Our Union Square hotel. Blue Sky....it's going to be a beautiful day today.

My favorite breakfast in SF: pancakes with roasted and caramelized peka nuts, bananas and maple syrup. All without plastic packaging at Cafe Honey Honey

Union Square with lots of posh shops and a Macy's whose Christmas department is a must-see. The ice surface and the blooming trumpet flowers... the contrasts could hardly be greater.

Had some time before departure and drove spontaneously to the pretty Santana Row shopping street in San Jose. Interesting shops and beautiful Christmas decorations all around. I would have liked to have been here in the evening when all the lights were on. Maybe we'll come back...

Next stop in Cupertino on the Infinite Loop, home of Apple...

We leave San Francisco over the Bay Bridge

Today was the last shopping Saturday before Christmas and there were big discounts in many shops. The rush is correspondingly large, for example here on the semicircular escalators at NORDSTROM on Market Street

The strangest duet ever (Carnegie Hall!)

I have never experienced anything like this, and that in Carnegie Hall, in the Weill Recital Hall: Elmira Darvarova, the violinist, former concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera...

New York: Two Music Halls - Two Museums

Yannick Nézet-Séguin (conductor) and The Metropolitan Orchestra (not part of the New York Philharmonic!) vs. Luisa Proske (production) and Jon Bausor (set designer)/Montana Levi...

2 Days Venice Beach and Departure to Panama

After a long and exhausting day at Universal Studios, we wanted to take it a bit easier for the next two days. Since our accommodation was not far from Venice Beach, we headed...

Carnegie Mellon University

Marcel's host