Second Weekend in California
The second weekend was almost as exciting as the first! There's so much to do here and we've barely scratched the surface. This weekend all three of us went to see Incredibles 2 on Friday, which was pretty incredible (sory for my corny humor, I am from Ohio after all). Afterwards we stopped to get ice cream (I got ube ice cream, which if you don't know is a purple yam, it was bright purple and actually really good). When I got back to my house they were having an art and cheese party, so there was sushi, painting, and definitively lots of cheese. It was fun and a great way to bond with my house mates.
Saturday, all three of us went to San Fransisco again. We started in Chinatown to get dim sum. It was amazing but none of us knew what we were getting. We pointed and they gave. I ended up with a sticky rice ball filled with red bean paste and veggie egg rolls (If you didn't know I'm vegetarian), Alina had a noodle soup with really amazing homemade noodles, and Tyler had meat and veggie filled steamed buns. We all tried each other's food and had a great time.
Our next stop was to look at Coit tower. The view from the platform this tower was on was beautiful, but it was nothing compared to the view at the top. We waited about 45 minutes to ride the elevator, but while we waited we were able to study the beautiful murals that surrounded to base of the tower. It was incredibly windy at the top, but it was worth it for the view. It was a 360 degree view of San Fransisco.
After descending from the tower we walked to Lombard Street and saw some beautiful houses along the way. Lombard street is famous for its sharp curves, but I was surprised to see that it was beautifully decorated with flowers. We got some good pictures, in fact, we along with a gaggle of other tourists stood in the middle of the street to get pictures. There was a police woman that occasionally shooed us to the sides so cars could pass.
After Lombard Street we walked back down the hill toward pier 33. When we got there we were able to start forming a line to board the ferry that would take us to Alcatraz. I was very excited to ride the ferry (I love boat rides and the ocean in general) but Tyler, who worked on a boat for an entire summer, was less impressed and much much better at walking while the ferry was moving. I don't think he swayed once!
Alcatraz is a very strange place. The first thing you see as you pull up in the boat is how beautiful the island actually is. The flowers and nature in general has taken over to make the whole place feel serene. Then you turn the corner and see huge decaying signs saying US penitentiary and words written in blood red paint. It's an impossible to describe feeling. The history is all horror and misery, but nature keeps going and overwriting the misery with beautiful flowers and young baby birds (They were so cute!). When we went into the cell-block all of the beauty vanished. We went to the shower room first and everything was so industrial and impersonal. It still felt serene but now the past was overwhelming.
Leaving the cell block was startling. Once again everything was serene. Anywhere where things were man-made still inspired the sad, morbid feelings, but overall it was sunny, beautiful, and most noticeably peaceful. All starkly different from the dark, depressing, chaotic scene we had just left. I think there's philosophically something to be said about how nature can beautify even the most tragic man-made places, but I'll leave my musing for another day.
We rode the ferry back (Tyler still was unimpressed) and walked from the pier back to Chinatown. After an extensive decision-making progress we settled on a cute little Vietnamese place. When we first got there our waiter brought hot tea for Tyler and Alina, but water for me. We don't know why, apparently I don't look like a tea person. Either way, it was delicious and we all enjoyed it.
It was time to set off for home. After the walk to the BART station it was 9 o'clock. When we returned to Berkeley we shared a pumpkin and lotus steamed bun from the dim sum place. There was a party in full swing back at the house, but I didn't stay for long. I talked to my friends and ate a little food, but I was far too tired stay long.
The next morning Alina and I decided to walk up to the botanical gardens with another intern at the labs that we're friends with. First we met with her for lunch (she had extra points toward her meal plan, so we ate at her dining hall). Then we walked up a gigantic hill, but the garden at the top was worth it. There were gigantic cacti and fantastic flowers. We sat at the top of the hill and got caught up on each other's research, future plans, housing drama; it was really fun to get together and get to learn about each other.
