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| Aus San Francisco - 2012 |
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| Aus San Francisco - 2012 |
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| Aus San Francisco - 2012 |
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Summer in San Francisco
June in San Francisco...first of all, there are many other places which provide better summer weather! Especially you have to get used to the cool foggy nights, but sometimes it can be very nice to have a cool night (13-18C), e.g. to sleep well...hm...if you have to sleep in this city ;-)
Work became more serious in June, so that I did not find the time and motivation for longer trips outside SF, but I had some fun time.
One weekend was governed by the Pride 2012 in San Francisco, a festival to honor the city's homo-, bi- and trans-sexual community. The streets around the city hall were filled with people checking out the information booths, shops and music stages. The biggest event of the festival was the parade along the Market Street starting from the piers and going up to the city hall. It was quite fun, to watch the parade, but the quality and size of the marching groups was not as high (colorful, creativity, music) as I experienced during the parades in Paris and Berlin.
Another big event in June was the European Soccer championship, which was due to the time shift with Europe a very pleasant noon-distraction. I had the pleasure to see the game of Germany against Portugal at the place of a Portuguese colleague, who had invited about 20+ people. The atmosphere was great, and during and after the game we had nice conversations, good food and cold beer!
After a short break, social live continued at the beer fest of the UCSF brewers guild topped by some nice music tunes to which you could dance to.
My friend Kripa from Davis came over for a couple of weekends, which was a good occasion to cook and to go to some Jazz or Blues concert. One very nice one was in a club called Yoshi's and featured a jazz combo of drummer, bassist, piano player together with three blow instruments: alt-, tenor sax and trumpet. They played a great set of jazz classics decorated with elaborated solo parts.
At work, I discovered Zumba as a new dance activity which helps me to stay in shape and to relax from the day to day work. This is basically a blend of South-American dance moves ranging from Rumba over Salsa to Raga-ton taught in small sets of three to for steps per song- a great way to get rid of additional energy! Another nice routine became the indoor soccer games Tuesdays and Thursdays at lunchtime.
The next blog will come from the East coast, where I will be at Woods Hole as a teaching assitant at the Marine Biological Laboratory...
Monday, May 14, 2012
Back in San Francisco-2012
Since April 18 2012, I am for a second time in San Francisco to continue my work at the Mullins laboratory in the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), which was started last year in November. This time, the stay will be for four months, which made it necessary for me to obtain a visa. The process to get the J1 visa needed some patience, it took in total four months (including my passport being for 10 days with the post service somewhere between Chennai and Bangaore). Now I can better understand the hassle through which so many people have to go through, each time they want to travel.
Adapting to San Francisco life was eased this time by the fact that I stay in the same apartment and with the same people as a few months ago, the laboratory is the same as well, and the city, well, it is still this pleasant place.
During the first weekend, I visited a friend in Davis, where happened to be a Pic Nic day of the university. I took the train to get there and could watch the nice Californian nature while sitting in a very comfortable coach wagon with Wifi and panorama windows. Pic Nic day means that the campus is open for everyone, and each department prepares some attractions. The weather was beautiful and it seemed that the whole city (its not that big) plus many visitors came to see the various attractions. It was mainly about animals and farming, we saw a shepherd dogs competition, how to milk cows, nice horses, goats and so on. In the afternoon there was an awesome battle of the marching bands in a nice park area. But it was not a battle as such, the different instrument groups gathered at different spots in the park and played together. It was pure crazy fun (see pictures!).
The next weekend, I met with a couple of NCBS-Alumni, who work now in the bay area. We drove up north to the national park at point Reys, which is a very nice spot on the coast. On the way, we passed a very nice nature including the rolling hills landscape that is the standard background theme of the Windows desktop (some might understand this). As soon as we reached the coast, the temperature dropped from 28C to 20C including heavy winds. The wind was so steady that trees were formed by its force. We went to the lighthouse, which was located down the shore directly at the water level.
While descending the many steps, we could see very nice stone formations, some were red and green colored from a microbe culture, others showed interesting patterns created by wind and water...you could feel the power of nature. As an extra, we even saw a whale spouting out an air/water fountain in the bay! Coming back home, we joined a little BBQ party at my place, which was done to celebrate fifth may (cinquo de mayo), which is a Mexican independence day. Unfortunately, my Indian friends had to leave on saturday evening. On Sunday, I saw by chance that the 24th and the Valencia streets were closed for car traffic, and I enjoyed wandering through these two beautiful streets filled with so many happy people. On some corners there was some live music, on others were information booths about social activities and at one spot, a bunch of tuned ultra-cool looking classic American cars were exposed!
In the late afternoon, I met a good friend from Berlin, who works in the bay area, to check out with him the beer garden called Zeitgeist. It was an interesting place with a nice garden, but the rock music was a bit loud for a relaxed conversation. We enjoyed the German beer. In the evening, I even discovered a nice gallery which opened its new exposition and saw a freshly burned down house! It was an eventful weekend!
Instead of a calmer start of the week, there were two more friends coming to San Francisco and I invited them to visit me in the evening. I know both from Paris, but they came independently and wanted (what a chance) go both to the Yosemite National Park. After a short discussion, we made the plan to rent a car on wednesday, to do a one day trip to this park. Sure, to make a 4 hours car ride to the site and to come back the same day, was a bit stressful, but it was worth it! We had beautiful weather and could thus fully enjoy the breathtaking nature of this park with its high rising mountains (up to ~ 3000m) and old forest including the giant Sequoia trees.
Because this year's winter was mild the Tioga pass was free, which goes up to 2800m and allowed us to have an astonishing view over the landscape! Besides that, it made so much fun to drive these curvy roads which were harmless compared to the serpentines in the Alps. The pass ended at Mono lake at the border of California to Nevada, and the first thing we realized when passing the imaginary border was that the road quality increased drastically! The landscape became more flat and we drove on a straight road in the pink orange light of sunset...and then we got back to the hills in the night! It was a great ride, using the brights to enlighten the pitch dark curvy roads and listening to electrifying music to entertain us. A couple of times, we saw a pair of reflective eyes or a couple of deer at the border of the road, but fortunately none of them jumped into our way. At 1.30 am, we parked the car and went home, relieved from the long ride, happy about the trip and a bit tired. I knew that I had to work the next day and that I had to bring back the car in the early morning, but I did not regret at all the trip.
