Discovering Another Mad Dash (Oct 14): Heading Home and Finally finishing this TR #1523 (05/03)

[zanzibar138]

Shame about the missing birds at your usual spot, but you did well catching that squirrel!

What is it with the US and serving potato crisps with meals? I don't get it I don't think I'd be brave enough to try a mac-and-cheese sandwich either But I'm sure there would have been something appetizing there - can't go wrong with bread and cheese The mango cake on the other hand - yummo

 

[PrincessInOz]

Very nice pictures of the bird and the squirrel.

The food looks very appetizing especially the mac & cheese sandwich.

Thanks, Bret. I got lucky with the squirrel. If you get the chance to, I'd recommend going to the Melt. I really enjoyed my sandwich. It might not have been Earl of Sandwich delicious; but I suspect that it had significantly less calories than one from EoS.

Shame about the missing birds at your usual spot, but you did well catching that squirrel!

What is it with the US and serving potato crisps with meals? I don't get it I don't think I'd be brave enough to try a mac-and-cheese sandwich either But I'm sure there would have been something appetizing there - can't go wrong with bread and cheese The mango cake on the other hand - yummo

I think I've gotten used to getting "chips" with some of my meals. I can't remember how many times I've ordered chips with my meals only to get the crisps; and not the "fries" that I was expected.

I love different fillings in sandwiches. My FiL and I used to love having leftover spaghetti bolognaise "dagwood" style sandwiches; so mac and cheese wasn't too much of a stretch for me. In fact, there used to be an authentic Old English Fish n Chip shop in one of the city arcades. They were famous for chip bu-tties (it is one word, but I'm not sure about the Dis Filters)....hot fries in a bun. Talk about heart-attack material!

 

[franandaj]

Nice! I've always liked the Stanford Mall, too bad they took the Disney Store out of there.

The Melt sounds like a place I would really like, but the only So Cal locations are up in the LA/Hollywood area. Though I am in Hollywood weekly for band rehearsal, I don't get to the "trendy" section on Sunset and Vine where the shop is located.

What is it with the US and serving potato crisps with meals?

This got me curious about what Aussies eat with their sandwiches? Chips (as we call them) or potato crisps are the perfect accompaniment to any sandwich, especially for restaurants that don't have a fryer to make French Fries or chips as you folks call them.

Even at home when I make us a sandwich for lunch, I almost always serve it with some Kettle Chips and a pickle! I guess that's just another American sort of thing, like baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet. (But that little jingle from the 70s is probably also lost on the younger folks and non US residents who don't remember those commercials! )

 

[zanzibar138]

This got me curious about what Aussies eat with their sandwiches? Chips (as we call them) or potato crisps are the perfect accompaniment to any sandwich, especially for restaurants that don't have a fryer to make French Fries or chips as you folks call them.

Even at home when I make us a sandwich for lunch, I almost always serve it with some Kettle Chips and a pickle! I guess that's just another American sort of thing, like baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet. (But that little jingle from the 70s is probably also lost on the younger folks and non US residents who don't remember those commercials! )

For the most part we just get given a sandwich on its own, maybe with a bit of lettuce more as a garnish than anything. If anything comes with it it's usually fries or maybe a salad, or both. And we don't really do the sandwich and soup combo either. You'd be hard pressed to find a cafe/restaurant in Australia that doesn't serve fries at all - I think they'd go out of business without a fryer

 

[PrincessInOz]

Nice! I've always liked the Stanford Mall, too bad they took the Disney Store out of there.

The Melt sounds like a place I would really like, but the only So Cal locations are up in the LA/Hollywood area. Though I am in Hollywood weekly for band rehearsal, I don't get to the "trendy" section on Sunset and Vine where the shop is located.

I miss the Disney store too. I hope you get to try the Melt sometime. I really loved my sandwich.

This got me curious about what Aussies eat with their sandwiches? Chips (as we call them) or potato crisps are the perfect accompaniment to any sandwich, especially for restaurants that don't have a fryer to make French Fries or chips as you folks call them.

Even at home when I make us a sandwich for lunch, I almost always serve it with some Kettle Chips and a pickle! I guess that's just another American sort of thing, like baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet. (But that little jingle from the 70s is probably also lost on the younger folks and non US residents who don't remember those commercials! )

For the most part we just get given a sandwich on its own, maybe with a bit of lettuce more as a garnish than anything. If anything comes with it it's usually fries or maybe a salad, or both. And we don't really do the sandwich and soup combo either. You'd be hard pressed to find a cafe/restaurant in Australia that doesn't serve fries at all - I think they'd go out of business without a fryer

As Zanzibar said, we just get the sandwich or it comes with a salad garnish and/or fries.

 

[PrincessInOz]

About Bronze Statues




I'd just finished lunch and wondered what else I could do in the area. On a whim, I decided to head to the Mall's landlord.

