New York City - March 2026

After spending the first part of the year in St Petersburg, we paid a short (5 day) trip to New York to visit Diana's daughter, Lana.  We flew into Newark, NJ, which is not the most convenient airport for New York, especially when we were staying in Brooklyn.  It was a long drive through the Holland Tunnel into Manhattan and then a crawl through heavy traffic over to our hotel in Williamsburg, the Hoxton Hotel.  We were pleasantly surprised when the hotel room had a wonderful view over the East River to Manhattan.  What a spectacular view of Manhattan it is from this side of the River.

View from the Hotel Room, Williamsburg

In the late afternoon we walked down to the East River and explored a little.  The views across the River to the city were quite impressive. 

Salatim at Laser Wolf

In the evening, Lana joined us for dinner in our hotel.  The restaurant on the top of our hotel was the Laser Wolf, an Israeli restaurant, Michelin rated, and it was quite good.  Every main dish came with a tray of some 10 different dips and appetizers, the salatim (Hebrew for salad). 

Night time view of Manhattan

At night the view from our hotel room was even more impressive. 

The next morning  it was raining so we walked over to the nearest subway station and caught the train into Manhattan.  The subway trains are old and rickety (at least the ones we rode) and they are a little dirty and smelly but I suppose that is all a part of the New York experience.

Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer

Our first destination was the Neue Gallery on 5th Ave and 86th Street.  A small but impressive gallery of early 20th century German and Austrian art.  The most famous piece in the gallery is the Klimpt portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer.  The movie "Woman in Gold" tells the story of the theft of the picture by the Nazis and its eventual return to the Block-Bauer family in 2006.

Self Portrait in Camp - Felix Nussbaum

There were plenty of other fine work there too - Klee, Kandinsky, Dix, Schiele.  The very bleak self portrait by Felix Nussbaum of his time in a concentration camp is quite disturbing.  He pictures himself during his time in a camp in France.  The poor guy left Germany for Belgium before the war; he was arrested in Belgium during the war and sent to a prison camp in France; he was then transported back to Germany but escaped while in transit; he went back to Belgium again; painted the self portrait of him in the camp; he was then arrested again and transferred to Auschwitz which was his final resting place.  The portrait is rather bleak and disturbing.

A fine Viennese Coffee in the Cafe Sabarsky

The Neue Gallery has a rather fine cafe on the ground floor, the Cafe Sabarsky.  This old wood paneled cafe has a great old world feel to it and the menu has all manner of German/Austrian food and of course some very fine cream cakes and tortes.  We had lunch there.

Reservoir in Central Park

From the Neue Gallery we went across the road to Central Park and walked around the reservoir there.  It was still cold and the reservoir was still partly frozen.  There were a few geese and ducks around the water's edge and quite a few dead geese and ducks too.  Victims of avian flu apparently.

The Daily Show Set

From the other side of the park we walked on through Hell's Kitchen to our late afternoon attendance at the filming of the Daily Show.  Sadly, on this Thursday night, John Stewart was not hosting, it was Michael Kosta with Jordan Klepper.  Nevertheless it was very entertaining. 

It was quite a lot of waiting for the show to get going but it was most interesting to see how they put the program together.  The warmup comedian that got us all in a good mood was a brilliant improviser.  He had the audience in stitches.  He picked on a lot of people in the audience to supply material for his banter.  We were singled out too - he extracted from us that we were from England and Bosnia and that we were newly wed and that it was my first marriage in my 70's and that Diana made the first move on me.  All good fun.

After the show we took the subway to Dumbo (Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overcrossing) and met Lana and her husband, Adam for pizza.   A Bosnian owned pizza restaurant.  Those Bosnians get everywhere.

The next morning, Friday, we were picked up at the hotel by Lana and driven north out of the City into Westchester County and the town of North Salem where Lana kept her horse, Calvin.  

Calvin

Calvin is a fine looking horse and the stable was quite luxurious, as you would expect for Westchester County. I am sure Calvin has a fine life there - his own stall, his daily exercise, his grooming and food - all of it is taken care of.  There was a covered ring with jumps and plenty of outdoor trails through the woods.  We watched while Lana rode around the arena and took a few jumps.  

