nicely). Unfortunately it
was cloudy, windy and a bit cold (I guess our timing sometimes does
not work). It was President's day (did not think about it until the
night before), so we were worried about number of visitors. Even it
was early, most of the good parking spots were gone. First, we were
heading to Japanese Tea Garden (twice a week from nine to ten in the
morning you do not pay entrance fee and who does not like good
bargain, right?). With good bargain (we guessed that was the reason)
there was actually decent crowd., unfortunately. Otherwise, the
garden was a delight. It was pretty big and really pretty (minus
people).
The weather did not improve. J. wanted
to see a conservatory (closed on Mondays). We stopped by the car and
kept walking. We got somewhat cranky with each other (forgot the
reason). And unfortunately the weather was kind of ruining the
experience. We walked a bit around, saw the conservatory, some
outdoor art works around the Young museum and many people running and
doing other exercise activities. Hopefully we will manage to come
back to this park (on work day to avoid the biggest crowds).
On Tuesday, we got some rain (it was
really sad gray day). Following three days J. was working. I cleaned
up and packed some stuff. I had to write a paper for the school as
well. One day I took longer walk around the area. Half of it was
through the city (never seen those parts – pretty) and half around
the bay. It was relatively cold and sunny, which actually worked
pretty well for a walk. It was really enjoyable, trees are starting
to bloom, many flowers already in bloom and pretty street. I walked
through the Coyote Point Park and Marina. We visited part of the
park, but did not see the other side. When I got there I could not
believe that we missed that. There was a tiny beach and views of the
city (and airport). It was great. And part of the park is on small
hill, so the views are even better and you are surrounded by mature
trees. Great.
J. worked three days (thru Friday). I
got some packing done (we were going to take couple trips, so there
was no need for real packing). I more less finished our taxes (to
send to the company specializing on travel taxes) and enjoyed time
off (really nice). On Saturday, we packed the car (really short
distance, probably less then ten minutes) and drove to Sunnyvale
(half an hour). We got our keys and move all the stuff into the
apartment. All was just fine. Probably within an hour we left and
drove to downtown Sunnyvale, where we saw Farmer's market. Nice thing
– parking is relatively easy and plentiful. The market was pretty
big and nice. We were both kind of hungry and there was a lot of food
carts (to smell it was kind of a torture, especially some stone grill
presentation for a restaurant).
We left, took 101 to San Mateo and had
a lunch at Jeffrey's Hamburger (sort of fast food restaurant, J. was
told it was great). It was pretty good lunch (burger and tuna melt),
but nothing worth raving. Oh well … It was nice day, so we got back
on 101 and drove north to end up at San Bruno State Park. We paid six
dollars and drove on the top of the mountain. The booklet was
describing 360 degrees views of the bay. And … they were there, it
was amazing picture. It was really windy and a bit cold. We drove
back down and parked and started walking. Within two minutes J. felt
down on nice flat path and scraped her knee pretty bad. We walked
back, asked a ranger at the gate for some bandages and went home.
Some television shows, dinner at home
and quiet evening. I packed most of the stuff and got many boxes and
bags by the door for next day. On Sunday, we were thinking about
taking a walk to Coyote Park, but J. knee was hurting some (hardening
required!) so we packed the car and left for Sunnyvale. Another
unloading of the car (unfortunately the apartment is on first floor,
so there was a flight of stars). But it was not too bad. On the way,
we stopped at the store to get some groceries. We unpacked some and
had a issue with internet set up. J. had to call Comcast and spent
probably an hour on the phone, while they tried to make it work.
Eventually they gave up and set up technician visit for Monday.
Within ten minutes (and router reset) the internet started to work.
We drove to Trader's Joes, stopped by Target along the way and came
home. Clean up and sorting (to make the home again) and the end of
the day.