My friends left on Thursday evening and on Saturday evening, I met another friend from Paris in a Club. She is actually in Los Angeles for an internship with an artist (painter), and came to San Francisco with someone who was DJing that night. While talking with her, I just realized how crazy the week was, and what a chance it was to have met so many old friends from Paris!
The bay area is really very attractive and active, so many things to see and to do...I am so lucky to stay here for a while.
to be continued...
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| Aus San Francisco - 2012 |
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| Aus San Francisco - 2012 |
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| Aus San Francisco - 2012 |
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Goa-2012
After two months resting and exploring newly Bangalore, some good friends and me left the city for a long weekend in Goa. In contrast to my last trip to Goa in 2011, we have chosen a sleeper bus, which was much more comfortable AND did not have any half rotten garlic and onion as cargo. We started our journey on a thursday evening and arrived after very long feeling 13 hours on the road in Palolem, a beautiful beach in south Goa. To our surprise, it was quite empty and some cafes were closed. The reason was a very sad one: due to elections on saturday, the consumption and vending of alcohol was prohibited for three days. That meant for us that we had to handle two “dry days” before we could officially enjoy a bear at the beach on sunday! The worst for me was, that the silent noise party would not take place. But hey, this was no problem for us, and I have to say that this were one of the most interesting and refreshing short holidays since long time.
After finding a little nice shag next to the beach (whose landlord even had a fridge with some beers!) and a little refreshment, we hired a car and went on the road towards north to see some cities, beaches and churches. The National Highway 66 was only a two lane road, but in perfect state with little traffic, so that we had a very pleasant and smooth ride. First stop was for lunch at Margoe, a small city with cute old little hoses in the center which are reminders from the time of the Portuguese and a restaurant called Longhuinos. This establishment exists since 1950 and its interior is in old Mediterranean bar style with lots of dark wooden panels. and colored glass windows. The food was just great Goa cuisine even with some shark! And for the dessert? Natural ice cream in tender coconut and jack-fruit!!!
Energized like that, we continued our trip and went to Panjim, the capital of Goa, but before entering the city we turned right to get to Old Goa, a village which houses a complex of old Portuguese churches which are an UNESCO world heritage site. The most impressive one was the Basilica do Bom Jesus which was constructed from 1594-1605 and is one of the eldest churches in India. One of the high lights is the sarcophagus with the body of St. Francis Xavier, who died in 1552, but does merely show any signs of decay! The church itself impresses with its tall walls of lava stone withstanding the harsh Indian climate. Just next to it stands a white church, Se Cathedral, and next to it, the Indian historic museum, which was unfortunately already closed when we arrived. Further behind is the Cathedral St Cajetan, the bishop school, and a little gate leading to the sea. This gate is decorated with the sculpture of Vasco da Gama with a very cool beard.
On the boarder of the see, with sight on a ferry to Divar island and some larger cargo ships, we had a warming, charming tea in the evening sun.
Back in the car, we crossed another bay to get further north and drove along the coast towards Anjuna. This gave us an impression of how Palolem hopefully never will become. The streets were crowded with cars, scooters and auto rickshaws, driving tourists from one coffee shop to another or to a shop of a brand. The stone beach was quite nice, but unfortunately, it was already dark and very windy, so we could not spend a lot of time there.
To finish our tour, we headed back south to a place called Martin's Corner, which is a resort and restaurant in a small village a few kilometers away from the coast. Thanks to GPS, we were able to find this place, and we were surprised to find it so crowded on a "dry day". We took some other Goan dishes, seafood, and, for my personal amusement, some beef tongue! It was the first time that I saw such a dish on a menu in India, and my Indian friends did not seem tobe familiar with tongue, too. But two of them tried at least...it was delicious, slightly grilled and lightly spiced slices of tongue. Also the other things were very good, which explained the large crowd in the restaurant and the higher prices (they had a sea food plate for 4800 INR, approx. 70 Eur. Typically, dishes cost about 150-300 INR). Very pleased from the whole tour, we drove back to our shack and fell in our beds directly.
The next morning was very relaxing with some jogging along the beach, later a nice swim with Sonal to a little island at the end of the bay. We climbed on top of the island and had a great view on the sea. It was pure peace and relaxation. Arond noon, we joined Anup and Ishier who just had their “morning” coffee, and went to Droopadi for lunch. We chose our crab which was still living, and had it together with a very well marinated and grilled fish filet. This was more European style, but very well done by the Indian chefs :-)
In the afternoon, Anup and me took a scooter and drove to the ruins of a Portuguese fort. The drive through valleys and hill sides was so rich and colorful that it is hard to describe in words (but we took osme pictures). We stopped by the Agonda beach which is very broad and long, and still much calmer than the Palolem beach. We saw bright green paddies of rice (?), beautiful old trees, little villages, the sea. It was my first time driving a scooter in India and it was pure fun. Reaching back to Palolem, we sat some time at the beach together with Sonal and Ishier, played some cards, relaxed. For dinner, we went to a Pizzeria which is actually run by Italians, and which served very good stuff. Sad, that no cocktails, and no parties (there is normally a Silent Noise Party) were available on these "dry days", we walked along the beach and enjoyed the stars (I think, we even saw a meteorite, because there was a bright flickering light on the sky, which disappeared after a minute or so...), knowing that the next day would be already the last one!
The last day was dedicated to not very much but swimming, and hanging out in different beach cafes. The elections were over, so we could finally enjoy some drinks while watching the sea, listening to the sound of waves, and talking. It was a great end of a great trip.