Calvin and Lana in action

I am not very knowledgeable about horses and jumping and I always assumed that jumping was all about the skill of the horse and very little of it had to do with the rider - they just have to sit there and try not fall off.  Lana informed me that that was not the case.  It is more the rider's skill than he horse's skill.  The rider has to be figure out how to approach the jump and where to start the run up so that the horse is in the right position when he gets to the fence.   Who knew?

Port Washington

From the stable we headed back south and visited Port Washington on Long Island.  Diana and Lana had lived there in the early 2000's so we visited their old home and some of the places that they knew from their time there.  It is not the most exciting place but there were some very nice homes by the shore of Long Island Sound.  There were nice distant views of the skyline of Manhattan too.  Diana had watched the attack on the twin towers back in 2001 from there.

Lana dropped us off at our hotel in Williamsburg.  We hung out there for a while and then got an Uber down to Dumbo again for dinner.   Ubers are so ubiquitous there and we never had to wait more than a couple of minutes.

The next morning we took the ferry down to Dumbo and walked to pick up Lana and her husband Adam.  We walked through Brooklyn and bought pastries and coffee to eat in a park in Brooklyn Heights overlooking the East River and Manhattan. 

 

Brooklyn Bridge

Diana and I then went off to explore on our own for while.  We walked across the Brooklyn Bridge.  A popular thing to do, with great views of downtown Manhattan.  

The 9/11 Memorial

In Manhattan we walked over to the 9/11 Monument.  It is quite a moving site with two pools in the footprint of the two towers.  Water cascades down the edges of the pool and disappears into a deeper chamber below the main water level.

The St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church

There is a new Greek Orthodox Church adjacent to the site - St Nicholas's.  The church that originally stood on the site was destroyed when the towers came down.  This was the replacement.  Inside there were some nice icons and murals.

The Globe

The remains of the Globe, a sculpture that once stood in front of the twin towers is now mounted near the Orthodox Church.  It is a little damaged from the tower's collapse but since it was once the largest modern day bronze sculpture (weighing some 20 tons) it was able to be recovered from the debris and reinstalled.

The Oculus Mall

There is a huge subterranean mall, the Oculus, adjacent to the Twin Towers.  It is an impressive piece of architecture but, alas, many stores were vacant.

The Statue of Liberty

From the memorial we walked over to the south end of Manhattan Island where there is a nice view over to the Statue of Liberty.  We continued around the shoreline to the west side (the Hudson River side) and then cut through Manhattan to Wall Street and the Stock Exchange.  We caught the ferry from the Wall Street pier over to our hotel in North Williamsburg.  A nice journey in the late afternoon on top of the ferry in the open air.

That evening we took an Uber to a restaurant in the Fort Greene area of Williamsburg for dinner with Lana and one of her long time friends.  The restaurant, Theodora, served a wonderful meal but prices are quite ridiculous in New York - you can easily figure that it will be of the order of $100 per head.

The United Nations Building

The next morning, Sunday, we took the ferry from North Williamsburg over to the East River to the East 34th St dock.  This is just south of the United Nations building, an immediately recognizable building.  The ferry is a wonderful way for us to get around.  They are relatively frequent and they provide amazing views of the city from the river.

Rockefeller Center

We walked through town on 34th Street to 5th Avenue where we turned north towards Rockefeller Center and Central Park.  Lots of people, lots of traffic, lots of fine shops.

We had brunch in the restaurant at the top of Saks Fifth Avenue.  A very nice restaurant, somewhat formal, very quiet, and just perfect after all the hustle of Rockefeller Center and 5th Avenue.

Anti-Trump Protestors

Back on the street again there was a small protest going on outside the Trump Tower on 5th Avenue.  There was quite a lot of police protection around the building but they let the small group of protesters have their say before they moved them along.

Simon Bolivar, El Libertador

We paid homage to the iconic Apple Store on 5th Avenue by the park, wandered around and marveled at the statues of South American revolutionaries there - San Martin, Jose Marti and Simon Bolivar.  Why are they honored there?

Big Jazz Band by Jean Dubuffet

We paid a brief visit to the Museum of Modern Art.  It is a huge museum with so much art but, by now, we were feeling a little weary.  We made a very cursory visit to the artwork and sat in the cafe for a while.  We need to come back with more time and more energy.   There were many great pieces - one of my favorites was Jean Dubuffet's Big Jazz Band painting.

