Can't think of a title

On Monday we went to Stanford University. I walked on the same roads where Bill Clinton's daughter had walked. I saw a monumental sculptural group by French artist Auguste Rodin, called The Gates of Hell. It was supposed to be depressing but my cousin and I laughed at them. I wonder why they would want to have something like that in an educational university. The campus is enormous and so green. I don't think anyone will feel like studying there. It is perfect for taking long walks or going cycling or for a picnic. We ate yummy potato sandwiches there, making fun of half dead or dying people, I mean the sculptures.
We went to Lucile Packard's Children's Hospital at Stanford for some work. The atmosphere of the hospital was very pleasant. There was a model of a city with which my mum was very fascinated. She walked around it for twenty minutes. The model had trains, tunnels for the train, an ocean, ships in the ocean, underwater life, the beach and people sun bathing, houses, a forest and people hiking. It had buttons which would either make the train whistle or a ship honk. Basically it was for little kids and it was very intricate.
After that we went to this store called Costco. It was more or less like Metro. They had everything that one would ever need! You name it, they have it! My cousin was really cheesed off because he hates the store. He decided to push the trolley and I decided to pull it. :P We walked around in the alcohol section for a while and then gave up the trolley. They have these tiny stalls in the store, where they give you samples of food. The store has several aisles and a stall at the end of every isle. We went to each and every stall and tasted all new stuff. It was quite fun actually. Free food is always fun! Hehe.

On tuesday, we went to Monterey. You must have heard of the place. It is a small county on the Monterey Bay. The ocean is completely restless at the shore because of the rocks underwater that they crash into. It's quite a sight! You could sit and watch the water splashing forever, ofcourse until you get sick of the smell. The sea weeds don't smell so great. You'll also find sea otters lying in the sun shamelessly in big numbers. But since it was their mating season, they had covered that part of the beach. Phew! I wouldn't wanna see that! Sure, underwater they might be the most graceful creatures, but out of water, they're so sloppy!
We went to 17 Mile Drive in Monterey. It is a very prestigious area with majestic looking villas and manors. The more expensive the houses get, the higher the fences go, so you can't invade their privacy. You'll find some of the most expensive and luxirious hotels and restaurants and one of a kind designer clothes and accessories. There are three or four golf courses in the city, one of which is the Pebble Beach. Apparently Tiger Woods plays there when he gets time. I was so thrilled listening to that! Most of the "city" is the Del Monte Forest, so the golf course goes through the forest and it also extends into the sea. Imagine how many times the golf ball can go flying off into the sea! There are Cypress trees all over the place and because of the strong currents of the wind, they're all bent in one direction or in a few cases, the trees just fall off. There is this one tree called the Lonely Cypress. It's a wonder that it is still standing! It has stood its ground on its rocky perch from 250 long years, and it is the tree closest to the ocean! 17 Mile Drive can easily be called "the greatest meeting of land and water in the world".

On Wednesday, we went to a Shiva-Vishnu temple in Livermore. It looked like any other big temple in India. It had idols of Krishna, Rama, Ganesha, Shiva, Vishnu, Lakshmi and others I can't remember. (You'll have to read all that with an American accent. Hehe.) There were few people in the temple. Someone had offered a bouquet of orchids to God. That is something different. No malli poo or shamanthige hua. The pujari did something really funny and I've never seen anyone in India do that. He was chanting some mantras and suddenly clapped and snapped thrice loudly moving his hand about the idol. I had to stuff my mouth with my fist to control laughing! :P
We went cherry picking after that. It is a really different way of having fun. There are numerous farms on the highway that say "U-pick cherries." You pick up buckets, go into the farm and pick cherries from the trees and you have to buy all those that you pick. In course of action, most of us tend to eat more cherries than pick them. We have to taste them don't we? There were two types of trees. One with red cherries and one with orange cherries. Our pursuit of sweet cherries was delightful! I climbed up ladders to reach the top most branches of the trees, gave other people sour cherries just for fun. I had never eaten cherries before honestly. All I had eaten was those on pastries and ice creams and those are terrible! These cherries are very big and they're shaped like apples! They were utterly delicious! We kept pulling out cherries without realising that we already had 8 pounds! We saw walnut farms, strawberry fields, vineyards, white and yellow peach farms and loads of other fruits. Unfortunately, we don't have enough time to explore the whole of California.
We ate at an Indian restaurant in Fremont. I'm really surprised they make exquisite chaat and paranthas in America and the quantity too is vast! It's a rip off though. You have to pay $5 for pani puri which you get for Rs.10. Once in a while, it's alright I guess.
That's about what we did in a week. Have to go swimming now. Until later!