Stanford University Tour

Stanford, one of the most prestigious universities in the world, conducts walking tours of their campus for the public throughout the year. I had attended one such tour a few years ago. Since I didn't have a blog at the time, I missed documenting it. Last week, I decided to go on the tour again. It was just as fun as the last time.

Hoover's Tower

Led by students, the tour is a 70 min walk around the campus. It provides the history of the University and helps you get a peek at the culture, campus life and academics. Stanford University was started by Leland Stanford-one of the wealthiest men in America at the time. It was built in memory of his only son who died at the age of 15.

The campus is massive-one that can accommodate 96 Disneylands! It was buzzing with activity as prospective students were visiting the campus along with parents in addition to the regular students. I learned about the various clubs and extra curricular activities that students participate in.

David Packard Electrical Engineering

The tour covers the main areas of the campus including the Main Quad, Memorial Church, Engineering Quad and White Plaza. One can also go to the top of Hoover's Tower to get a view of the Bay Area but we were too tired to walk back to it after the tour ended.

My favorite was the Memorial Church with its beautiful stain glass paintings inside.  Take a look at these pictures to see the insides of this wonderful Italian style Church.

This tour is a great way for the public to get a feel for the university. There were many parents who had brought their pre-teen and teenage children on the tour hoping to inspire them. There is a lot of walking involved so bring a hat and water bottle to keep yourself hydrated.

No reservations are required. All you have to do is show up at the Stanford Visitor Center at the time of the tour. The best part is that it is free. While you're on the campus, do take some time out to visit the Cantor Arts Center and the Papua New Guinea Sculpture Garden.

My friend & I after the tour

What: Stanford University Walking Tour
When: 11am and 3.15pm 7 days a week
Where: Stanford University, 450 Serra Mall, Stanford CA 94305
Fee: Free

Castello Di Amorosa

It has been a while since I updated this blog and that was due to my two month long vacation in India. Now that I'm back, I plan to blog more often. Before our vacation, we went to Sonoma for a weekend visit. We had a very definite itinerary. Reach Sonoma, visit Castello Di Amorosa and the next day take the Hot Air Balloon ride (yes, we did it and I will write a whole separate post on it!).

Me with Castello Di Amorosa in the background

Castello Di Amorosa is a 13th century style Tuscan castle and winery built by wine maker Dario Sattui. He wanted to combine two of his greatest passions in life-wine and architecture which resulted in him building this magnificent castle that is a fully functioning winery. We took a guided tour of the castle which helped us get information about the castle and its history. The tour is an hour long after which there is a 45 min wine tasting. You can upgrade to a chocolate pairing with the wine as well.

Great Hall with marvelous paintings

Wine fermentation process

The castle has 107 rooms and a total of 8 levels above and below the ground. The chapel, a torture chamber, hall, dining area, courtyard and the wine cellar were some of the rooms we visited. The rooms were decorated with frescos, paintings, furniture that transports one to the 13th century. The torture chamber even has an authentic 300-year old iron maiden brought from Italy. After the walk through the castle, the tasting session was a welcome break.

Our tour guide Rachel

Wine barrels

Wine tasting

I loved this place and especially liked their delicious wines. I highly recommend visiting this winery for a taste of ancient architecture as well as wine.

What: Castello Di Amorosa
Where: 4045 Saint Helena Highway, Calistoga CA 9415
When: 9:30 am-5:00 pm (Nov-Feb) and 9:30 am-6:00 pm (Mar-Oct)
Fee: Varies depending on options

Christmas Lights in San Francisco

Christmas is the time for lights, decorations and above all celebration. This year, thanks to a friend,  I spent a day in San Francisco taking in the spirit of the holiday season. 

We took the caltrain at mid day and headed up to the city. Union Square was our first stop. The giant christmas tree with the beautiful and colorful decorations was a sight to behold. Union Square also has an ice-skating rink where people had a fun time.

In Union Square, the 'Heart Sculpture' is a very popular tourist spot. Each year, new heart sculptures are installed after the old ones are auctioned off for charity. 

Union Square Heats of San Francisco Sculpture 

After a uphill walk, we then reached the Fairmont Hotel in Nob Hill. The hotel lobby had a spectacular decorations. A giant tree, lights, gingerbread cookie house and an area for kids to write letters to Santa. I was impressed by the fact that it was open to public. 