The Lyceum Theater

We next had tickets to a Broadway show, "Oh Mary".  It was being performed at the Lyceum Theater on Broadway.  The show had a full house and the tickets were not cheap.  I am not a great fan of Broadway style shows and this one did nothing to improve that view.  It was mildly funny, a little bit crass, but thankfully short (80 minutes).

After the show we took an Uber over back to Dumbo and went to dinner.  Another fine but expensive meal.

The next morning, Monday morning, was our last day in New York.  We had been wanting to try the bicycle rentals in the city so we decided to bike down to Dumbo to have breakfast with Lana.  The city appears to have done a good job with creating bike lanes and providing adequate bike rental stands.  You can usually rent both electric and manual bicycles and we were intending to do the electric version.  Alas, at all the rental stations in North Williamsburg none of the electric bikes had sufficient charge so we settled for the human powered version.  

City Bikes

Thankfully it was a relatively flat course over to Dumbo so it wasn't too bad.  However, it did make Diana emphatically state that she was taking a different mode of transportation back to our hotel.

After buying croissants and coffee, we sat in a park by the river with a great view over to Manhattan.  We said farewell to Lana and caught the ferry up from Dumbo to North Williamsburg.  

At the hotel we checked out and took an Uber to Newark airport.  Newark isn't the easiest New York airport to get to from the city and next time we will use one of the other more convenient airports.  Again our Uber arrived in a couple of minutes. That there are so many Ubers and Lyfts readily obtainable likely says a lot about the economy and the job market in New York City. 

Southern California - December 2025

The week before Christmas our friends Richard and Jeannie invited Diana and I and another couple to join them in Southern California;  Newport Shore to be precise, where they had a week in a time-share.  It wasn't going to be anything too memorable, but, as usual, interesting things popped up along the way.

Hearst Castle and the Santa Lucia Hills

We started by driving from a foggy Sacramento (where we hadn't seen the sun in 25 or more days) and driving south on I-5 and then from Kettleman City over to the coast via Paso Robles (where the sun finally made an appearance).  We wanted to visit Hearst Castle in San Simeon.  I have visited several times before but Diana hadn't.  Hearst Castle is the most beautiful location for a home, let alone a castle - on top of the Santa Lucia hills, overlooking the ocean, and at this time of year, the hills are covered with a new growth of green grass.

Hearst Castle

After buying tickets, you are taken in a bus up to the top of the hill where you are met by a guide for your tour.  There are several tours but we took the "Grand Rooms" tour.  We were led up to the house where we learned a little about the location and the building of the home.  It was an epic project that took many years to achieve, in fact it was never really finished during W.R. Hearst's lifetime.  The architect for the project was Julia Morgan, the most famous female architect in California.  She designed so many wonderful buildings in California, including the Goethe house right here in Sacramento.

The Neptune Pool, Hearst Castle

The outdoor pool area, the Neptune Pool is a spectacular swimming pool surrounded by sculptures and fountains and an ancient Roman Temple that Hearst acquired from somewhere in Europe.  It appeared in Kubrick's 1960 film, Spartacus and then much later in 20214 Lady Gaga persuaded them to allow her to film a music video there (a deal sweetened by a 0.5 million donation to castle). 

Interior Hearst Castle

We went inside the house and saw the main lounge area that was all decked out for Christmas.  The room was full of sculptures and tapestries and other artifacts that were collected in Europe.  Unlike other collectors of the time, Hearst did not travel around Europe buying things himself.  He purchased most items from auction catalogues in New York and had them shipped to California.

The Dining Room, Hearst Castle

The dining room had beautiful European tapestries hanging on the walls and a long table that could seat 30 or 40 people.  Apparently as new guests arrived they took seats towards the middle of the table next to Hearst and then as they stayed longer they were displaced down the table as new guests arrived.  It must have been quite an interesting crowd for dinner - Charlie Chaplin, Greta Garbo, Buster Keaton, Errol Flynn, Winston Churchill, Charles Lindbergh, Bernard Shaw, Howard Hughes, Gary Cooper, Douglas Fairbanks, etc.  The guide told us that the guests were all mined for gossip that would later appear in Hearst's newspapers.

