Shakespeare in the Park: Hamlet

Watching Shakespeare In The Park each year has become a tradition for us. So far, we've watched Taming of the Shrew, Romeo & Juliet, Winter's Tale and now Hamlet.

Based on all the experience from the previous years, we managed to be fully prepared to have a good time. We carried lawn chairs, a tarp to sit on, a picnic dinner, snacks, drinks and lots of warm clothing. In addition, we reached there well ahead of time to score parking as well as good seats. We reached there almost an hour and a half before the show began. This time we had company. SIL, BIL and Ritwik joined us.

 

Sandhya and Gaurav were supposed to come too but that was a comedy of errors in itself.

They ended up going to Saratoga where another theater group was putting on a production of Hamlet. What are the chances of that!

Like every year, the show was fabulous, great actors, costume and direction. The only problem was the sound and could have been resolved if we had picked a spot near the loudspeakers. Luckily, the weather was good too so had a fantastic evening.  

Giants Game at Levis Stadium

I've never watched American football and don't have any clue how it is played. Yet, when Vishnu's company gave us tickets to watch the Giants game, I decided to go anyway. I just wanted to get the feel of watching a live game at a stadium.

We reached the stadium a little early fearing traffic. Since we had reserved parking, everything was a breeze. This was my first time visiting Levis stadium and I was so impressed how big it was. VMWare has a special suite so we went up there. It was so comfortable and the view from the top was wonderful.

We spent time clicking pictures and grabbing some high priced tasteless food from the food court.

The game began and I had a tough time following what was going on. Vishnu had to explain the rules and by half time I had some idea of the game. It didn't help that the Giants (the home team) were playing terribly. Most of the people left much before the game ended as it was pretty clear who the winner was going to be. We stayed until the end.

Crime Scene Investigation Lecture

Bay Area Older Adults organized an event around Crime Scene Investigation. It was held at the Forensic Science Center in downtown San Jose. Our host for the evening was Cordelia Willis, a Santa Clara County Criminalist. She has almost 17 years of experience working in the various labs of the forensic department (blood spatter, DNA, prints, firearms, trace evidence etc).

As the general public does not have access to the labs for obvious reasons, the event was in the form of a lecture with a presentation. It was a very educational session with lots of good questions from the audience. I learnt so much about DNA collection, database matches, trace evidence collection and ballistic reports. Cordelia peppered the lecture with real case stories that she worked on which ensured the audience was hooked. With constant barrage of audience questions, the two hour session got extended to three hours!

I think these lectures are held once a month and are open to the public. If forensics interests you, this lecture is not to be missed.

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

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

An evening at the museum

It has been a week since I arrived in this new country. Apart from the places I mentioned in my previous post, I didn't get a chance to get out of the house much. So when V asked me if I'd be interested to go to the museum in Stanford University, I was more than delighted.

I took the Caltrain (my first ride alone!) to Palo Alto where I met V and then we took the Marguerite shuttle (a free shuttle service provided by Stanford, which I think is pretty cool). The shuttle dropped us at the campus oval from where we walked up to the Cantor Arts Center which is the museum.

As soon as we entered, we checked in our bagpack and we were handed a map of the museum. The friendly guide offered to make some suggestions on how we should approach covering the museum. It was divided into different sections-Asian, American, Italian, Greek etc.

Pottery, sculptures, paintings, photographs from different eras some as early as 400 BC were on display. Each section had its own unique regional flavor and it makes one think that even after the rolling over of centuries, there is a common thread running between all artifacts in any given section.  Although the techniques and materials used have evolved with time, the core remains unchanged.

There are a few sections where the exhibits keep changing. In one such section, the exhibit on display was called 'La Caricature.' It displayed the original caricatures that appeared in the immensely popular journal of political satired 'La Caricature.' I was amazed at the witty and strong messages in caricature. I  thoroughly enjoyed this one. Some of my other favorites were 'Guardian' photography collection, Greek sculptures and paintings.

The museum is very well organized and as mentioned earlier, grouped into several different sections. This makes it easy for the visitor to chose and visit the section of their liking. Each exhibit is accompanied by a detailed note about the artist, time period and the inspiration behind it. I found it very useful especially because I'm not very good with history. Also, since I've no idea about art, these notes served as an excellent medium to educate me.

Unfortunately, we only had 2 hours as the museum closes at 8 pm on Thursdays. So we couldn't manage to look through everything. But we are definitely visiting again.

We then strolled down to the Palo Alto downtown, had some Greek food and then headed home. An evening well spent!

What: Cantor Arts Center

Where: Stanford University Campus, Palo Alto

When: Wednesday-Sunday 11 am-5 pm

            Thursday 11 am-8 pm

Admission: Free