A Day in the Bay

This past weekend I flew down to San Francisco for a few days to visit my godfather who has had some very serious health problems this past year. I have not seen him in many years and it was a bittersweet visit. To see such an accomplished and refined man, a brilliant doctor who must now be a patient for the first time in his life is very difficult to see and very difficult for him to experience such a profound role reversal. Despite the many things going on in their lives, my godfather and his wife made time to take me around Palo Alto, show me Stanford and stuff me full of the Middle Eastern food I love. The weather was beautiful and I felt like I was on a movie set of 1950's Americana at times.

Here are a few photos of the Stanford campus:

I have a fascination with the symmetry of arches.

The Rodin sculpture garden.

Unfortunately, The Thinker was busy pondering behind a bevy of picnickers so I couldn't get a photo of him.



A gorgeous tree whose trunk reminds me of Africa if not for the far too verdant leaves which are too green for the parts of Africa I love.



Campus in the evening light.


The campus is sprawling and fairly seamless in architecture.



The mosaic exterior of the ornate Chapel.

While I prefer the turbulence of a stormy, seasonal climate and desolation as opposed to the density of California, there is no arguing the beauty of the state and I appreciate it as a lovely place to visit. My thanks to my godfather and my aunt Edma for their hospitality on this particularly difficult weekend.