Berkeley California
My advisor was kind enough to send Kristina out to visit with me for the
long weekend. Her flight to Denver was horribly delayed, she missed her
connection, but eventually made it in to Oakland late Friday night.
On Saturday we got up early and took the BART
in to Berkeley to visit my college friends
David and
Elaine. We also
got to meet David's girlfriend Winnie.
The BART looks and feels disturbingly like the DC
Metro, down to using the same exact fare-cards.
We went into Oakland and had Dim Sum.
I was prodded into eating a dish that was basically fried chicken feet. It
didn't taste as bad as it sounds (and I won't make any joked about it
tasting like chicken). Thankfully Elaine and Winnie handled much of the
ordering as Kristina and I were fairly clueless about the whole process.
We then went to Rockridge so that Elaine could get some ballet shoes.
We walked back through Berkeley, which is quite pretty and quiet away from
the downtown; it is quite busy and crazy otherwise.
Along the way we saw an amusing bumper sticker that said
"If this bumper sticker is blue you're driving too fast" (yes, obscure
physics joke).
We went onto the UC Berkeley Campus for a mini-tour. Here's a picture
of the main tower, plus some of the ugly ugly trees that seem to be
everywhere:
Here is a picture of Kristina, David, Elaine and I standing in the sacred
circle of protection. Well that's not what it is, but the wording claims
that the inside of the circle and the airspace above it is an international
zone not belonging to any country. This annoyed Kristina greatly.
(And yes, David's shirt does say "Enjoys Calculus")
After that Elaine took us on a tour of some of the buildings. The ECE
building is much cooler and more futuristic than the one at Cornell.
It had floor-to-ceiling white boards and lots of cool lighting effects.
We also went to the top of the "Power Bar Building" (a name I find amusing
but no one else seems to) to see the Intel lab, but sadly it was foggy so
there was not much of a view.
By then it was quite late so Kristina and I went back to the Hotel.
Back to Winter 2005 adventures