Santana Row

It has come time to tell you about my favorite place to this point.  I believe I have mentioned it in the some of the older posts, but I feel that it should be given the full credit it deserves.  It is a place where the young turks strut their stuff and the well-to-do mingle and be seen.  A place where there are Aston Martins parked outside of the Tesla shop.

For this yo-yo who loves to "people watch", it is simply a heavenly place to be.  I am talking about Santana Row in San Jose.

To be honest, it is a lovely little three-block shopping and living center.  I have always liked the notion of having apartment complexes on top of a shopping district.  It seems so... well, cosmopolitan.

There are lots of higher end clothing stores and a couple of fun knick-knack shops like the stationary store MaiDo, a Japanese stationary store that (quite frankly) has some wonderful toys and craft items.  Well worth a peruse...

There are also a lot of wonderful restaurants there as well (you know me and food...).  My current favorite is a place called the Left Bank Brasserie.  It has wonderful outdoor cafe seating and the food (while pricey) is great.  But should also mention Pizza Antica which has great pizza, but even greater salads and served with pizza crust as bread.  

There are also a number of "club" like establishments that folks my age migrate away from after about eight when the aforementioned young turks start to come out.  We shuffle out to the street muttering under our breath about how "we could not hear ourselves think in there...".  Yes, people my age REALLY do that.  But we generally migrate over to the outdoor wine bars or the tequila bar.  (We do find our way...and it is quieter there)

How many types of sweet potatoes?

When one needs to clear the head, there is really nothing better than to go on a walk-a-bout.  Now this phrase may be a bit old-fashioned (and foreign for that matter - it is an Australian saying), but it really is true.

On Saturday morning, I looked about my apartment, took a deep breath and said to myself, "Self, you cannot put this off any longer."  The crustiness in the kitchen and rather unspeakable stuff in the bathroom needed to be eliminated.  So... I spent a rather long, lonely day cleaning up the place.  To treat myself after the day of cleaning, I watched one of my favorite movies - Blazing Saddles.

That brings me to Sunday.  I got up and decided that I just needed to get out.  But, where?  That is where Blazing Saddles comes into play.  The name of the town in the movie is Rock Ridge.  Could there be a Rock Ridge, California?  Yup.

As I pulled up and parked in Rockridge, the first thing I see is The Sock Hop which I know would tickle my daughter to no end.  A sock store.  That is one of the most wonderful things about this area.  The towns are littered with shops like these.  There is an almost abhorrence to the chain stores.

A bit more wandering had me back in Berkeley and at the Stained Glass Garden.  This is in a really wonderful part of Berkeley on fourth street.  This shop is fascinating with mosaic and stained glass supplies.

Lunch was at Vik's Chaat & Marketplace.  This Indian restaurant is nestled in (what looks like on the outside) a rather warehouse looking building but the food is really good.

Now after lunch, I was driving about Berkeley when I spied a grocery with produce spilling out the front entrance.  I cannot explain why, but this sight piqued my interest so I parked the car and ventured inside.  The name of the place is The Berkeley Bowl.  To be perfectly frank, dear readers, I have NEVER seen so much produce.  I mean there were four different types of sweet potatoes all piled together.  Name a type of vegetable or green and they had it in multiple varieties.  Of course, I had to buy a couple of things...

So overall, this was just what the doctor ordered.  Beautiful scenery, eclectic visuals, and (of course) a beautiful fall day to enjoy it all.