Going to Tahoe!

It's been decided! We're going to Tahoe on Friday!! In preparation and to get us excited (as if that would be necessary), Kim is sending us a photo a day... and naturally I have to then post them here. I don't think Tahoe will be covered in snow like in the picture even if the temperature in California dropped on Sunday and it is suddenly autumn. But we've got plenty of other things planned. I really can't wait!

Visitor

I think Anthony meant to post something with this, but he still hasn't so I'm going to do it instead. We had a visitor in the garden last week... After checking us out, he/she jumped the fence and disappeared into unknown land. Pretty cutie. We sometimes see them on the road when we come back in the dark.

My Birthday!

It's my birthday so I get to post pictures of myself! I finally got to see the Golden Gate and no longer have any doubts about its existence, (that's it, in the background)!

Thanks SO much for all the cards, flowers, emails, facebook messages... I think this birthday beats all previous records! After a lazy morning Anthony and I spent the day at the San Francisco MOMA (Museum of Modern Art), then slowly made it up to the marina for dinner at fantastic Greens Restaurant while looking out at sunset over the Golden Gate Bridge.. It's been such an amazing day and I'm very, very happy.

Sunday in Napa

After spending a lot of time in Berkeley, and some in San Francisco, we finally ventured further away on Sunday, going to Calistoga in Napa to climb on Mt. St. Helena with Kim and Michal. I don’t know how much I need to say, perhaps I should just let the photos speak for themselves… but we had a wonderful day with amazing weather! Driving through the Napa valley was beautiful and made me want to start a vineyard, maybe. And after a half hour (sweaty) hike we got to a climbing spot with stunning views and some pretty cool climbing where we spent the day and met some nice people, some weird people and some obnoxiously loud teenagers. As the sun started to set we had some good cheese and bread watching the sunset to then hike back down in the dark in true lse-climbing club trip-style… I wish I could post more photos, but I’m only allowed 5 per posting, malish. Oh well, these are a pretty fair representation of views, Michal and Anthony climbing (sorry Kim, didn’t seem to have one of you!), and Ant, Kim and Michal snacking in the evening sun..

Random Berkeley views

So, to satisfy those hungering for more photos of Berkeley... here you go. These are just some random shots of houses and streets. The broad one with streetlights is Shattuck Avenue. It's looks quite different up here where we live, but downtown this is it. I guess it would be more proper to show photos of campus and hang outs, but i'm sure all that will make it to the blog with time. At the moment i'm collecting material for exposes on the Tibet shops, and more dogs for Laura...

Homelessness

I remembered that I actually took a photo of a homeless man and his cat. I don't really like taking photos of people without them knowing about it, so I tried my best not to be too obvious. (I know, an alternative could be to just ask them, but that would require social skills that i'm afraid I don't possess.) When the man suddenly turned around I pretended to be taking pictures of the Berkeley Public Library instead, which is quite famous. Apart from pet stores and Tibet shops (and possibly students), Berkeley has lots and lots of homeless people. Apparently most of them are war veterans and/or mentally ill, and although drug abuse is not as in your face as it is in some parts of SF, it's probably fair to assume that it's part of the whole thing too. Am not going to give you an analysis of homelessness, I'll leave that to those better suited, but there really are staggering amounts of homeless people in Berkeley.

More dogs in curious places

Cool, since I already have a post with a dog in a Danish shopping window, I thought I'd follow it up with a dog in a bag. Managed to snap a picture of this one while having coffee on 4th st earlier today. To paraphrase a certain Sedaris... why NOT put a dog in a bag and carry it around instead of letting it walk? Americans love their dogs. There are almost as many pet stores as Tibet shops in this town. They love their cats too. Even the homeless have cats and keep them on leash. And Anthony knows a cat called Ivan who has cat-aids. But don't worry, he gets cat-antivirals.

overcoming jetlag with imperial tea

So, i have finally managed to survive a whole afternoon without just wanting to collapse! And i managed to stay awake past 9 pm last night. That could have been thanks to the amazing tea place we went to after dinner last night. Instead of going for a glass of wine we randomly came across a tea place. I don't remember the name, but it had the word imperial in it. Who wants to sleep when a Chinese lady is teaching you how to drink from chinese tea cups? And you get to smell ALL the tea jars before deciding which one you like (even if she's happy to tell you what she prefers you to have).

More about this place soon. I have yet to experience the wonders that must be the Tibet stores. How else would you explain the need (or market) for three Tibet stores on the same street... (i don't even want to guess how many there are in Berkeley as a whole...)

Gone West!

I'm here! Tired, jetlagged and confused. But I made it to California where it's warm.

Started my first day here with feeding the cat Otis next door. Otis is massive and has war wounds. He's got a big scar over his nose and ears after fights. Then went for breakfast. And then spent some time in the largest second hand bookshop i've seen. Went back home to pack up my stuff and then went for a walk down to REI. Yes, I could not wait to see this much heard of place in all its amazingness. Unfortunately, the jetlag hit me on the walk there and I barely managed to be moral support for Anthony in his shopping (and definitely not look for anything for myself, despite brave attempts), but he did really well anyway.

Tomorrow, breakfast in San Francisco with Kim. Am so excited to see her. And i'm being told that it will be the most amazing breakfast ever. Right now, sleep seems like the most amazing thing ever. Stupid jetlag.

4 days

It suddenly hit me that I'm leaving in 4 days. That's nothing. I've been counting months and neverending weeks, but as autumn darkness has fallen over this corner of the world (still magically leaving the days sunny and warm) suddenly i have to start thinking seriously about doing laundry and packing...