Category: San Francisco

Leo’s first days notes

September 20th, 2022

Day -1: I was a bit scared and nervous .I thought we would have a big problem during the trip,like we will be kidnapped.

Day 0: I was very tired in the plane. The flight was 11h and 30 mins. I watched 3 movies (6hours): Luca, Sing2 and the bad guys. Then i slept for the rest of the flight.

Day 1: we arrived in Abhishek’s palace it was amazing. I slept sooo well in the most comfortable bed of my life!!! I also loved the pool.

Day 2: We had a pool party to celebrate Roopal’s birthday .Then we went to Abhinav’s house and i finished the series scissors 7 on Netflix.

5/9: We went to the botanical garden to meet Jasen, and His son Aiden. Michelle met us with their other son Ian. I was getting a bit annoyed with Aiden and lan! In the evening we went to Greg’s house to have dinner and we had delicious tacos 🌮. I talked of drawing with Sailor who is about my age.

6/9: I loved visiting Alcatraz with the cells and the fake head that was used for an escape! I was disturbed by the people who were in jail for no reason.

7/9 downtown broadway. I had to walk all the way across San Francisco because maman wanted to see the houses of the richest neighborhood.

8/9: We saw beautiful murals and just at the right timing jasen proposed to eat in a tacos restaurant (and i wasn’t allowed to drink coke).

9/9: My parents left me alone so with Abhishek we walked a bit next to the lake. Then we ate KFC and we were all set.

10/09: We talked at home then we went to the pool with Abhinav. And we went to a park and we ate indian food.
Goodbye San Francisco

September 11th, 2022

It was warm weather in SF unlike what I’ve heard. Apparently, it was an exceptionally warm week! We’ve been meeting Arjun’s friends and wandering around the city where the streets are like a rollercoaster (like Leo’s moods). It was lovely meeting Jason and Michelle after 14 years!

The city is breathtakingly beautiful! There aren’t many apartments. It’s mostly single family homes perched on hillocks. It’s not surprising that the population density is less than half of that in Paris despite a similar land area. There are innumerable homeless people on dope.

SF bears a striking resemblance to Lisbon, except that the cost of living here is twice as much as in Lisbon and the sea is colder. Do I sound as if I’m complaining 🤪 Honestly, I really like SF.

While we were strolling around, I wondered why I couldn’t spot many Indians, despite the famed Silicon valley. I didn’t have to wait very long…Arjun’s cousins drove us to San Jose for authentic Indian street food! We drove past the Google and Microsoft campuses, queued up and gobbled down some amazing treats with a whole lot of Indians.

We were thoroughly pampered for a week and it was time to go. Leo wanted to stay back and not join his crazy parents on their camping expedition.

View from the San Francisco bridge

Carrom

Goodbye 💕

Monkey tricks at the SF botanical garden

Chaat in the silicon valley
Silicon chaat

September 10th, 2022

The tech crowd pouring in from India to the valley needs to be fed, and it doesn’t eat beef burgers 🙂

So right outside the Google campus, you find these amazing food trucks serving the same delicious street food you can find in India; vada pav, dabeli, misal pao, cholay kulche, bhelpuri, lassi, malai kulfi.. you name it! And it tastes real! 😋
Mission murals

September 9th, 2022

So the moment we got off the BART on 24th and mission st, I get a message from my friend Jasen who says “If you have time, hit up murals in the mission district”

Perfect timing! Thanks, we’re right there! And there indeed, you enter an open air museum of beautiful painted murals in alley ways.

Although off different graphical and cultural influences, many tell the story of the gentrification of this neighbourhood and the life of the lower income mexican population.

Check out this site for a proper guide:

https://www.sftravel.com/article/guide-san-francisco’s-mission-district-murals
The streets of San Francisco

September 9th, 2022
Hidden Garden Steps

September 9th, 2022
A few pics from “Alcatraces”

September 7th, 2022

The lone heron

The escape plan with a clay dummy and a tunnel.
Off we are!

September 4th, 2022

SF here we come 🙂

There was quite a bit of tension on the day of departure, as issues with our rented apartment were adding to the stress of the departure.

We left my parents in Orleans’ train station, went to Paris, canceled our Navigo passes, had a quick lunch in Denfert Rochereau with Mary’s sister and continued to the airport.

The checkin with FrenchBee was a terrible mess but the rest of the flight went smoothly.

My cousin Abhishek was kindly awaiting us at the airport and drove us to his beautiful house in Castro Valley, just outside SF.

So we’re starting the trip with the most luxurious part; there we are, pampered by my cousin and his wife Tanvi, in a house with king size beds, a swimming pool, a heavenly garden full of oranges, lemons, grapefruits, apples, pears, figs, tomatoes.. you name it!

The area is beautiful as well, surrounded by forests and a lake nearby, we were even welcomed by a family of deers hanging out just outside the house!

We shouldn’t get too used to it or the rest of the trip might seem like a harsh drop!

Oh and school has started for Leo! He started following the syllabus of the CNED on the iPad. We’re still trying to figure how we’ll organise our days around this.