After finding a little nice shag next to the beach (whose landlord even had a fridge with some beers!) and a little refreshment, we hired a car and went on the road towards north to see some cities, beaches and churches. The National Highway 66 was only a two lane road, but in perfect state with little traffic, so that we had a very pleasant and smooth ride. First stop was for lunch at Margoe, a small city with cute old little hoses in the center which are reminders from the time of the Portuguese and a restaurant called Longhuinos. This establishment exists since 1950 and its interior is in old Mediterranean bar style with lots of dark wooden panels. and colored glass windows. The food was just great Goa cuisine even with some shark! And for the dessert? Natural ice cream in tender coconut and jack-fruit!!!
Energized like that, we continued our trip and went to Panjim, the capital of Goa, but before entering the city we turned right to get to Old Goa, a village which houses a complex of old Portuguese churches which are an UNESCO world heritage site. The most impressive one was the Basilica do Bom Jesus which was constructed from 1594-1605 and is one of the eldest churches in India. One of the high lights is the sarcophagus with the body of St. Francis Xavier, who died in 1552, but does merely show any signs of decay! The church itself impresses with its tall walls of lava stone withstanding the harsh Indian climate. Just next to it stands a white church, Se Cathedral, and next to it, the Indian historic museum, which was unfortunately already closed when we arrived. Further behind is the Cathedral St Cajetan, the bishop school, and a little gate leading to the sea. This gate is decorated with the sculpture of Vasco da Gama with a very cool beard.
On the boarder of the see, with sight on a ferry to Divar island and some larger cargo ships, we had a warming, charming tea in the evening sun.
Back in the car, we crossed another bay to get further north and drove along the coast towards Anjuna. This gave us an impression of how Palolem hopefully never will become. The streets were crowded with cars, scooters and auto rickshaws, driving tourists from one coffee shop to another or to a shop of a brand. The stone beach was quite nice, but unfortunately, it was already dark and very windy, so we could not spend a lot of time there.
To finish our tour, we headed back south to a place called Martin's Corner, which is a resort and restaurant in a small village a few kilometers away from the coast. Thanks to GPS, we were able to find this place, and we were surprised to find it so crowded on a "dry day". We took some other Goan dishes, seafood, and, for my personal amusement, some beef tongue! It was the first time that I saw such a dish on a menu in India, and my Indian friends did not seem tobe familiar with tongue, too. But two of them tried at least...it was delicious, slightly grilled and lightly spiced slices of tongue. Also the other things were very good, which explained the large crowd in the restaurant and the higher prices (they had a sea food plate for 4800 INR, approx. 70 Eur. Typically, dishes cost about 150-300 INR). Very pleased from the whole tour, we drove back to our shack and fell in our beds directly.
The next morning was very relaxing with some jogging along the beach, later a nice swim with Sonal to a little island at the end of the bay. We climbed on top of the island and had a great view on the sea. It was pure peace and relaxation. Arond noon, we joined Anup and Ishier who just had their “morning” coffee, and went to Droopadi for lunch. We chose our crab which was still living, and had it together with a very well marinated and grilled fish filet. This was more European style, but very well done by the Indian chefs :-)
In the afternoon, Anup and me took a scooter and drove to the ruins of a Portuguese fort. The drive through valleys and hill sides was so rich and colorful that it is hard to describe in words (but we took osme pictures). We stopped by the Agonda beach which is very broad and long, and still much calmer than the Palolem beach. We saw bright green paddies of rice (?), beautiful old trees, little villages, the sea. It was my first time driving a scooter in India and it was pure fun. Reaching back to Palolem, we sat some time at the beach together with Sonal and Ishier, played some cards, relaxed. For dinner, we went to a Pizzeria which is actually run by Italians, and which served very good stuff. Sad, that no cocktails, and no parties (there is normally a Silent Noise Party) were available on these "dry days", we walked along the beach and enjoyed the stars (I think, we even saw a meteorite, because there was a bright flickering light on the sky, which disappeared after a minute or so...), knowing that the next day would be already the last one!
The last day was dedicated to not very much but swimming, and hanging out in different beach cafes. The elections were over, so we could finally enjoy some drinks while watching the sea, listening to the sound of waves, and talking. It was a great end of a great trip.
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Resettling in Bangalore
After my stay in San Francisco and a wonderful Christmas with my parents in Berlin, I came back to Bangalore. I realized that I was away for entire two months, but had to my surprise no problems to adapt again to the Indian life style. Since my return, I stayed in Bangalore and did not travel around, that's why I will not describe any new place this time, but wanted to write about some of my Bangalore experiences and my feelings.
I arrived in Bangalore on December 29 and on the same day in the evening, two German friends which I know from Leipzig arrived. This was a great occasion for me to get directly into Bangalore life again while showing them the city. It was the first time for me to show others the city, and also for myself it was a tour to rediscover the different places: going to the busy bazaar with sounds from the mess in the catholic church competing with muezzins from the mosques; walking through Sampige road in Maleshwaram with the flower market, the old temples, the many small shops; the dosa in New Krishna Bhavan, the harsh contrast of Mantri mall; visiting the National Gallery of Modern Arts...
for new years eve, we went to good Indian friends. Together with two other Germans, who study for one semester at a Bangalore Management school, we managed to be as many Germans as Indians (five and five), and we have spent a great time with some German cheese (Handkaes mit Musik), ham and liquors-a very good start into the new year. So it was no wonder that I found all "my Germans" sleeping in my apartment on the first day of the year. But my two Leipzig friends moved on early to Coorg and Mysore. Before they left India three days later, they passed by in Bangalore to say good bye.
The next week, I could continue my rediscovery of Bangalore while I was showing the city to some visitors of the NCBS. But much more important, I discovered some decent dance clubs in this city of forbidden dance! Two of my actual favorites are the club "counter culture", a club in a former warehouse, and the Pebbles, an open air club on palace grounds with lots of plants and nice seating areas in the green! In those clubs, I have met some Indians who seem to be in the clubbing scene, and I hope that this will give me some better information about upcoming events.