The Roman Swimming Pool, Hearst Castle

The beautifully ornate Roman Swimming Pool, an indoor pool, was now fully restored and it looked amazing, with blue and gold tiles, statues of Roman Gods, marble lamps.  A thing of great beauty.

Aoudad

On the way down the hill, we saw the enclosures where Hearst kept polar bears (he had a fairly extensive zoo on the site).  The only animals left these days are zebras, sambar deer (which we did not see) and barbary sheep or aoudad (which we did see).  They roam freely on the ranch and they have successfully bred.

We continued in the evening down to Santa Barbara where we stayed for the evening.  The next morning we drove through LA to Orange County and arrived at our destination, a Marriott resort in Newport Coast.  Orange Country has changed a lot since I was there in the mid 80's.  There has been even more development and it all looks even more uniformly affluent and manicured.

Sunset at Laguna Coast

In the late afternoon we took a walk down to the beach.  It was a little foggy but not too cold and the sunset was lovely.

The next day, Tuesday, I made an early morning run to the beach and along to Crystal Cove - an interesting State Park.  We lounged around most of the morning and then went for a late lunch followed by a trip to Balboa Island.  Balboa Island is a small island in Newport Bay entirely filled with small old homes.  Most of the homes have been renovated and look seriously expensive.  They have a thing there for Christmas decorations and most houses had inflatable santas and snowmen along with lots of Christmas lights.  The Christmas decorations extend to the boats in the Bay and during Christmas week there is a parade of boats around the island, eah displaying a fine display of lights.

Christmas at Crystal Cove State Park

The next morning, Wednesday, we went for breakfast in Crystal Cove at the Beachcomber Cafe.  This little State Park was created to preserve a unique beach house community built in the 1920's and 30's.  The area was always owned by the Irvine Company and the houses were only leased to their owners.  In 1979 the Coastal Commision bought the property and slowly converted it to a State Park.  The houses are all historically renovated and they are available to rent from the State.  You cannot drive to the houses but must park up top on the PCH and walk or catch a bus down to the beach.  

Crystal Cove Beach

There is only one restaurant in Crystal Cove, the Beachcomber Cafe and we had a fine late breakfast there.  We then wandered around the beach for a while, checking out the tide pools and birds.  There have been several movies shot in Crystal Cove from the silent era to the present day - the most recent one being Beaches with Bette Midler.   

The next day, Thursday, we left for our drive north back to Sacramento.  We made a few diversions along the way.  The first being a stop in LA to visit an art gallery (The Broad) and look at a building (the Bradbury Building).  

The Bradbury Building

We stopped at the Bradbury Building first.  This is a late 1800's building with a rather plain exterior but inside it is a real gem.  There is a lot of wrought iron work and the elevators are very old and require an operator to ride them.  The building has appeared in several films and tv shows, the most famous being the original Blade Runner.  At street level, the Blue Bottle Coffee shop on the ground floor makes a most excellent cup of coffee and there is a cutlery shop that was the location where O.J. Simpson bought a stiletto blade that featured in his murder trial.

The Million Dollar Theater

Across the street is the Million Dollar Theater. one of the first movie palaces in Los Angeles.  It has now fallen on hard times but the facade of the building is wonderful.  We couldn't go inside so we don't know how the inside looks.   Hopefully something has been preserved from its original grandeur.

The Central Market, Los Angeles

Next door is the Grand Central Market.  Once upon a time it was a wonderful market featuring only the finest of foods.  Nowadays, it didn't feel that great - just a lot of food counters with places to eat.

The Angel's Flight Funicular, Los Angeles

Above the Grand Central Market is Angel's Flight, a funicular railway that moves people up and down between Hill Street and Grand Avenue, a distance of around 300 ft for a gain of only 100 ft.  It is a small funicular for sure.

Anthony Quinn Mural

There was a very nice mural of the actor, Anthony Quinn on a nearby building.  

We next drove over to The Broad art gallery on Grand Avenue.  This is a newish gallery in Los Angeles named after the philanthropist Ely Broad (of home builder Kaufman and Broad fame).  It is housed in a beautiful building and it is a superb collection.  The gallery is free to enter as all art should be.

I'm Sorry - Roy Lichtenstein

While most other galleries have a Warhol, a Koons, a Lichtenstein, a Basquiat, etc, this gallery has a room full of Warhols, a roomful of Koons, of Lichtenstein's, of Basquiat's.