The Stanford Shopping Mall is located on property originally owned by Stanford University. Sometime ago, at the peak of the property market, the University sold the Mall to the Simons Group for a dizzying amount of money. But those savvy business and finance people at Stanford still derive income from a percentage of the Centre net profits for the land lease. I was glad to have contributed to that income stream that day.

As such, the Mall is a constant income stream for the University. Which is just as well.......because Universities are not cheap to run and I would hate to see this beautiful campus shut down.

Worse....I would hate to think that the University would need to sell off some of their priceless art pieces for funding.



Outside of the Musee Rodin in Paris, Stanford University is considered to have the second largest collection of Rodin statues in the world.
Auguste Rodin is considered to be one of the finest sculptures of the 20th century. He worked on number pieces; working on the casting through clay mouldings and developed the most lifelike sculptures with depth and complexity and texture.

Rodin is reputed to be the artist with the most number of forgeries in the art world.



I'd come to see the outdoor statues before on a trip in 2009 and that elephant memory of mine remembered how to navigate around the campus. It didn't take me long to find a parking and make my way to the Rodin Garden.

Arguably one of the titular pieces in Rodin's body of work is the Gates of Hell. The piece owned by Stanford is not one of the original 3 gates casted; but rather one of a 3 casted later by the Musee Rodin from the original clay moulding.

Depicting a scene from Dante's "The Inferno", this piece contains 180 figures, ranging from 6 inches high to more than one meter. The details are just stunning and I easily spent over 30 minutes examining the gate.

Several of the figures were also cast independently by Rodin.

I didn't have far to go to see the full size independent casting of The Three Shades. There was a set in the garden.

The beauty of this garden is how close you're allowed to get to the pieces and have that tactile contact.

There was a lot to be Meditative about in this garden. The last time a full sized bronze statue was sold, it was in the region of $20 million. When was the last time you were this close to that kind of money?

Just in this garden alone, there were at least half a dozen full sized statues.

And quite a few heads....er....busts.

I'd come in search of artwork. I had definitely found it; but I also found a piece of artistic priceless genius!

After spending $$$ at Stanford Mall, it is nice to think that perhaps a percentage of what I spent today would contribute towards the upkeep of this garden.



(Continued in Next Post)

 

[PrincessInOz]

(Continued from Previous Post)

Bag Stalking





The last time I had visited, the Cantor Art Centre had been closed. I don't remember if I came on a day when the centre was normally closed or if it was closed for a refurb. Either way, I missed out the last time.

Not so this visit. I entered and was immediately awestruck by this!

Yup. It’s the Thinker. Arguably, the most recognisable piece of work by Rodin, there are about 22 monumental statues of The Thinker around the world.

Yeah....I know what you’re thinking.

I should have taken the pictures from the side; rather than a full-frontal view. But I guess I wasn't really Thinking straight that day.....actually, I was thinking straight.

It was here that I was to encounter a little sticky stalker.

There are no issues taking photography in the Centre providing that the pictures are for personal use. However, it turns out that the Centre does NOT allow backpacks of any description. You are allowed to carry a bag; you're just not allowed to have it on your back.


I had a personal security guard debate the situation with me; and as I was not leaving my bag with $$$ of lenses in the secureless open shelves and he was not going to guarantee that the bag would not develop legs, I took the bag off my back and carried it round with me.



So it was....I had me a stalker....all through the Main gallery entrance....

....and into the Rodin rooms....

Whilst I checked out the busts.....

....of all descriptions.

Into the second Rodin gallery. I certainly understood how these miniature Burghers of Calais felt!

I was followed all the way into Africa....

Where there was no masking the fact that I was not trusted one bit to carry that bag of mine!

It sure felt like a funerary cortege to me.

He tut-tutted when I nearly put the bag on my back at this point of my visit.

Talk about feeling like a sacred cow....er...cat.

I wondered where the boundaries of his watch lay. It obviously included Asia as well.

He definitely felt like lead weight to me.

Absolutely humourless and colourless!

Well....maybe a tinge of priceless green jade.

I thought about sticking my tongue out at him in the Oceanic section.

Okay. Common sense finally kicked and perhaps I was making it bigger than it needed to be.

He was, afterall, doing his job and having a great time trying to make small s'talk. And it did feel a little like having my own personal tour guide.

 

[dhorner233]

Love the art! Thanks for sharing!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Love the art! Thanks for sharing!

It was a great afternoon!

 

[bigalintx]

...

 

[PrincessInOz]

...

Thanks for stopping by!

 

[PrincessInOz]

An Amazing Collection




I found a staircase at this point and headed on upstairs. Seems like that was where his patrol boundary lay afterall!

He had been reasonably decent company; but I was glad to be able to wander through the gallery by myself.

Anyone else notice that this was an amazing art collection?

