Hiking Adventures in the San Francisco Peninsula and Beyond
If I cannot travel, I might as well reminisce. Viareggio is a quintessentially Italian seaside town on the Tyrrhenian, equidistant from Pisa and Lucca (https://johnpavolotsky.wordpress.com/2019/11/30/lucca/), our base for a 3-day visit to Tuscany this past October. The vibe is art deco. A certain timelessness pervades Viareggio; it seems that little has changed, and but for … Continue reading Viareggio
37,000 feet above the Atlantic, half asleep, nursing a recalcitrant head cold, Venice, the first stop on our 10-day Italian vacation, could not have been farther away. Nonetheless, I persevered, willing my way through the ten hour flight, layover in Frankfurt, short flight to Venice, longer transfer via the Alilaguna water bus to San Zaccaria, … Continue reading Venice
In many places, where to go for a morning run is not self-evident. In others, it could not be more clear. In New York City, it’s Central Park, on a gorgeous, fresh, August morning after a torrential downpour. In Washington, D.C., it’s the Mall, climbing and then rounding Capitol Hill before sunrise, with the Washington … Continue reading Lucca
Final score: RCD Espanyol 3, Villarreal 1. I have been fortunate to attend a number of soccer matches, including the World Cup (1994) at the old Stanford Stadium, where I saw Brazil overpower Russia, and more recently, a spirited Irish League of Premier Division match between Galway United F.C. and Drogheda United F.C., on a … Continue reading Barcelona
There are, perhaps, few moments finer than a sunset at Moran Lake Park Beach (https://www.californiabeaches.com/beach/moran-lake-park-beach/), a few miles south of the Santa Cruz Boardwalk (https://beachboardwalk.com) and a few miles north of Capitola (http://www.cityofcapitola.org), a sleepy seaside town. Walking down the beach, with a wispy cloud or two in an otherwise clear sky, before the fog … Continue reading Santa Cruz
It has been almost 40 years since I first traversed Golden Gate Park, en route to an apartment in the Richmond District, more than 6000 miles from home. For some reason, I recall the corner of 25th Avenue and Geary Boulevard, streetlights that probably should have been brighter, the Doggie Diner on the northeast corner. … Continue reading San Francisco
Art imitates life, and vice versa. Standing on one of the many terraces of Hase-dera (736) (http://www.hasedera.jp/en/), in Kamakura, a sleepy seaside town about an hour south of Tokyo, in Kanagawa Prefecture, I could not help but think of the atmospheric woodblock prints of Hokusai and imagine the confluence of meteorological events giving rise to … Continue reading Kamakura
Not a day goes by that I am not reminded of Tokyo. Let me explain. The Pilot Juice Up 0.3mm retractable gel pen is surgical. I purchased two, and replacement ink, from a store in the Odaiba Mall facing Tokyo Bay. At only ¥200, I should have bought more. This Juice Up (other versions exists) … Continue reading Tokyo On My Mind
Call me a bibliophile. Libraries (Suzzallo, University of Washington, pictured above) are exotic bazaars. So are bookstores. Picture Blackwell’s on Broad Street in Oxford (which I visited while on a coach tour and, as luck would have it, had not more than twenty minutes to explore), Powell’s City of Books in downtown Portland, or City … Continue reading Ode to Books
I am drawn to faraway places. Bergen, five thousand miles from home, qualifies. While Bergen is known as the gateway to the fjords, there are simpler, and far more accessible, pleasures much closer to City Center. Wake up early. Go for a morning run through the Fish Market, past the row of Hansa houses on … Continue reading Bergen
The Peninsula Hiking Club 