Thanks two my two "management friends", I was invited to a private party which was organized by two Spanish women, who work as Spanish teachers in Bangalore. It was very interesting to meet some other expats, and a lot of fun, because most of them were either Spanish or German. We had to leave the place of the party, an apartment, at 11.30pm, but an Australian lady just offered us her place for the continuation. And the whole party crowd, about 40 people, shifted the place using scooters, cars, autorikshas or bicycle (me). For a spectator, this must have given a great scene.
Other nice things during Jan and Feb were an evening on the terrace of a colleagues house in center Bangalore, the street art exposition "Malleshwaram Moves", an exposition at GallerySKE, a literature festival at the National Gallery of Modern Arts, the Queer film festival (gay and lesbian films) and a beautiful concert of the percussionist Ustad Zakir Hussain, and some very nice cook outs in the Mandara hostel.
And before I forget it...a tempel close to the Mandara hostel was inaugurated, and I followed some of the activities. It was a big event with music...VERY VERY LOUD music...and scenic plays of mythical stories just until 1 or 1.30 am. It was very exciting to see the plays, even though I did not understand the language. The whole area was nicely decorated, the streets were illuminated by hundreds of blinking LED-arcs. and all that for about 5 days, amazing.
Supporting photos can be found here...
I arrived in Bangalore on December 29 and on the same day in the evening, two German friends which I know from Leipzig arrived. This was a great occasion for me to get directly into Bangalore life again while showing them the city. It was the first time for me to show others the city, and also for myself it was a tour to rediscover the different places: going to the busy bazaar with sounds from the mess in the catholic church competing with muezzins from the mosques; walking through Sampige road in Maleshwaram with the flower market, the old temples, the many small shops; the dosa in New Krishna Bhavan, the harsh contrast of Mantri mall; visiting the National Gallery of Modern Arts...
for new years eve, we went to good Indian friends. Together with two other Germans, who study for one semester at a Bangalore Management school, we managed to be as many Germans as Indians (five and five), and we have spent a great time with some German cheese (Handkaes mit Musik), ham and liquors-a very good start into the new year. So it was no wonder that I found all "my Germans" sleeping in my apartment on the first day of the year. But my two Leipzig friends moved on early to Coorg and Mysore. Before they left India three days later, they passed by in Bangalore to say good bye.
The next week, I could continue my rediscovery of Bangalore while I was showing the city to some visitors of the NCBS. But much more important, I discovered some decent dance clubs in this city of forbidden dance! Two of my actual favorites are the club "counter culture", a club in a former warehouse, and the Pebbles, an open air club on palace grounds with lots of plants and nice seating areas in the green! In those clubs, I have met some Indians who seem to be in the clubbing scene, and I hope that this will give me some better information about upcoming events.
Thanks two my two "management friends", I was invited to a private party which was organized by two Spanish women, who work as Spanish teachers in Bangalore. It was very interesting to meet some other expats, and a lot of fun, because most of them were either Spanish or German. We had to leave the place of the party, an apartment, at 11.30pm, but an Australian lady just offered us her place for the continuation. And the whole party crowd, about 40 people, shifted the place using scooters, cars, autorikshas or bicycle (me). For a spectator, this must have given a great scene.
Other nice things during Jan and Feb were an evening on the terrace of a colleagues house in center Bangalore, the street art exposition "Malleshwaram Moves", an exposition at GallerySKE, a literature festival at the National Gallery of Modern Arts, the Queer film festival (gay and lesbian films) and a beautiful concert of the percussionist Ustad Zakir Hussain, and some very nice cook outs in the Mandara hostel.
And before I forget it...a tempel close to the Mandara hostel was inaugurated, and I followed some of the activities. It was a big event with music...VERY VERY LOUD music...and scenic plays of mythical stories just until 1 or 1.30 am. It was very exciting to see the plays, even though I did not understand the language. The whole area was nicely decorated, the streets were illuminated by hundreds of blinking LED-arcs. and all that for about 5 days, amazing.
Supporting photos can be found here...
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| India-2012 |
Friday, December 23, 2011
Intermezzo in San Francisco
I was very lucky and happy that I could do some research in San Francisco, and arrived on Novemer 13 for a 5 weeks stay. I found a place in a house near Alamo square where three people live, Raven, Amber and Andrew. When I reached the place in the evening after a 13 hours flight (starting at 7 am in Berlin), I was wonderfully welcomed by a bunch of people chatting in the kitchen and preparing about 30 crabs which Andrew had caught in the morning in the sea! It tasted so good accompanied by a good glass of white wine.
The next day, I went to the institute at UCSF (University of California - San Francisco) and found a new, shining building with a great laboratory space organization and (the most important) with a bunch of wonderful people, who should be my colleagues for the next coming weeks. There were some differences to the Indian lab, for example that people had lunch alone or in small groups (no big common canteen), that there were surprise visits by the lab security personnel, and that it was quiet (at least the most of the time). Because I was in San Francisco for work and not only for fun, I have spend the most of the time in the lab, but due to the colleagues, it was a very pleasant and productive period. And we also had some activities outside the la, but this will follow further below.
The city is beautiful with its hilly up an downs, old small houses, buses which run electrically, not too much traffic, nice cafes, parks, high amount of dogs (but no street dogs as in Bangalore). If you climb up one of the small hills in a park, you can get a beautiful view, and fortunately, there were very few foggy days (fog is more common in the summer time due to the temperature difference between see and land). To sum up my impressions, San Francisco and its people had many things in common with Berlin, except the hills, the sea and the friendlier people!
Although I worked during the week days, I tried to explore the city in the evenings and during the weekends. Since pictures can say more than I can write, here the link to some captures taken in San Francisco...
