Berkely

In the morning I did a walk on the peninsula and national park Point Reyes – national seashore. As expected I could see four herds of elks, a rabbit and various birds. Yesterday nicht, when driving  back from Napa – I have seen many deers, including two very beautiful, elder male.

In the afternoon I drove to Berkely and visited the university campus, the most beautiful I have seen. As I left Berkely too early I learnt today what rush hour in the bay area means! Tomorrow I will spend the day in Santa Cruz and drive along Hwy No 1 to Santa Barbara in the evening.

Thomales point – the elk’s area on Point Reyes

Berkely students are very busy!

Napa Valley

The visit of Alcatraz yesterday was amazing. Should you ever go to SF, visit Alcatraz and do the audio tour! In the evening I drove to the wilderness of Point Reyes national seashore, an hour north of SF at the coast. From there I did a day trip to Napa valley to taste some wines – one of my best days on the hole trip! My favorite winery was Sterling, located on a rock and accessible only by aero-train. They had a very good self-guided tour and some wines that I liked a lot. Now I will explore the city of Napa in the evening and then drive back to Point Reyes. There I hope to see some wildlife on a hike tomorrow.

A cell on Alcatraz

Sea lions, fighting for the best places at pier 39 of San Francisco

Old mill in Napa valley

Aero-train to the Sterling winery

The Sterling winery – inspired by the architecture of the greek island Myconos

Napa Valley

A Weekend in SF

To me San Francisco seems almost to be a Mediterranean city… palm- and olive trees along the streets that are more narrow than in other US cities, little hills, a beautiful harbor, nice people and last but not least good food! Therefore I really like the city!

When taking a rest in a nice cafe, I read the news papers, something I haven’t done for more than a week. What’s in the media in the US? They are debating much about the huge increase of the price for gas (the gallon costs now more than four dollars). In Basketball there are currently the finals of each conference and of course there is always something to write about the upcoming elections!

Today I will spend another day in SF and tomorrow I will go to Alcatraz at noon and drive to the national seashore (north of SF at the coast). I had good luck to get one of the last tickets for Alcatraz as I arrived on Friday. The trip is very popular and due to the Memorial day tomorrow there are many visitors in the city for an extended weekend.

The Golden Gate Bridge – what else?!

Music and dancing from Bali @ a garden festival

View from Nob Hill down Jones street

Lovely San Francisco

Pigeon Point Lighthouse

When I arrived in the early afternoon at the Pigeon Point Lighthouse, it was very crowded and busy. The reason was that they were shooting a commercial today. An Asian company that you might know for LCD- or HIFI-products chose this location for a commercial for solar panels. They had a big crew and stood after dark. The best thing was that they lighted a very special, fancy light for this event that usually is lighted just once a year!

In the afternoon I walked along the coast and found several beaches without anybody else. But the very best thing of today was the bath in the hot tub on the cliffs with the stars above and the braking waves beyond!

There is not much littering

“my private beach!”

An example of a funny, very personal mail box

My accomodation for tonight