Kusama's Infinity Room

It was a splendid gallery with some wonderful pieces.  I am a big fan of Kusama's work and there was an installation of one of her Infinity Rooms.  We ququed for a short while to allowed into the room for a timed 60 seconds.  Lights flash and change colors and with a complex array of mirrors it appears that you are looking into infinity.  A great experience piece.

The Disney Concert Hall

While the Broad gallery building is itself quite beautiful and impressive it is overshadowed by the Disney Concert Hall next door.  This Frank Gehry building is just so beautiful - so many metallic curves.  We didn;t get to go inside but I am sure it is a thing of great beauty on the inside too.

Leaving LA we drove over the Grapevine to the San Joaquin Valley and Bakersfield.  We were heading towards Sequoia National Park.  As it was dark we stopped for the night just outside the park in Three Rivers in the Sequoia Village Inn - a bit of a primitive hotel room but quite adequate.

Sequoia National Park Entry

The next morning we drove into the park.  It was a beautiful day and the road, winding up into the higher Sierras, was quite impressive - switchbacks and curves rising up to 6,000 ft or more and, of course, the occasional giant sequoia tree.  

Sequoiadendron Giganteum

The sequoias are magnificent trees with their enormous trunks and their enormous branches way up high at the tops of the trees.  I always thought that the Giant Sequoias in the Sierras were a close cousin of the Coastal Redwoods, the Sequoia Sempervirens, but I was wrong.  The  Sierra Redwoods are from the genus, Sequoiadendron and the Coastal Redwoods are from the genus Sequoia.  

General Sherman

We stopped at a few groves to marvel at the trees - especially the General Sherman, one of the larger examples - truly magnificent. 

We also learned about the name Sequoia.  Obviously a Native American name, but I didn't realize it was from a specific person.  Sequoyah was a Cherokee born in 1770 who died in 1843.  He was quite the polymath and he created the first writing system for a Native American language.  He developed the alphabet that allowed the Cherokee language to be written on the page.  It was hugely successful and led to books and newspapers being published and allowed more effective communication among the tribe.

Kings Canyon

From Sequoia we drove into the adjacent Kings Canyon National Park.  Access to this park was fairly limited as we were well into December and the road deep into King's Canyon was already closed.  Nevertheless there were some nice overlooks where you could look over into the impressive glacial valley of the King River.

Leaving Kings Canyon we drove down into the valley near Fresno and continued north on Highway 99 to Sacramento and home.  A nice short trip in California that revealed some interesting places that I hadn't visited before.

San Jose del Cabo - December 2025

After spending Thanksgiving in Santa Rosa with Diana's daughter and family, we made a quick trip to Mexico for a little warm weather - just for 5 days by the beach.  We flew from San Francisco to San Jose del Cabo at the southern end of Baja California Sur - a 3 hour flight.  We had not embarked on such a trip before - there was no plan of activities or sites to see, just 5 days in a warmer climate with a beach and a pool and a jacuzzi.  I wasn't sure if I could handle it.

Arriving in San Jose airport we found that we had to run the gauntlet of people trying to sell us a taxi ride to our hotel.  I had already ordered an Uber to our hotel so I believed that I didn't need their taxis.  The touts at the airport were insistent and there were so many of them.  It was quite unsettling.  Our Uber driver indicated he wasn't at the Arrivals section but upstairs at the Departures area.  We eventually found him and realized what was going on.  While Uber can drop off at the airport, they cannot pick up.  Our driver must have just dropped someone off and was hoping not to get caught picking us up.  It worked for us, but I don't know if I would recommend it in the future.

Hotel El Ganzo

We were deposited at our hotel, the Hotel El Ganzo, and we checked in.  It was a nice enough hotel in the port area of San Jose del Cabo.  Perhaps not the best area of town but there were some rather fine boats and yachts moored in the harbor.  

Sunset from the rooftop pool

The hotel was great - great artwork everywhere, a nearby beach, a rooftop pool and jacuzzi, a restaurant and bar.  Our room had a small balcony - room for two chairs - with a view over the marina out to the ocean.  The ocean there at the southern tip of Baja is the point where the Pacific and the Sea of Cortez meet.