Nevertheless, I will also leave some words about my impressions in the following:
San Francisco has many different parts, which can change their appearance drastically from one street to another. One example is the region around Mission street, which reminds me the Oranienstrasse and Kottbusser Tor in Kreuzberg in Berlin. Here, you will see many homeless and strange people, many small Bars, liquor stores and mini grocery stores. And just one street away is Valencia street which is cleaner, hipper with lots of galleries, unconventional designer shops , fancy cafés and restaurants. But if you leave this street, it suddenly changes to a more quiet place with mainly homes and nothing else.
Another nice street is the Haight street with its many music bars, here was the home of many artists of the 68' movement like Jimi Hendrix and you can still feel the spirit of the Hippies. At the end of Haight, the golden gate park starts, a beautiful big city park with some nice museums (Science museum, De Young museum, Japanese tea garden). A great place to have a relaxing walk. But attention, the golden gate park is NOT next to the golden gate bridge.
On a clear sunday morning I walked from the park to the bridge which is about 3.5 miles (6 km), and it was worth it! around the bridge is a big forest (Presidio of San Francisco) and it has nice paths through the nature, and then you get to the coastline and can see the sea, the bay and the bridge. Magnificent! Walking along the rocky coast, one passes several old bunkers, which were built in the beginning of the 20th century. From the bridge towards the more central parts of the city comes the field of the old airbase (Crissie field), which is now renatured and playground of many dogs and their holders. Further on lays the fort mason, now used as exposition halls.
The area around Castro street is floating in the spirits of the gay community (which compares to the Berlin Motzstrasse and Nollendorfplatz), the streets are decorated with rainbow colored flags, many shops show underwear (especially slips) with nice colors and design in their windows, many are laughing and hanging out in cafes, just a peaceful and nice place (ok, I walked there on a sunny Saturday afternoon)!
If you go from there towards west, you will reach Twin Peaks, two of the highest spots in the city. The effort to get up there is worth it because the view over the city is breathtaking.
The north-eastern part of Market street together with the area around Union square is the main shopping area with many high class warehouses, boutiques like Prada, Saks Fifth Ave, Gucci etc., top art galleries and 4-5 star hotels. There was also the only place where I saw a huge Christmas tree.
North of this area starts the San Francisco China town, which is just fun to walk through. It is the largest outside Asia and the oldest one in north America ( Info). You can find there authentic Chinese food (I recommend the noodles of Chef Jia's), shops with Asian vegetables, and butcheries which differ quite a bit from the american ones.
Another aspect which, I think, Berlin and San Francisco share is there large choice of bars (with German beer) and night life activities. Especially, I appreciated the great performances of unconventional electronic music DJ's, which I could fortunately experience due to the help of two colleagues who shared with me the same music-taste.
To learn more about my trips outside San Francisco, please read the blog entry "trips around SF".
The next day, I went to the institute at UCSF (University of California - San Francisco) and found a new, shining building with a great laboratory space organization and (the most important) with a bunch of wonderful people, who should be my colleagues for the next coming weeks. There were some differences to the Indian lab, for example that people had lunch alone or in small groups (no big common canteen), that there were surprise visits by the lab security personnel, and that it was quiet (at least the most of the time). Because I was in San Francisco for work and not only for fun, I have spend the most of the time in the lab, but due to the colleagues, it was a very pleasant and productive period. And we also had some activities outside the la, but this will follow further below.
The city is beautiful with its hilly up an downs, old small houses, buses which run electrically, not too much traffic, nice cafes, parks, high amount of dogs (but no street dogs as in Bangalore). If you climb up one of the small hills in a park, you can get a beautiful view, and fortunately, there were very few foggy days (fog is more common in the summer time due to the temperature difference between see and land). To sum up my impressions, San Francisco and its people had many things in common with Berlin, except the hills, the sea and the friendlier people!
Although I worked during the week days, I tried to explore the city in the evenings and during the weekends. Since pictures can say more than I can write, here the link to some captures taken in San Francisco...
Nevertheless, I will also leave some words about my impressions in the following:
San Francisco has many different parts, which can change their appearance drastically from one street to another. One example is the region around Mission street, which reminds me the Oranienstrasse and Kottbusser Tor in Kreuzberg in Berlin. Here, you will see many homeless and strange people, many small Bars, liquor stores and mini grocery stores. And just one street away is Valencia street which is cleaner, hipper with lots of galleries, unconventional designer shops , fancy cafés and restaurants. But if you leave this street, it suddenly changes to a more quiet place with mainly homes and nothing else.
Another nice street is the Haight street with its many music bars, here was the home of many artists of the 68' movement like Jimi Hendrix and you can still feel the spirit of the Hippies. At the end of Haight, the golden gate park starts, a beautiful big city park with some nice museums (Science museum, De Young museum, Japanese tea garden). A great place to have a relaxing walk. But attention, the golden gate park is NOT next to the golden gate bridge.
On a clear sunday morning I walked from the park to the bridge which is about 3.5 miles (6 km), and it was worth it! around the bridge is a big forest (Presidio of San Francisco) and it has nice paths through the nature, and then you get to the coastline and can see the sea, the bay and the bridge. Magnificent! Walking along the rocky coast, one passes several old bunkers, which were built in the beginning of the 20th century. From the bridge towards the more central parts of the city comes the field of the old airbase (Crissie field), which is now renatured and playground of many dogs and their holders. Further on lays the fort mason, now used as exposition halls.
The area around Castro street is floating in the spirits of the gay community (which compares to the Berlin Motzstrasse and Nollendorfplatz), the streets are decorated with rainbow colored flags, many shops show underwear (especially slips) with nice colors and design in their windows, many are laughing and hanging out in cafes, just a peaceful and nice place (ok, I walked there on a sunny Saturday afternoon)!
If you go from there towards west, you will reach Twin Peaks, two of the highest spots in the city. The effort to get up there is worth it because the view over the city is breathtaking.
The north-eastern part of Market street together with the area around Union square is the main shopping area with many high class warehouses, boutiques like Prada, Saks Fifth Ave, Gucci etc., top art galleries and 4-5 star hotels. There was also the only place where I saw a huge Christmas tree.