A short bus ride took us to Ghirardelli square where we grabbed some chocolate-y drinks and walked across the street to the marina to enjoy the view of the ocean. 

As we walked along the pier, we made the terrible mistake of trying out the 'SF Dungeon'. This is a rip off in the name of entertainment. Stay away from this place. I do not want to go into the details of how horrible the place was. 

The big tree near Fisherman's Wharf was gorgeous. Have a look.

Pier 39 Christmas Tree

My favorite decoration however was the one in Hyatt Regency near Union Square. The 300,000 cascading lights were stunning. And so was the christmas village set up. It was so detailed and well made. Unfortunately, I do not have a very good picture for this. 

The christmas music on the streets and stores along with all the decorations lifted my spirits and I was so glad I got to spend a fun day in SF.

Escape To Alcatraz

Alcatraz-one of the most popular tourist spots in San Francisco. I have visited the island during one of my previous trips to the Bay Area. However, it has been a while so I decided to plan a trip there. It was supposed to be a group visit but one by one everyone dropped out and in the end it was just the two of us.

Pier 33

Alcatraz is an island about a mile and quarter away from San Francisco. It was built as a fort to protect the SF port during the gold rush period. After which it was converted into a high security prison. Some of the most dangerous and notorious criminals of those days were housed in the prison. There are quite a few very interesting stories about escape plans from the prison but none of them are believed to be successful. Although, the island is so close to the SF coast, the cold water made it impossible for any one to survive while escaping.

Prison cell block

Individual cell

Tickets get sold out months in advance so one has to plan well in advance. We gathered at Pier 33 from where a twelve minute ferry ride took us to the island. Luckily for us, we did not expect the fog and cold breeze that is so often associated with SF weather. Once on the island, the tour guide took us to the Cell blocks and have us a brief history of the place. We were then given audio tours which we could listen to at our own pace. This is the best part of the tour. The narration is superb and engaging. It gives you an idea of how life was in the prison and also about the famous criminals and their escape attempts.

Showers

An art exhibition by the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei was being showcased in the prison. It was political art work and so had a very strong message against oppression and supporting freedom. Due to the exhibition, some parts of the prison which are generally not open to the public were accessible. We got to tour the hospital wing with the x-ray room, hydrotherapy room and operation theatre.

Room where inmates were handed out clothes

We spent about two hours exploring the place through the audio tour as well as the short lectures by the guides. It is a fun outing at the same time makes you appreciate freedom.

What: Alcatraz Island
Where: Ferry from Pier 33
When: Throughout the year
Fee: $30 for day tour, $37 for night tour

Papua New Guinea Sculpture Garden

Volunteering with Bay Area Older Adults is always a fun experiences and this one was no different. Anne arranged a tour of the beautiful Papua New Guinea Sculpture Garden in Stanford Campus.

 

It was an hour long docent led tour of the gardens. This garden was created in 1994. One of the master students from the anthropology department at Stanford, Jim Mason, after returning from a trip to Papua New Guinea, proposed recreating their art work on the campus. His proposal was approved and ten talented artists from Papua New Guinea were brought in to work on the project. The group consisted of five youngsters who did all the hard labor and five experienced artists who did the actual carving and painting. It took them five months to create all the 40 wood and stone sculptures. Plants in the garden complement the sculptures and were specifically chosen to mimic the look and feel of Papua New Guinea.

Kura-Mythological character

The country has two main tribes namely Kwoma and Iatmul who live along the Sepik river. Representatives from both these tribes were brought here. One of the tribes is a  master of carving wood while the other excels in painting. The art work is very distinct for each tribe and both are very intricate and beautiful. The sculptures depict the various founding legends and important mythological characters. The docent told us quite a few amusing stories from the art work.

Painted sculpture

There are some sculptures which are inspired from Rodin's work from the Cantor Art Museum. The artists used their creativity and presented their take on the master's work. Interestingly, the artists were only used to carving wood. When they asked if they could get some local material other than wood to try their hand at, they were given pumice stone and the artists took an instant liking to it. This resulted in a lot of stone sculptures being produced.

'The Thinker'

Stone carving

The garden is free and open throughout the year. Free docent led tours are organized every third Sunday of the month. If you want to get a glimpse of the fascinating world of the Kwomas and the Iatmuls, I recommend taking the tour. Parking is free on the weekend and the garden is completely shaded so there is no reason not to visit the garden and take in the gorgeous sights.