It might be a small Art Centre; but the collection was priceless and beautiful beyond belief.

I ran into my second security detail upstairs. And contrary to appearances, she was a lot more relaxed!

She insisted on showing me her picture and posed for me as well. That is her in that exhibit on the wall. The photographer had gone round to the major galleries in the world and taken pictures of the guards guarding the treasures. She was incredibly honoured to have been selected.



I found the scene of her picture a couple of rooms away….

Yup. It definitely needed that human touch and I figured she had it in spades.




I thanked her for sharing time with me and moved on to the modern section. I guess by this stage, I was feeling a little more off-ball than normal.

What can I say.....small things amuse small minds???

I'd come full circle in the museum and it was getting very close to time for us to head home.

(Continued in Next Post)

 

[PrincessInOz]

(Continued from Previous Post)

The end of my time at Stanford and San Francisco




I was down to mere hours left on this trip and was experiencing that bittersweet moment that comes at the end of all trips.

On one hand, I was ready to head home and see DS and my furbabies. I had really missed having my coffee buddy along on this trip; but I had enjoyed the freedom of staying as long or as short as I wanted at each location.

On the other hand, this part of the world is the home of my heart. With each trip I constantly wonder why we don't move here; and then I get home and realise what I love about living in Melbourne so much.



Anyway.....I wasn't quite ready to depart yet and I figured I was going to steal some more time and make DH wait a little bit.


I was after a final view of Stanford.

This really is a beautiful campus. That vista of the Main Quad, Memorial Church and Hoover Tower is just gorgeous and I couldn't resist getting another glimpse of this area.

I walked up towards the Main Quad....

.....and looked down the corridors where so many scholars have walked before. The likes of Herbert Hoover, John Steinbeck, John F Kennedy and even Tiger Woods might have walked down here before.

The life size Burghers of Calais are located in the Main Quad. Priceless!

And the amazingly decorated façade of Memorial Hall deserved more than a cursory glance as well.

With twilight fast approaching and my phone ringing to let me know that DH was looking for me, it was definitely time for me to call an end to this Mad Dash.

There's really not much more to this trip. DH and I stopped by WholeFoods on the way to the airport for a bite to eat.

We dropped off our hire car at the airport and I realised that I hadn't taken a picture of my wheels at all on this trip until now.

It's always a reassuring sight to see a plane waiting at our gate; even if it is United Airlines.

We had a rather uneventful trip home. And just like how I had started out my trip on United, I didn't get any sleep on the plane, no inflight entertainment and even worse....the food was almost inedible. We had burnt food on one side of the tray and cold on the other.



Having said that, there was one thing about the United service that I valued more than anything else....we did get home on time and safely.







And with that, this brings a close to yet another Mad Dash trip and I've enjoyed reliving it through this trip report. If you've made it this far and stayed the entire journey, I thank you for the privilege of being able to share it with you.


For those of you that are repeat followers or lurkers, I am well over the post-holiday blues. Afterall, I have another trip in the works....and for those of you even more insane than my Mad Dashes.....er.....follow my reports, I hope to see you on the blog....er....PTR, link here.


My trip? This one involves 2 days at DLR, a roadtrip in search of Canyons and multi-coloured rocks, 7 days at WDW and some Mickey cheating with Harry time at the end. I'll be back in the US in September/October 2013.


Thank you for reading.

 

[ACDSNY]

A lovely end to a wonderful trip report. The Stanford campus is beautiful.

 

[mvf-m11c]

Very nice pictures from Stanford.

Thank you for writing your trip report with a lot of different things that you have done during your trip. All of your photos and details of each different towns and scenes that you have took are so amazing.

 

[tiggrbaby]

Thank you so much for sharing your travels with us!

 

[franandaj]

So who did this one? It's pretty cool.

Somehow I missed the update with all the Rodins. Looks like a very nice last day. I'm glad you made it home safely even if United was a lousy flight.

I can't wait until you get back!

 

[PrincessInOz]

A lovely end to a wonderful trip report. The Stanford campus is beautiful.

Thanks! Hope we can catch up again in the future.

Very nice pictures from Stanford.

Thank you for writing your trip report with a lot of different things that you have done during your trip. All of your photos and details of each different towns and scenes that you have took are so amazing.

Thanks, Bret.

Thank you so much for sharing your travels with us!

Thanks for sticking around!

So who did this one? It's pretty cool.

Somehow I missed the update with all the Rodins. Looks like a very nice last day. I'm glad you made it home safely even if United was a lousy flight.

I can't wait until you get back!

Alison - I'm not really sure. I know I looked at it but I don't remember who the artist is.

I can't wait til September myself.

 

[zanzibar138]

Thanks for sharing PIO - your TRs are always an entertaining read

 

[Minniemum]

What a wonderful way to finish your trip. I'll catch you on your PTR.