North of this area starts the San Francisco China town, which is just fun to walk through. It is the largest outside Asia and the oldest one in north America ( Info). You can find there authentic Chinese food (I recommend the noodles of Chef Jia's), shops with Asian vegetables, and butcheries which differ quite a bit from the american ones.
Another aspect which, I think, Berlin and San Francisco share is there large choice of bars (with German beer) and night life activities. Especially, I appreciated the great performances of unconventional electronic music DJ's, which I could fortunately experience due to the help of two colleagues who shared with me the same music-taste.
To learn more about my trips outside San Francisco, please read the blog entry "trips around SF".
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Festivals
In this chapter I will talk about the different religious festivals that I managed to visit during my stay in India. Just a remark, the Hindu calender refers to the moon and not to the sun, that's why the exact dates of festivals change every year.
October 2011 started with the Durga Puja, which lasts for ten days and is a very important festival in Bengal. The final four days are the most interesting, because during this time it is thought that the mother goddess descends to earth and returns at the tenth day.
Unfortunately, I did not have the time to visit Kolkatta during that period, because I have heard that the city transforms during these last four days totally, and that it is a great event when the statues of the Goddess are given to the river. Anyhow, fortunately there is a big community of Bengali in Bangalore who organized a special venue for the Durga Puja at the Palace grounds. I went there together with some lab mates on the 8th day of the puja.
By chance, we first entered a place of the Birhan Durga Puja, where the shrine was made of a row of five different gods, all in quite light colors. In the center was the Mother Goddess, killing a bad demon. We entered the line of people to pass by the Goddess: first, there was a priest and an assistant who distributed some flower blossoms, and people could leave some money in a small bowl. Then we marched along the god statues and several gifts were laid out to them (some coconut and flowers), at the end of the line were another two priests, one puts a red dot on your forehead, the other gives a small sweet ball (laddu, very tasty). The distribution of sweets or food after the visit of a temple is common in India, people told me that some temples are very famous for their sweets, which are not available elsewhere!
After this start, we went to the next area where the Bengali Durga Puja was. Entering the hall, I understood that my colleagues went for only one thing - the food! There was a nice idol and shrine set up in the main hall, which I managed to see more detailed the following day, but the most space was taken by vendors of different things (clothes, gifts, spices or furniture) and food stalls. The food court was the most busy one, and the dishes looked all very tasteful. Especially we tried the typical Bengali dishes like some fish and prawns. It was interesting to see, how this religious festival turns to a occasion for people to go out and meet people. When we left the ground at 9pm, the influx of people increased enormously and I was told that the place is open until 1.30 am (i.e. the Bangalore law makes an exception for those pujas).
The following day a friend from NCBS suggested me to accompany her to the Navratri (means nine nights) festival which also took place at the palace grounds. This festival has its origins in Gujarat and Rajastan (north-eastern India) and is another puja to honor the mother goddess Shakti. A special feature during this festival is the performance of two traditional dances, the garba, a circular dance, and the dandia-ras, a stick dance. Actually, we went to a kind of dance competitions where many participants wore beautiful colorful dresses and competed in dancing skill and duration: one session for the kids (5-14 years) lasted for about 40 min with increasing music speed in the last 10 min. Besides that, there was a big live band, and everyone could dance in between the competitions (kids, adults, in both dances). It was a great fun to dance some rounds of garba, and to see so many nice dressed people of all generations. We left at 12.30 am, but I was told that the dance would go on until 4 am!
Diwali 2011 was on October 26, and it is THE Indian festival (according to my Indian colleagues). This festival of light is celebrated all over India, it is even the beginning of the new year in Gujarat. The central part of this festival is to burn crackers and firework, which means that you fell like in a war zone starting from two days before and after Diwali which means that you can hear some bomb blasts all the time from somewhere and that you should watch out for sparking crackers when you are walking on the street (especially when it turns night). The day itself, the people gather wiht friends or their families wearing new clothes (normally Sarees or Kurthas), have some food together and burn crackers like crazy (the days before were just a warm up). At my place, the Mandara hostel, the people of NCBS organized a party, where we first played some social games (also common on diwali), had food, nice fireworks and music to dance! the place was nicely decorated with colorful ornaments on the floor and a table for the god Shiva with flowers, candles and fruits. Then we had some Indian food and sweets, and went out for the fireworks (it was a lot). The best was the music after the fireworks, and we danced for a couple of hours to bollywood music. that was a new experience for me, and I liked a lot the mix of indian dance moves and jazz steps. Men and women were eagaly danciong, but not too much together, more in circles. It was pure fun, and I hope to find more such occasions in future. It is a pitty that dancing is normally not allowed in bars and clubs in Bangalore.
October 2011 started with the Durga Puja, which lasts for ten days and is a very important festival in Bengal. The final four days are the most interesting, because during this time it is thought that the mother goddess descends to earth and returns at the tenth day.
Unfortunately, I did not have the time to visit Kolkatta during that period, because I have heard that the city transforms during these last four days totally, and that it is a great event when the statues of the Goddess are given to the river. Anyhow, fortunately there is a big community of Bengali in Bangalore who organized a special venue for the Durga Puja at the Palace grounds. I went there together with some lab mates on the 8th day of the puja.
By chance, we first entered a place of the Birhan Durga Puja, where the shrine was made of a row of five different gods, all in quite light colors. In the center was the Mother Goddess, killing a bad demon. We entered the line of people to pass by the Goddess: first, there was a priest and an assistant who distributed some flower blossoms, and people could leave some money in a small bowl. Then we marched along the god statues and several gifts were laid out to them (some coconut and flowers), at the end of the line were another two priests, one puts a red dot on your forehead, the other gives a small sweet ball (laddu, very tasty). The distribution of sweets or food after the visit of a temple is common in India, people told me that some temples are very famous for their sweets, which are not available elsewhere!
