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)

Making new friends

Made a new friend

My mother and sister came into town for the past weekend and it has been a lot of fun.  I even made a new friend as you can see here on the right.  I  am STILL just tickled at the fact that there are animals that I loved as a child but only saw in zoos.  Hearing a seal vocalize and seeing it lay under a wharf is just wonderful.  I sent this picture to everyone I have EVER met!

The weekend started off on what could have been a rocky beginning.  We got dinner at a place called "The Left Bank" in an area called Santana Row.  The area is really a great place to wander and people watch.  It is a rather hip residential/shopping area and we were having a blast wandering around.  Then we sat down for dinner.  The service was wonderful, my trout was great but my mother's steak (while very flavorful) was tough as nails.  Unfortunately, she refused to return it because she didn't want to be a bother.

Saturday was the obligatory trip to San Fransisco's Chinatown and lunch in the Italian section.  Once again, great people watching.

Anyway, on Sunday we had a great time in Santa Cruz.  Everything was damn near perfect.  While the water is a bit chilly, my sister got to walk on the beach for the first time.

We stopped for lunch on the wharf at a place called Riva's Fish House where I had a passable fish and chips.  The prices were rather reasonable (in comparison).  My sister ordered the crab sandwich and my mother got a burger.  I will say that the cole slaw that came with my mother's burger was fantastic.  Yes, I would go back.

On the way back to San Jose, the ladies wanted to visit a winery (when in northern California, I think it is required by law...).  My sister picked Rapazzini winery in Gilroy, California.  Now, you have to understand that Gilroy calls itself the "Garlic Capital of the World", so when we pulled up to the winery there was a garlic shoppe next door.  On the other side of the winery was a roadside fruit stand.  Needless to say, we got back on the road with quite the haul.

The mother is happy and so is my baby sister.  They both are tickled pick with their first visit to the northern section of California.  Of that, I am glad.

This really is a great place to be.