This was the first week of a two-week trip to visit family in the US–first and foremost my son in California, but also with a cross-country trip to Florida to visit my uncle and other relatives there, and to see again the town where I went to graduate school in the 1980s.
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Our trip started with an early morning flight to Barcelona, from where we would fly on to San Francisco. Well into the flight, I saw the first sunrise of the new week:
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We landed in Barcelona around 8 a.m. Sunday and had a 7-hour layover before our flight to San Francisco. Rather than wasting time in the airport, we took a taxi to our daughter Monica’s new apartment and spent a few hours with her and Mochi:
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Another taxi back to Barcelona airport, some queuing as usual, and then 12 hours on the plane to San Francisco. Once through passport control, we were delighted to see that my daughter-in-law Myrela and dog-in-law Euclid had joined my son Moses to meet us at the airport:
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We picked up our rental car and followed my son, Myrela and Euclid to their newly rented house in El Cerrito, just north of Berkeley: Euclid soon assumed his usual pose:
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In addition to Euclid, Moses and Myrela have two cats. They adopted Watson in 2020, at the height of the pandemic. They were originally just meant to provide a temporary foster home for him to relieve an overcrowded shelter, but here he is, still with them 5 years later:
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Their other cat, Jasmine, joined the household last October. They were buying something in a pet shop in New Jersey (where they lived at the time) and saw an advertisement of a cat searching a forever home. The cat was Jasmine and now she has her forever home. She is very shy and it took a few days before she allowed me to pet her, and a few additional days before she let me pick her up:
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I often accompanied Moses on walks with Euclid. He is a Samoyed, a breed that needs a lot of exercise:
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Part of the pleasure of walking with Euclid was to look at the many quirky front gardens in the neighbourhood where Moses lives. There are many signs like these:
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The political leanings of the Bay Area are clear:
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Besides signs, there were many inventive decorations:
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Something my golfing wife can relate to:
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And of course lots of bumper stickers to look at:
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During one of the first days of my visit I spent time walking around Berkeley. Moses lives close to the El Cerrito del Norte BART station, so taking the train to Berkeley was much easier than driving there and looking for parking. I loved walking around the university area and seeing people like this guy (even if I do not agree with all the sentiments on display, I enjoyed seeing the progressive spirit that prevails in the town):
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Berkeley bicycle stand:
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Bus shelter ad for a symphony orchestra, tailored to local sensibilities:
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One of the places I needed to visit in Berkeley is Pegasus Books, a proper bookstore with a great selection. This is the Berkeley branch, there is another one a bit further south, just across the “border” with Oakland:
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Things the current regime hates:
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Some true believers still exist. Having been born in a Communist country, I get amused seeing such posters:
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In the hills above Berkeley, there are some nice spots from which one can see Oakland and beyond:
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Oakland and the Bay Bridge:
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The youngest of my US cousins, Dan, lives in the extreme north of Oakland, in Rockridge, just a few hundred meters from the border with Berkeley. We went for dinner at his house Monday night and enjoyed seeing him and his little dog Kona:
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Dan’s wife Tiffany talks to Moses and Myrela while preparing dinner:
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Dan has a daughter who is now a young adult from his first marriage, and an 8-year old son Ben with Tiffany. We really enjoyed being with them, and visited them three times during our visit, in addition to going on a couple of hikes with the dogs:
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On Tuesday morning, Moses and I drove to a bakery which he said had proper bread, a commodity that can be difficult to find in the USA. We took Euclid with us–he loves car rides:
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Euclid also loves people, and people love him. This woman, passing by while I waited outside the bakery, stopped to give him a cuddle:
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On Tuesday, I wanted to visit an art museum near the Golden Gate in San Francisco called the Legion of Honor Museum. Before going to the museum, we decided it was time for lunch. We were in a residential neighbourhood, so not too many restaurants around. But we found this Chinese restaurant where we got a lot of curious looks when we entered–we were the only non-Chinese guests in a restaurant that clearly rarely or never saw a tourist, always a good sign:
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We ordered the very generous and inexpensive lunch menu. By default, it started with a miso soup:
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Each of us then chose a main dish. I ordered pork bellies in a fermented shrimp sauce. The server warned me that many people find this dish too strong and pungent (read: stinky), something which I took as a personal challenge. The smell was indeed strong, but taste was excellent:
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Outside the Legion of Honor Museum, this influencer was busy (I am assuming she was some kind of Instagram type, certainly this goes beyond a standard selfie):
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Inside the museum. The Legion of Honor Museum was opened on 11 November 1924 to commemorate the Californians who had been killed during World War I, and it focuses mainly on European art:
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After the museum visit, we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge to go home to El Cerrito that way. Before getting on the bridge, we stopped for some photos, of course. I have seen the bridge many times, but it is a sight of which I never tire:
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On Wednesday morning, Moses and I took Euclid to a trail where dogs can roam freely. The morning light was very nice:
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Euclid enjoyed beeing off the leash and meeting other dogs:
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After an hour of running around, a drink of water is welcome:
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Later on Wednesday, my wife and I drove to Berkeley for a walk. First we stopped at the Berkeley Marina which was underwhelming, but on the way out we came across these wild turkeys, something we definitely do not see in Alicante:
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We continued on to downtown Berkeley and stopped for an early lunch at a Mexican place:
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The food looked and tasted great:
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Wednesday evening we took an overnight flight from San Francisco to Orlando, rented a car and drove to Gainesville where my uncle and one of my cousins live, arriving there Thursday morning. Uncle Zev is now 88 and has some health issues as do many people his age. But his love of bridge is unchanged, and his mind is as sharp as ever:
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In the afternoon, we went to the area around the University of Florida where I went to graduate school in the late 1980s and from where I received my PhD in 1991. One of our favourite places on campus when we lived there is called Lake Alice, a beautiful oasis on the edge of campus, full of alligators and birds:
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Sadly, the alligators were keeping a low profile on the day; sometimes they can be seen sunning themselves on shore, but this time the closest we got was a glimpse of a snout in the water:
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My other cousin Ilan lives in Jacksonville, a couple of hours away. He and his wife came to Gainesville to see us, and on Friday afternoon he and I went to a bar near the university that we used to frequent when we both studied at the university (he is 4-5 years younger than me), the Salty Dog, to refresh the memories from our youth:
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On Friday evening, the whole family got together for dinner. Before that, my uncle and my wife talked about–what else–bridge:
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This is most of my Florida family–my wife Aixa, my cousin Ilan’s wife Paige, Ilan, my other cousin Renata’s husband Alon, Renata, Ilan’s daughter Eden, my uncle’s wife Alina and uncle Zev. They have played an important role in my life, obviously particularly when I lived in the US, but also afterwards:
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We flew back to California Saturday afternoon, so in the morning we had time for a walk in another place I remember well from my time in Gainesville, Paines Prairie. It is a nature reserve a few km south of Gainesville, basically a big swamp/wetland full of alligators, birds and other wildlife. For obvious reasons, there is an elevated wooden walkway:
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The birds were nice:
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But of course we had come to see the alligators. Slim pickings again, but at least this juvenile did show up:
And thus ended the first week of our US trip. More photos from Berkeley can be seen here, and there is also a San Francisco gallery here.