Local Musicians at the Hotel

We dined in the evening in the hotel.  Not great food but quite adequate and the margarita was great.  There was also a band playing and they were very good.  Apparently every Friday evening, a group of locals show up to play together and improvise.  They were really very good - just my kind of music.

The hotel didn't have phones in the room - a positive move according to the hotel as they are not really needed in this day of smartphones.  That is true but when they don't respond to phone calls or WhatsApp calls, you have a problem. We couldn't turn off our ceiling lights so I had to get up, get dressed and go to the front desk to sort out the problem - bit frustrating to say the least.

San Jose del Cabo Lighthouse

The next morning, Saturday,  I went out for a run around the neighborhood.  I started by trying to run on the beach but that was not easy - it was narrow and it sloped quite steeply.  I chose to run along the path above the beach alongside a barbed wire fence that kept you out of the beach properties (and presumably the beach property occupants off the beach).   Where a dry river bed came down to the beach I turned inland to try and find a road back to the hotel.   The dirt road went adjacent to a small lighthouse which was again restricted by a barbed wire fence.  Then came a gate and a security guard who didn't seem to worry that I was the wrong side of his gate, he just opened it and let me out onto the public streets.

The road then went through a fairly shabby neighborhood over to the hotel.  Not the best of early morning runs.

The Pool and Jacuzzi

Back at the hotel, we had breakfast before going up to the rooftop pool where we found a nice shady sunbed area to lounge around in.  I wasn't sure how I would do lazing around all day, but I did just fine.  A good book, shade from the sun, a nice view, waiter drinks service - what more could we ask for.

The Hotel Beach

In the late afternoon, I took the boat across the harbor entrance to the beach area on the other side to the hotel's private beach.  Not a great beach but quite adequate.  The water was just the right temperature and the sea was calm.

We again had dinner in the hotel that night before retiring for the night.

El Rey Pescador

The next morning was overcast but still warm.  I ran again out on the road towards the town center.  I stopped at the impressive El Rey Pescador statue at the entry to the port area.  We camped out again adjacent to the rooftop pool and jacuzzi and whiled away the day.

The Mission in San Jose del Cabo

In the evening we took an Uber into San Jose del Cabo.  Unlike its sister city of Cabo San Lucas, San Jose has a little of the flavor of a Mexican seaside town - they have a town square and a nice mission.  It also has restaurants and art galleries catering to the foreign tourists.  We walked around for a while and then had a nice meal before catching an Uber home.  Ubers were readily available and we didn't ever wait very long.

View from the Rooftop

The next morning, Monday, was again a little cloudy but that was fine by me.  I did not need to be burnt to a crisp by the sun.  It was plenty warm enough and it was nice and shady up on the roof.

Iguana

There were some beautiful iguanas lounging on the rocks in the afternoon sun.  Not the sort of thing I wanted to get too close to, but a magnificent animal nevertheless.

Very cheesy and commercial Cabo San Lucas

In the mid afternoon we took an Uber over to the adjacent town of Cabo San Lucas.  We knew this would be pretty tacky and touristy and we weren't wrong.  It was quite awful.  

One of the hundreds of Pharmacies

There were bars and restaurants everywhere and what wasn't a bar or a restaurant was a pharmacy where Americans can buy their prescription drugs much cheaper than the US and, of course, without a prescription.  We did visit the church or parroquia but it was not very old and not very interesting at all.

The Marina in Cabo San Lucas

The harbor was full of very expensive and very large fishing boats.  Apparently there are major Marlin fishing contests there each October.  The biggest is the Bisbee's Black and Blue Marlin Tournament which awards millions of dollars in prize money (for a $5,000 entry fee).  Not our cup of tea.

Finding nothing really enticing about the place we Ubered back to San Jose for our evening dinner.  We found a great bakery and bistro (Ruba's) that was Michelin rated and had an excellent meal there.

Whales

Tuesday was the end of our stay but we had until noon to relax by the pool and swim in the sea.  We were treated to a group of whales swimming by.  Quite a way out at sea but there was no mistaken their white blows and black bodies.

We checked out at noon and caught an Uber to the airport.  The airport was very busy with many planes leaving for all parts of the USA (American, United, Alaskan, Southwest, Delta, Frontier, Air Canada...).  Cabo San Lucas was not to our liking but the more laid back San Jose del Cabo was perfect for 4 days.