March 4th –
March 10th 2013
The
beginning of the week is described below. We were exploring San
Francisco. And it was very good. Thursday, we did nothing. We stayed
home, J. went to the gym. Talked with tax people. Homework, monkey
business, travel plans, school and other documents. Friday and
Suturday, J. was working and I did not do much. On Sunday (another
great sunny day) we did not plan anything. J. was goofing on internet
and did not want to really do anything. I looked online for some
stuff close by (and easy) and made a plan. And we drove to JapanTown
in San Jose. It was pretty quick and easy to get to, parking was
piece of cake too. The farmer's market was very small and boring. We
walked along Jackson street in this smaller JapanTown. It was
actually pretty interesting and alive. Many people walking up and
down, we saw some busy churches and one mosque. We went into couple
of the stores and read the information boards along the sidewalk. It
was about Japanese coming to US in 1880's as a labor for farms. They
were excluded from becoming citizens (apparently together with many
other Asian nations) by Supreme Court in 1920's. To continue with
really bitter life, in 1940's they were placed in the camps as the
second war was taking place in Asia (Japan) as well. They made it,
came back and rebuilt their lives in Bay Area. Really interesting
story. After that we left and were heading to visit Villa Montalvo
County Park. It was really a gorgeous day. We exited the freeway in
Los Gatos and decided to visit the town as well. It was actually
pretty swanky and long main street (Apple store, Restoration Hardware
etc.). And really busy, no empty parking spots. We drove for a while
and found a market in the square. We tried to find a parking, not
much luck there. We were about to give up when we found a spot almost
next to the main street. Walked to the market (bigger and busier) and
back along the main street. It was really nice.
We
were heading toward Saratoga and Villa Montalvo. There was nice sign
along the road, so we did not have a problem to find it. We were
driving between some big ass houses (more like mansions). We were not
quite sure it was the place we were looking for. Eventually we
started to follow signs, found some parking lots closed (for some
concert) and parked at the lot number 4 (just 5 cars there). We got a
map and figured out a loop to take a walk along. First we walked in
the Arboretum in front of the villa. They did some work and park was
fenced off (looked ugly). Otherwise the fenced garden (to keep the
deer out) was really beautiful, fruit trees and nice “love temple”
with some really ugly planter (go to Shutterfly picture gallery to see it). It was really something. We walked some around the villa
(not really open to public). It had to be hard to live here. We
peaked inside couple of times and it looked pretty incredible. The
villa and some other buildings are used for concerts and arts
exhibitions, the grounds are a county park open to public. There was
a “poet's walk” which took us on the trail system kind of
surrounding the grounds of the villa.
We
were pretty much in the forest. We walked slowly and really enjoyed
ourselves. Shortly we had to drop down on some nice switchbacks to
the creek. We started to see more and more people (still not too bad
for such a nice Sunday). And actually it was surprising there was not
more people. We crossed the bridge, looked at something that was
probably a outdoor grill or a smoker and continued uphill. Again and
again I could not believe how incredibly pretty it was. There was a
small detour to the Lookout Point. J. did not want to walk there but
I insisted. It was relatively steep walk with “funny” signs along
the way (Leave your worries here). And there it was, small clearing
on small hill. There was a mother with two smaller children (they
were eating). It was incredible picture, the views (the day was
clear) were exquisite and somewhat breath taking. Funny thing, one of
the children asked “what you are looking for guys”. Really nice.
Walk down (number of people was increasing) and by the concert hall
(former carriage house) we passed some nicely dressed people waiting
for the concert. It does not get much better than this.
Well,
it was really nice surprise so far (who knew it would be such a great
day with such a great places). We got back on the main road and drove
through the main street of the village of Saratoga. It was nice but
we already walked the main street in Los Gatos and this was not much
different. We turned around and drove home. We tried to stop by
Safeway but J.'s phone took us somewhere into the mall and there was
not store. We stopped by Trader's Joe and then took Lawrance
Expressway home. End. The time changed. The spring is completely here
(trees are blooming like crazy). And I think I forgot to mention
this, the apartment in Sunnyvale is the first place (so far) that we
do not have to drive over the speed bumps (really exciting actually).
Just by the way.