Saturday, all three of us went to San Fransisco again. We started in Chinatown to get dim sum. It was amazing but none of us knew what we were getting. We pointed and they gave. I ended up with a sticky rice ball filled with red bean paste and veggie egg rolls (If you didn't know I'm vegetarian), Alina had a noodle soup with really amazing homemade noodles, and Tyler had meat and veggie filled steamed buns. We all tried each other's food and had a great time.
Our next stop was to look at Coit tower. The view from the platform this tower was on was beautiful, but it was nothing compared to the view at the top. We waited about 45 minutes to ride the elevator, but while we waited we were able to study the beautiful murals that surrounded to base of the tower. It was incredibly windy at the top, but it was worth it for the view. It was a 360 degree view of San Fransisco.
After descending from the tower we walked to Lombard Street and saw some beautiful houses along the way. Lombard street is famous for its sharp curves, but I was surprised to see that it was beautifully decorated with flowers. We got some good pictures, in fact, we along with a gaggle of other tourists stood in the middle of the street to get pictures. There was a police woman that occasionally shooed us to the sides so cars could pass.
After Lombard Street we walked back down the hill toward pier 33. When we got there we were able to start forming a line to board the ferry that would take us to Alcatraz. I was very excited to ride the ferry (I love boat rides and the ocean in general) but Tyler, who worked on a boat for an entire summer, was less impressed and much much better at walking while the ferry was moving. I don't think he swayed once!
Alcatraz is a very strange place. The first thing you see as you pull up in the boat is how beautiful the island actually is. The flowers and nature in general has taken over to make the whole place feel serene. Then you turn the corner and see huge decaying signs saying US penitentiary and words written in blood red paint. It's an impossible to describe feeling. The history is all horror and misery, but nature keeps going and overwriting the misery with beautiful flowers and young baby birds (They were so cute!). When we went into the cell-block all of the beauty vanished. We went to the shower room first and everything was so industrial and impersonal. It still felt serene but now the past was overwhelming.
We got the audio tour and preceded to the cell block. The audio tour was voiced by and former officer of Alcatraz and prisoners would occasionally chime in.The audio tour told us about some of the famous escapes and some of the other history of Alcatraz The tours audio used sound effects of prisoners shouting and clamoring that took the serene away. The place now felt wholly unsettling. The cells were tiny; the width was no more than my arm span and the length barely enough for a cot. There were also so many cells. They were three stories high and everywhere you looked. The area outside that the prisoners had to earn was just concrete. Concrete floors, concrete walls way to high to peer over; the only way to even tell we were outside was the frigid wind and the cloudy sky overhead.
(Sorry for all the photos! Alcatraz is just so photogenic and Alina took amazing pictures! It was impossible to pick just a few)
Leaving the cell block was startling. Once again everything was serene. Anywhere where things were man-made still inspired the sad, morbid feelings, but overall it was sunny, beautiful, and most noticeably peaceful. All starkly different from the dark, depressing, chaotic scene we had just left. I think there's philosophically something to be said about how nature can beautify even the most tragic man-made places, but I'll leave my musing for another day.
We rode the ferry back (Tyler still was unimpressed) and walked from the pier back to Chinatown. After an extensive decision-making progress we settled on a cute little Vietnamese place. When we first got there our waiter brought hot tea for Tyler and Alina, but water for me. We don't know why, apparently I don't look like a tea person. Either way, it was delicious and we all enjoyed it.
It was time to set off for home. After the walk to the BART station it was 9 o'clock. When we returned to Berkeley we shared a pumpkin and lotus steamed bun from the dim sum place. There was a party in full swing back at the house, but I didn't stay for long. I talked to my friends and ate a little food, but I was far too tired stay long.
The next morning Alina and I decided to walk up to the botanical gardens with another intern at the labs that we're friends with. First we met with her for lunch (she had extra points toward her meal plan, so we ate at her dining hall). Then we walked up a gigantic hill, but the garden at the top was worth it. There were gigantic cacti and fantastic flowers. We sat at the top of the hill and got caught up on each other's research, future plans, housing drama; it was really fun to get together and get to learn about each other.
Thanks for reading!
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