What: Papua New Guinea Sculpture Garden

Where: Lomita Drive Stanford, CA

When: All year round

Fee: Free

Trip To The Big Apple!

6 amazing days in New York city! Loads to explore and experience. After the stunning Niagara falls, we headed to 'The City that never sleeps.' Since there was so much to see and do, we were on the move constantly. This was one of the longest trips I have ever planned and I'm so thrilled that everything went smoothly. I absolutely loved the subways which gave me the freedom to travel to any place without the hassle of worrying about transport.

Honestly, there is just too much to write about each place. For the lack of time and patience, I'm restricting myself to a few lines and pictures for each place.

1. Rockefeller Center:

I highly recommend the one hour guided tour where the guide talks about the art, architecture and history of the place which was pretty fascinating.

Sculpture in Rockefeller Center

Art Work in Rockefeller Center building

2. Top Of The Rock:

A beautiful view of Manhattan from the top of Rockefeller Center.

View from Top of the Rock

3. Grand Central Terminal:

I never knew a train station can look so exquisite. We were late for the audio tour so missed it but it is an excellent spot to marvel at the art work and also sit in a corner and people-watch. Trust me, you will be amazed.

Outside Grand Central Terminal

Grand Central Terminal

4. Statue of Liberty

A ferry from Battery Park took us to the Statue. We only went up to the pedestal but I did not find it fascinating at all. What I really enjoyed was the museum below it which had quite a lot of interesting facts about the statue, replicas of various parts, history and engineering details.

Replica of Statue of Liberty's foot

Statue of Liberty

5. Wall Street, Times Square, Central Park, Brooklyn Bridge:

All these places required us to walk leisurely at our own pace soaking in the beauty and energy that is so unique to this city.

Brooklyn Bridge

The Charging Bull at Bowling Green

At Times Square

Central Park

6. Empire State Building:

Since we went to Top of the Rock during the day, I planned this visit in the evening so we could get a view of Manhattan at night. I was not disappointed at all. It was a dazzling view. It was freezing so most of the time I stood instead the glass door. They also have an audio tour which I found interesting.

The Empire State Building

View from The Empire State Building

7. Museums:

Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art and American Natural History Museum were the three we visited. They are very big museums each with several large galleries. My favorite was the Metropolitan Museum of Art especially the 16-17th Century painting and sculptures. There is no way you can cover everything in any of these museums in one day. It is best to choose a few exhibits that you're interested in beforehand and focus on those.

8. Broadway:

We did manage to catch one Broadway show called 'The Cripple of Innishman' starring Daniel Radcliffe. It was quite an engaging play.

Outside Cort Theater

Inside Cort Theater

Walking Tour in San Francisco

Union Square

It's quite funny that despite this blog theme being San Francisco Bay Area, I have not posted anything about San Francisco! Time to change that now. Last week, I decided to explore some of the popular neighborhoods in SF through a walking tour. Similar to the one I took in Seattle, this one was very informative, fun and gave me an insight into the history and culture of San Francisco.

The tour was called 'The Whole Shebang tour' and was conducted by Foot! I discovered it through an offer on Goldstar.com which helped me save money. The tour started at Huntington Park in Nob Hill at 11.15am. My friend Anu and I took the Caltrain from Santa Clara station at 8.45am and reached SF station at 10am. Right outside the station, there is a bus stop for Bus 30 which dropped us two blocks away from our destination.

Kurt, our tour guide was very funny, knowledgeable and friendly. He told us about the important personalities that shaped and influenced the city, cable cars, rail roads, Gold rush, the devastating earthquakes and ensuing fires in 1906, eccentric characters like Emperor Norton, buildings that survived the fires and those that were rebuilt. We also saw some spots where scenes of the movie 'Vertigo' were shot. He took us through the Fairmont Hotel and The Westin St Francis Hotel to see the architecture and relayed some interesting stories.

From Nob hill, we walked to Chinatown and saw the main entrance of Chinatown, old temples, Fortune cookie factory and also got to taste some yummy dimsums in one of the local restaurants. From there, we continued towards Union Square followed by a walk through North beach-the Italian neighborhood.

In front of Chinatown entrance

The tour ended at Washington park after 3 hours and walking 30 blocks. Apart from all the information, the tour also had trivia quizzes with prizes which added to the fun. Overall it was time well spent! I highly recommend this to anyone who wants to get a taste of SF's uniqueness and rich culture.

Church near Washington Park