Tag: california

Pasadena

The weather was horrible most of the time, and also, I was busy with multiple work and non-work things and the only time I did some sightseeing was for a couple of hours on Saturday, when I met with my friend Tanya and she took me to see Pasadena Town Hall and American Pacific Museum.It was great to catch up with her, and also, that was the only day when the weather was nice!

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Hotel Dena

I loved the hotel, all its retro decor, my room, and the gym. The only thing that I strongly disliked was food, breakfast specifically, but I already lamented about it.

Now, some nice pictures.

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A Post Of Food Complaints

As it turned out, American Airlines does not serve food or even have food for purchase on the flight to LA. I was in the lounge before the flight, but it didn’t even occur to me to take an apple on board – I was absolutely sure I could purchase something during the flight. It turned out that the only thing I could purchase was alcohol, chips and almonds!

With the flight delay, and the time it takes to get from LAX to Pasadena, it was 8-30 PM local time when i got to the hotel, so it was already 10-30 PM CT, and I didn’t want to go to the restaurant, all I wanted was to go to bed.

I woke up at 3 AM (5 AM CT), and forced myself to sleep for a little bit more. I didn’t want to switch to PT time because it was for three days only, and Sunday is Daylight Saving Time switch, and my flight is very early, so it didn’t make much sense. However, breakfast at hotel started at 6-30AM, and I needed to survive until that. I grabbed some snacks in the 24 -hour self-service shop on the hotel;s first floor, and there was coffee in the room, but still…

On top of that, the hotel breakfast was mediocre at most. When I see “breakfast included” I assume there will be breakfast buffet, but instead, I was given vouchers for each of the days, and the only thing you could get on this voucher was your choice of eggs (sramble, fried, sunny side) with your choice of toast and coffee or tea. That’t it. I asked for cappuccino, and they said “it was not included.” I said that I could pay for it, they said:OK, and in ten minutes, they brought me regular coffee. 🤷🏻‍♀️

There is no food served at the Expo; the talks start at 10 AM local time, which meant noon for mw, and a lunch break (when you needed to go and find your lunch) was from 1-30 to 2-30 PM! The Starbucks in the building helped,but overall, I don’t know what to say! Let’s just say that the first day, and the whole stay was very food-challening!

The Best Hot Chocolate

The best thing that happened to me in Pasadena was Amara Cafe! It was on the list of recommended places to eat from the hotel reception. I was a little bit suspicious because I didn’t know much about Venezuelan cuisine, and Mexican cuisine is not my favorite, but after some hesitation, I went there, and I was sold on the spot!

I asked the clerk what kind of hot chocolate he’d recommend, and he said: Venezuelan, of course! I ate my arepa and proceeded with hot chocolate. Never in my life, even in Lausanne, I tasted hot chocolate like this! I was sitting, sipping it slowly, and taking it in. It felt more than a drink, more than a food – a complete mind and body experience!

I returned to Amara one more time, on Sunday morning- thankfully, their opening time does not change, and although the city was mostly asleep at 7-30 AM on Sunday, the chocolate was ready.

The owner came out and asked me how I liked it, and I tried to describe my feelings:). He said: you can make it at home, and gave me a package: just follow the instructions! I am unsure whether I can really do it myself, but I will give it a try!

Norman Simon Museum

One of my old friends, with whom we unintentionally fell out of touch about ten years ago, lives very close to Pasadena, and I messaged her on my way to the conference. To my delight, she immediately responded, and we agreed to meet. We ended up meeting twice: on Friday night, when we mostly talked, and on Saturday night, when we went to the Norton Simon Art Museum.

The museum is incredible – the whole collection was put together by one person, and although relatively small, it contains an amazing selection of the finest works of world art. I also quite enjoyed reading the annotations to the artworks: detailed, clever, thought-provoking. I didn’t even notice the time when we were informed that museum was about to close.

Just a couple of artworks to illustrate my point: in an hour and a half, a complete history of European art from 13th to 20th century is unfolding in front of you, and each major trend and style is covered. I recall this visit and smile 🙂

Pasadena

Since I have already reposted my post about the conference, I will continue mixing up two trips.

I arrived in Pasadena on Wednesday evening. I had never been to Pasadena before. I have been to SF multiple times, and I’ve been to LA once, but never to Pasadena. I never loved California like many people do, and I didn’t expect anything different this time, but Pasadena took me by surprise. I entered my hotel room at 7 PM on Wednesday, looked around, saw a balcony and a couch by it, crushed on it, stretched my legs, and all of a sudden felt relaxed like I had never been for a long time. I didn’t even want to think “why”, I just enjoyed this moment.

During the conference, I used all the opportunities to walk around and look around.

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California In Bloom

The Computer History Museum took a good part of our second day. In the afternoon, we went for a tour of Lady Winchester Mansion. I saw it previously, and I wanted Boris to see it. I think the tour last time was better, more detailed, more history.

This time, they had smaller groups of visitors (still COVID restrictions) but they were letting the groups in every five minutes, and the tour guides were a little bit in a rush 🙂

I didn’t take any pictures this time, because I photographed almost everything in this house on the previous tour.

I still had some time before dinner and departure, and I decided to take a quick walk around the neighborhood. As quick as it was, I really enjoyed the beautiful nature and all its “unlikeness” to what I can in Illinois.

Overall, I think I feel California better now than after my previous multiple trips, so I guess it’s good to visit while you are not attending a conference 🙂

Computer History Museum

Still more from our California trip: on our second day, we visited the Computer History Museum.

This is an absolutely awesome museum! I took tons of pictures, and there is no way I will be able to tell about everything I saw. One thing I wanted to mention: I am shocked that such a museum does not have any public transportation access! It’s unbelievable! I am very grateful to my friend who suggested this museum and took us there – I won’t be able to visit it on any of my conference-related trips.

Pre-historic computers:

Introduction of punch cards:

Did you know what was the original purpose of the punch cards?
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Campbell Farmers’ Market

Everybody knows how much I love farmers’ markets, right :)?

Love the name!
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Monterey

While I have some breathing room, here are more California pictures. When we finally arrived in Monterey, it was an afternoon already, and not even an early afternoon :). Did I say it already, how I completely forgot about traveling by car and traffic jams? Saying it again!

We had a late lunch/early dinner, and then we took a long walk along the ocean coast. The ocean is beautiful! So beautiful, it does not seem real! Not like I would trade living by lake Michigan for living by the Pacific :).

Can you see the seals?
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