San Francisco / Sunnyvale

Dear followers,

After we returned 'home' from Chicago on Sunday, we were back on a plane just two days later. Early in the morning at 7:05 AM, we took off towards San Francisco. But this time, the trip was not meant for a vacation. Because for Julian, it was a business trip.

After we landed smoothly in San Francisco, we picked up our car and drove directly to our accommodation in Sunnyvale. Upon arrival, Tanja grabbed our backpacks and checked us in. Meanwhile, Julian went straight to work. So while Julian is working in Sunnyvale for 8 days, Tanja enjoys her time in the sun and by the pool. However, we also did something together of course. Since the Apple Campus and Google Campus are very close by, we stopped by there. We also visited Stanford University. On Wednesday and Friday evenings, we were invited to dinner by the families of Julian's coworkers. Two very nice evenings!

The week flew by quickly and it was already the weekend again. We originally planned to visit San Francisco during the weekend. However, after speaking with a few people, it was clear that we would postpone our San Francisco trip to October when we are here again. Apparently, the fog is very heavy in San Francisco in the spring/summer, which means you almost never get to see the Golden Gate Bridge. However, in October, it is nearly always visible and the fog is hardly there. So if you are wondering when the best time to visit San Francisco is: Clearly October!

Thus, we came up with an alternative plan. On Saturday morning, we first drove to Vargas Plateau Regional Park. Here you have a great view of the Bay and can also go for a nice hike. From there we continued over Livermore to Del Valle Regional Park. A very beautiful area to enjoy the sun by the lake. There were a lot of Americans here who had set up their pavilions, tables, chairs, etc., by the lake to have a big barbecue. Seems to be quite common here and is a great thing because it leads to wonderful outings with friends and family. After enjoying the view at the lake, we continued through the San Antonio Valley. Then we went up to the Lick Observatory. At 105°F, it was quite hot up there, and the sun was shining down relentlessly. Not a cloud in sight. The good thing was that you could also visit the Lick Observatory (there's air conditioning inside :D). After listening to a lecture about the observatory, we took a winding road back over San Jose to Sunnyvale. Meanwhile, it turned out that Tanja is no longer just struggling with motion sickness when flying and sailing, but also when driving on winding roads. Reminder for us: Always have the motion sickness tablets with us! In the evening, we checked out Mountain View. There is a beer garden with German food. We certainly couldn't miss that! P.S.: We are definitely already missing Spätzle/Maultaschen and pretzels. The food at the beer garden was actually delicious, but it doesn't quite match our home cooking.

On Sunday morning, we started with a drive along the Skyline Boulevard from Saratoga to Half Moon Bay. On this route, there are many great viewpoints and beautiful nature to see. In Half Moon Bay, we took a short lunch break before heading to the beach. After having over 100°F yesterday, it was actually relatively cold at the beach today, with only 60°F. Still, it was optimal weather to enjoy the beach and the sea. After that, we continued along Highway 1 to Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz is a super beautiful little town. Definitely worth visiting, and they have good ice cream there too! After visiting Santa Cruz, we returned to our accommodation in Sunnyvale to spend the evening by the pool.

On Monday and Tuesday, Julian was back at work while Tanja continued to enjoy the pool and the sun. On Wednesday morning, it was back to the airport in San Francisco. The flight back to Pittsburgh was quite bumpy during the last half hour due to a strong thunderstorm over Pittsburgh. Nevertheless, we landed safely and were extremely glad to be back on solid ground.

We have spent the next few weeks in Pittsburgh. Another post will come soon about that. Stay tuned, there's always something going on here!