After this start, we went to the next area where the Bengali Durga Puja was. Entering the hall, I understood that my colleagues went for only one thing - the food! There was a nice idol and shrine set up in the main hall, which I managed to see more detailed the following day, but the most space was taken by vendors of different things (clothes, gifts, spices or furniture) and food stalls. The food court was the most busy one, and the dishes looked all very tasteful. Especially we tried the typical Bengali dishes like some fish and prawns. It was interesting to see, how this religious festival turns to a occasion for people to go out and meet people. When we left the ground at 9pm, the influx of people increased enormously and I was told that the place is open until 1.30 am (i.e. the Bangalore law makes an exception for those pujas).
The following day a friend from NCBS suggested me to accompany her to the Navratri (means nine nights) festival which also took place at the palace grounds. This festival has its origins in Gujarat and Rajastan (north-eastern India) and is another puja to honor the mother goddess Shakti. A special feature during this festival is the performance of two traditional dances, the garba, a circular dance, and the dandia-ras, a stick dance. Actually, we went to a kind of dance competitions where many participants wore beautiful colorful dresses and competed in dancing skill and duration: one session for the kids (5-14 years) lasted for about 40 min with increasing music speed in the last 10 min. Besides that, there was a big live band, and everyone could dance in between the competitions (kids, adults, in both dances). It was a great fun to dance some rounds of garba, and to see so many nice dressed people of all generations. We left at 12.30 am, but I was told that the dance would go on until 4 am!
Diwali 2011 was on October 26, and it is THE Indian festival (according to my Indian colleagues). This festival of light is celebrated all over India, it is even the beginning of the new year in Gujarat. The central part of this festival is to burn crackers and firework, which means that you fell like in a war zone starting from two days before and after Diwali which means that you can hear some bomb blasts all the time from somewhere and that you should watch out for sparking crackers when you are walking on the street (especially when it turns night). The day itself, the people gather wiht friends or their families wearing new clothes (normally Sarees or Kurthas), have some food together and burn crackers like crazy (the days before were just a warm up). At my place, the Mandara hostel, the people of NCBS organized a party, where we first played some social games (also common on diwali), had food, nice fireworks and music to dance! the place was nicely decorated with colorful ornaments on the floor and a table for the god Shiva with flowers, candles and fruits. Then we had some Indian food and sweets, and went out for the fireworks (it was a lot). The best was the music after the fireworks, and we danced for a couple of hours to bollywood music. that was a new experience for me, and I liked a lot the mix of indian dance moves and jazz steps. Men and women were eagaly danciong, but not too much together, more in circles. It was pure fun, and I hope to find more such occasions in future. It is a pitty that dancing is normally not allowed in bars and clubs in Bangalore.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Trio Trip to North India
Dear all, thanks to some heavy rain which restrains me at the institute until the shuttle bus can drive me dry and save home, I have some time t write finally an English short report of my one week trip to the north of India in the first week of August.
Joka, a visitor student from Munich, Jasna, a friend of her coming from Stuttgart, and me, we started the trip in Delhi, and continued after two days to Agra, and discovered then the Rajastan cities Jaipur, Bikaner and Jodhpur.
Day 1 and 2 (Delhi): The first day in Delhi, we were welcomed by very hot weather. Nevertheless, we started to discover the city per pedes, and went first to the observatory Janta Mantar. This complex of different buildings to measure declination, azimuth angles or the position of celestial objects was erected in 1724 by Maharaja Jai Singh II of Jaipur.
After that, we decided to take a car to visit some interesting sites of the city without being exposed to the sun all the time. We saw the India Gate (Indian version of a triomphal arc), the Lotus Temple (unfortunately closed on Monday), Al Mutuqb (the oldes site of a mosque in Delhi) and the Red-Fort.
The second day, we visited New Delhi, the modern center with the impressive government buildings and the National Gallery of Modern Art, which allowed me to learn a lot about Indian modern Artists. After that, I left the ladies alone and discovered the city on a larger scale using the brand new metro! Many parts of the city infrastructure were recently renewed due to the Commonwealth games 2010. To have a nice contrast to that, I visited also the old part of Delhi, with its buzzing bazaar around the mosque Jama Masjid.
Day 3 (Agra): After a pleasant 4h train trip, we arrived in Agra and went straight to the Taj Mahal. In contrast to my fears to find a crowded place, there was no waiting line at the ticket counter, ad only a few tourists (mainly Indians) populated the gardens of the Taj Mahal. The building is really beautiful and is worth the travel. In addition to that create the trees and plants in the garden a nice space to wander around and to enjoy this site. After a few hours and a tasty lunch in the old bazaar besides the Taj. Then, we took a cycle-riksha to get to the Red Fort, which is about 2km away. This huge fort contains some beautiful architectural highlights, especially the Harem's complex is very nice with its fountains and marble mosaic. At the end of the day, we had a short shopping in town and went to the train station. We met two very kind french travellers, and had together with them dinner in a nearby restaurant. The night train was sleeper class, i.e. the cheapest ticket, but it was surprisingly comfortable and not at all crowded, so that we could sleep quite well.
Day 4 (Jodhpur): We arrived in Jodhpur in the early morning and refreshed us in the restrooms in the train station. After a tasty breakfast, we headed into the city. Our first stop was the market place, where we entered a shawl shop with a superb salesman, who showed you a big variety of wonderful shawls of various qualities. Finally, we left the shop with 10 shawls! After this morning shopping, we took an auto riksha to get to the huge fort which surmounts the city. It is long time ago that I have seen such a nice and impressive complex, the audio guide was very well done, and as an additional "ingredient" there were musicians and guards in traditional costumes who created a special atmosphere. A few hours later, we were down in the city again and had lunch in an elegant restaurant, wandered through the market and visited another tissue shop (fortunately, they had only large sheets, nothing for us). At the end of this eventful day, we mounted on the train to Bikaner, where we were picked up at 2 am.
