A digital travel diary. · WP v1.08 · Updated
For Inna's Birthday dinner, I made reservations at Evvia - one of our favorite Palo Alto restaurants. Evvia serves authentic Greek entrees, and we really like the high-quality dishes. . I was really tired from work and came home around 18:30. We even contemplated cancelling going to Evvia, but I decided it was worth the effort to revisit this local gem. . . We arrived…
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For Valentine's Day, Inna decided to treat me to a fun evening of guitar music at International Guitar Night at the Villa Montalvo. . . International Guitar Night (IGN) is a celebrated touring acoustic guitar festival that showcases some of the world’s most inventive and expressive guitarists. Founded in 1995 by Brian Gore, IGN brings together a rotating lineup of virtuosos from diverse countries and…
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Since Super Bowl LX between the Seahawks and Patriots was being played at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, I decided to arrange a place to watch it locally. I looked around at Double D's, but it was too expensive ($150/person). Many other places were already all booked. However, I found that Water Tower Kitchen in Campbell had reservations available (with a $50 per-person minimum). I…
Read More: Super Bowl LX: Seattle Seahawks vs New England Patriots
I had decided to try using my iGPSPORT BiNavi GPS Bike computer to mountain bike from my house to Lexington Reservoir and back. This is a popular, highly rated trail also available on Komoot.. My GPX directions can be downloaded here.. . It was a very difficult, 20-mile climb with 2,835 feet of elevation gain. It has some spectacular views of the surrounding mountains. It…
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Since our tee time was not available (booked for 09:30), we decided to practice driving at the Pruneridge Golf Club. When we arrived at 09:00, the parking lot was already getting quite full. . . I had a lot of difficulty getting sufficient depth and consistency.. . Perhaps I should be looking to purchase some Golf Clubs?. Callaway Edge Regular Flex 10-piece Golf Club Set,…
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Inna decided to treat me to a concert of Vasya Oblomov, who was playing at Chez Nous Cafe in Redwood City. . . Overview . In late 2025–early 2026, the Russian musician and songwriter Vasya Oblomov is on tour, promoting his new studio album, Как всё было на самом деле (How It Really Was), and performing many of his well-known songs live. . Tour Purpose…
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Today, we saw a performance of "The Book of Mormon" at the Orpheum Theater in San Francisco. We had seen it many years ago (and had forgotten a lot of the songs). This performance seemed fresh (and a bit different from the one we had seen last time). . . . . We really enjoyed the performance a lot (despite having off-center seats) - a…
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Inna decided to see the newly composed/revised version of Zolushka. This was a more mature take on the "Cinderella" children's classic with a unique (more mature) update to the themes in the original version. . "Zolushka" (Cinderella) is a unique Russian-language musical performance taking place at the Oshman Family JCC Click to open side panel for more information in Palo Alto. Described as a "musical…
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Before our planned stop at JCC to see Zolushka, Inna had made dinner reservations for 6:00 p.m. at the highly rated Ettan Indian Restaurant. . . We had eaten at Ettan last year and thoroughly enjoyed it. Ettan is extremely popular and challenging to reserve on short notice. . . . . . . . At around 17:12, I dropped off Inna at Ettan and…
Read More: Dinner at Ettan, Palo AltoInna decided to purchase tickets to Kasia Smolarek's Classical Guitar concert at De Anza College's Visual and Performing Arts Theater (VPAC). . When we arrived at De Anza College, we had difficulty finding the VPAC because I had programmed 21250 Stevens Creek Blvd. (instead of the Visual and Performing Arts Theater). Even though we arrived at 19:21 for the 19:30 opening, we still had to…
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Inna heard about the AURA show in San Francisco's Grace Cathedral, and we decided to purchase tickets and see it for ourselves. . . Before the show, we stopped by for dinner at Dacha Kitchen & Bar (an Eastern European restaurant 15-minutes away), where we ordered the following: . . Boris: Chicken Skewers. Inna: Pojarskaya Cutlet. Alex: Seasoned Salmon. My Chicken Skewers were alright, but…
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. A few months back, Inna purchased two tickets to the new Cirque du Soleil Echo show in San Francisco (during a Black Friday sale). We have always enjoyed watching Cirque du Soleil's many shows, including the following: . . 2001 - "O" (Bellagio, Las Vegas). 2007 - Kooza (San Francisco). 2011 - "O" (Bellagio, Las Vegas). 2011 - The Beatles Love (Mirage, Las Vegas).…
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At around 18:00, we started our walk to see Let's Glow San Francisco. . This all-ages, family-friendly event runs for 10 nights from December 5–14, 2025. Experience breathtaking animated projections illuminating eight iconic buildings across the city's core, transforming them into colossal, colorful canvases featuring work by 19 artists from around the globe.. Our first stop was at the Hobart Building, which had some of…
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We decided to drive over to San Francisco to see the Menorah lighting at Union Square to commemorate the first day of Hanukkah, then take a stroll to visit the various Let's Glow SF buildings, and finish with dinner at Little Shucker. . . . . . We are initially worried about the security and safety after the recent events in Australia:. . On December…
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On Wednesday, November 26, I found some reasonably priced tickets ($200/ticket for floor-4 seats in Masonic using StubHub) to Sarah McLachlan's Better Broken Tour at The Masonic in San Francisco (for Friday, November 28, 2025, at 8:00 p.m.) . . Though I have been a fan of Sarah's music for a long time, I was not sure what to expect at her concert. . .…
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After seeing the beautiful Manet & Morisot exhibit at the Legion of Honor Museum, we decided to hike the nearby Lands' End trail. . See the Google Maps link for directions. . We started our hike around 15:30 from the grounds of the Legion of Honor Museum, following the coastal trail. There were lots of people on the trail (probably families trying to burn off…
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For our day out in San Francisco (Friday, November 28), we decided to stop at the Legion of Honor Museum to see the new Manet & Morisot exhibition. . . . . This is the first major exhibition dedicated to the artistic exchange between French Impressionists Édouard Manet (1832–1883) and Berthe Morisot (1841–1895). Manet was the era’s great pioneer of modern painting, and Morisot, the…
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For Thanksgiving, Inna decided against cooking and instead selected the nearby Lele Kitchen restaurant for the main dinner. She made reservations for Thursday, November 27, at 16:00. . . . . We ordered the Thanksgiving "Trust the Chef 7-Course Menu" as follows:. . Bread (freshly baked from a 38-year-old starter). Pie Tees x2 (Boris, Inna). Oysters x1 (Alex). Chestnut Soup x3. Trout Draniki x2 (Boris,…
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Today, Inna and I attended a concert by Mashina Vremeni (Машина времени) at the Fox Theater in Redwood City. The concert was scheduled for 20:00, and we were looking forward to seeing the group again. . I had never been inside Fox Theater, and it's not a bad venue. Parking was relatively easy to find. Inna purchased excellent seats in row G, and we had…
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After a short stroll around Vasona Lake, on a beautiful fall day in San Jose, we decided to eat an early dinner at our favorite Orchard City Kitchen in nearby Campbell. I booked the 17:15 time slot on OpenTable, but it was unnecessary since that time was not busy. . . . . After sitting outdoors, we looked at the updated menu and ordered the…
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