Transit adventure in the Bay area
The only thing that can save the world is the reclaiming of the awareness of the world. That's what poetry does. Allen Ginsberg
Stanford campus, and its surroundings (Palo Alto town/village/suburb), is an utterly unsuitable environment for civilized human beings. The campus is way too large, walking from here to there is not viable. The buildings are directly from Italo Westerns. It gives me the creeps. Palo Alto itself is just another collection of detached houses touching each other, malls there, but not here, and cars, parking lots. How can anyone stay alive, mentally, in such an environment? I could not, not for more than a month.
Even though we did not get to the Berkeley campus, the area next to it was much more civilized: restaurants, hotels, movie theaters, buses. No taxis though: apparently Berkeley is still partly countryside - everyone owns a car. Have to return there on Tuesday to check to campus itself.
Later, we had some beers in the North Beach area of SF, on Columbus avenue, next to City Lights Bookstore. Somewhat unruly area, all kinds of insane bums roaming around. But there is one really nice pub: Vesuvius, and one nice microbrewery. The main attraction, of course, is the bookstore, which is too well-stocked with great literature and politically on the left side non-fiction. I just wish I could buy more books from there. Sigh!
Alun perin julkaistu kuukausikoosteessa "Blogs January to February 2006".
Transit adventure in the Bay area
It so happened that I forgot my driving license in Boston. Thus, as we wanted to see how life would be in Palo Alto (Stanford), Mountain View, or San Jose, it became a day of transit adventure in California. It is surprisingly easy to travel without a car here. First, we took the historical F-tran from the Fisherman's Wharf to the Ferry Terminal, then the modern N-tram to the Caltrain-terminal, then Caltrain to Palo Alto, then the free Stanford-shuttle bus to Stanford's Main Quad, back to Palo Alto train station, continuing by the Caltrain to San Jose (what a lame place), then Amtrak to Berkeley. But by then it was already dark, we did not get to the campus at all. Instead, we concluded the adventure by taking the BART back to SF. Quite a trip. All tickets together were $60. Not too bad for two persons, about the same as renting a car, buying gas, and paying tolls would have added up to.Stanford campus, and its surroundings (Palo Alto town/village/suburb), is an utterly unsuitable environment for civilized human beings. The campus is way too large, walking from here to there is not viable. The buildings are directly from Italo Westerns. It gives me the creeps. Palo Alto itself is just another collection of detached houses touching each other, malls there, but not here, and cars, parking lots. How can anyone stay alive, mentally, in such an environment? I could not, not for more than a month.
Even though we did not get to the Berkeley campus, the area next to it was much more civilized: restaurants, hotels, movie theaters, buses. No taxis though: apparently Berkeley is still partly countryside - everyone owns a car. Have to return there on Tuesday to check to campus itself.
Later, we had some beers in the North Beach area of SF, on Columbus avenue, next to City Lights Bookstore. Somewhat unruly area, all kinds of insane bums roaming around. But there is one really nice pub: Vesuvius, and one nice microbrewery. The main attraction, of course, is the bookstore, which is too well-stocked with great literature and politically on the left side non-fiction. I just wish I could buy more books from there. Sigh!
Alun perin julkaistu kuukausikoosteessa "Blogs January to February 2006".
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