Day 5 (Bikaner): Bikaner, a city at the border of the Thar desert, was our starting place for a camel safari. Unfortunately, Joka was not feeling well, so that Jasna and me first went into the old part of the city, where we discovered narrow streets with spice, shawl and other traders. In the afternoon, we (this time with Joka) headed off to the camel safari organized by Vijay. Surprisingly, the desert was green, because it had rained a few days ago. The ride on the camel was really fun, with this up and down on top of this high animal. At home again, Joka and me were not feeling fine, so that we slept early.
Day 6 and 7 (Jaipur): Early in the morning (5am), we were driven to the train station by our lovely host Vijay, and took the train to our last stop of our trip, Jaipur. It was a trip through flat, dry land, sellers of coffee, tea, biscuit and small stuff offered their goods during the trip, and everyone was just hoping that the 6 hours travel time would rapidly go over...Arrived in Jaipur, we had lunch in our hostel, in our spacious room, and then visited the old center, called the pink city. Here we saw the Harem building Hava Mahal, which was nice, but not as impressive after our experience in Jodhpur. We could not visit the other sites like the palace, because it was already 5pm. But that was ok, because we discovered the small alleys and galleries of the bazaar area.
The next day, we visited the Janta Mantar, which was even bigger than the Delhi one, and had more instruments. Then we visited a jeweler shop, and found some nice ear rings, bracelets (ok, the ladies found it). time was running short, but with the auto riksha, we arrived at the hostel at time to catch the cab to the airport. In the airplane, I was thinking that a very nice week with many impressions goes over, but there will be more such trips, that's for sure...
Joka, a visitor student from Munich, Jasna, a friend of her coming from Stuttgart, and me, we started the trip in Delhi, and continued after two days to Agra, and discovered then the Rajastan cities Jaipur, Bikaner and Jodhpur.
Day 1 and 2 (Delhi): The first day in Delhi, we were welcomed by very hot weather. Nevertheless, we started to discover the city per pedes, and went first to the observatory Janta Mantar. This complex of different buildings to measure declination, azimuth angles or the position of celestial objects was erected in 1724 by Maharaja Jai Singh II of Jaipur.
After that, we decided to take a car to visit some interesting sites of the city without being exposed to the sun all the time. We saw the India Gate (Indian version of a triomphal arc), the Lotus Temple (unfortunately closed on Monday), Al Mutuqb (the oldes site of a mosque in Delhi) and the Red-Fort.
The second day, we visited New Delhi, the modern center with the impressive government buildings and the National Gallery of Modern Art, which allowed me to learn a lot about Indian modern Artists. After that, I left the ladies alone and discovered the city on a larger scale using the brand new metro! Many parts of the city infrastructure were recently renewed due to the Commonwealth games 2010. To have a nice contrast to that, I visited also the old part of Delhi, with its buzzing bazaar around the mosque Jama Masjid.
Day 3 (Agra): After a pleasant 4h train trip, we arrived in Agra and went straight to the Taj Mahal. In contrast to my fears to find a crowded place, there was no waiting line at the ticket counter, ad only a few tourists (mainly Indians) populated the gardens of the Taj Mahal. The building is really beautiful and is worth the travel. In addition to that create the trees and plants in the garden a nice space to wander around and to enjoy this site. After a few hours and a tasty lunch in the old bazaar besides the Taj. Then, we took a cycle-riksha to get to the Red Fort, which is about 2km away. This huge fort contains some beautiful architectural highlights, especially the Harem's complex is very nice with its fountains and marble mosaic. At the end of the day, we had a short shopping in town and went to the train station. We met two very kind french travellers, and had together with them dinner in a nearby restaurant. The night train was sleeper class, i.e. the cheapest ticket, but it was surprisingly comfortable and not at all crowded, so that we could sleep quite well.
Day 4 (Jodhpur): We arrived in Jodhpur in the early morning and refreshed us in the restrooms in the train station. After a tasty breakfast, we headed into the city. Our first stop was the market place, where we entered a shawl shop with a superb salesman, who showed you a big variety of wonderful shawls of various qualities. Finally, we left the shop with 10 shawls! After this morning shopping, we took an auto riksha to get to the huge fort which surmounts the city. It is long time ago that I have seen such a nice and impressive complex, the audio guide was very well done, and as an additional "ingredient" there were musicians and guards in traditional costumes who created a special atmosphere. A few hours later, we were down in the city again and had lunch in an elegant restaurant, wandered through the market and visited another tissue shop (fortunately, they had only large sheets, nothing for us). At the end of this eventful day, we mounted on the train to Bikaner, where we were picked up at 2 am.
Day 5 (Bikaner): Bikaner, a city at the border of the Thar desert, was our starting place for a camel safari. Unfortunately, Joka was not feeling well, so that Jasna and me first went into the old part of the city, where we discovered narrow streets with spice, shawl and other traders. In the afternoon, we (this time with Joka) headed off to the camel safari organized by Vijay. Surprisingly, the desert was green, because it had rained a few days ago. The ride on the camel was really fun, with this up and down on top of this high animal. At home again, Joka and me were not feeling fine, so that we slept early.
Day 6 and 7 (Jaipur): Early in the morning (5am), we were driven to the train station by our lovely host Vijay, and took the train to our last stop of our trip, Jaipur. It was a trip through flat, dry land, sellers of coffee, tea, biscuit and small stuff offered their goods during the trip, and everyone was just hoping that the 6 hours travel time would rapidly go over...Arrived in Jaipur, we had lunch in our hostel, in our spacious room, and then visited the old center, called the pink city. Here we saw the Harem building Hava Mahal, which was nice, but not as impressive after our experience in Jodhpur. We could not visit the other sites like the palace, because it was already 5pm. But that was ok, because we discovered the small alleys and galleries of the bazaar area.
The next day, we visited the Janta Mantar, which was even bigger than the Delhi one, and had more instruments. Then we visited a jeweler shop, and found some nice ear rings, bracelets (ok, the ladies found it). time was running short, but with the auto riksha, we arrived at the hostel at time to catch the cab to the airport. In the airplane, I was thinking that a very nice week with many impressions goes over, but there will be more such trips, that's for sure...
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