To pick up from where I left last, on 27th June late night we boarded that flight to Hong Kong from SFO. Arrived at Hong Kong, hopped on to our flight to Qingtao. Qingtao is situated in between Shanghai & Beijing. It was pleasantly shocking to see how modern this city was. It had the well-planned roads, skyscrapers and all. We stayed at our China abode atop the 22nd floor of a multi-storeyed building.

June 22, Thursday - Day at the Mall

I got dropped off at the Great American mall, Milpitas. Spent the whole day doing my rounds of the stores. In the evening we had dinner with V's friends at a Chinese restaurant.

June 23, Friday - Napa Valley

Soon after V finished his half a day's work in office, we started for the Napa valley. A lovely trip, wherein our first stop was at the Robert Mondavi Winery. Some pictures, and a visit to the souvenier shop later we went over to the next winery - Peju. Wine tasting was pretty cool. Tasted several great wines, listened to some interesting facts. After the several rounds of wine tasting, it's not surprising how all visitors that were present became friends and most willing to share details on the best place to eat, stay and so on. :-) Anyway, we were guided to this restaurant for dinner - Mustards, an excellent place where we had a really nice time savouring the 4 course meal. 

We went to Yountville next. Yountville is this infinitely beautifull, quaint little town that's one mile in length. Step into it and you're transported to this other world that's almost unreal. Houses here are laid out in neat rows, and boy, each house is like a dollhouse, straight out of a picture book. We went into an Inn and were welcomed by the warmest of smiles and some lovely music being played by a guy on piano in the lobby. We got ourselves some wine and came out to go strolling on the street.... Imagine with a glass of wine in our hand!! All is fair here.

At 11.40pm, we're at the San Francisco airport to receive Sprina, my cousin. She was flying down from NYC to spend the weekend with us.

June 24 - LA, Here We Come

We started from Santa Clara in the afternoon and took the scenic route to LA. With the wide expanse of the Pacific ocean along side our route to LA, none of us minded the distance. Reached LA, checked-in at the Hotel and went to an Indian restaurant for dinner.

June 25 - LA - HOLLYWOOD

A fun-packed day. We covered every show/ride at the Universal Studios - Terminator-2, Jurassic Park, Waterworld, Studio tour, Back to the Future, Animal World, Shrek-2. Add to that a Brazilian lunch. Whoa!!

In the evening, we went to Walk of Fame, Kodak Theater & Chinese Theater. 
Here I was at the world's most famous sidewalk - the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard. The bronze star plaques are embedded in squares on the sidewalk. The star-studded sidewalks stretch for 18 blocks (east-west) along both sides of Hollywood Boulevard, from Gower Street (on the east) to La Brea Avenue (on the west). Many of these were names familiar to me and many not.

Kodak theater is where the Oscars are held every year. Standing there, I could imagine the red carpet laid out and all hollywood big wigs making their way to the auditorium.

The forecourt of the Chinese Theater has messages from top Hollywood celebrities. A treat for the eyes.

June 26 - Return to Santa Clara

Started from LA at 1145am and made it in record time to Santa Clara (5.30 hrs!). Got back to our apartment. Sprina left for her night flight back to New York. We had dinner at V's friend's place.

June 27, Tuesday - Time to Say Goodbye to Uncle Sam

Here I'm at V's office after lunch - typing away, updating my journal. We'll start for the SF airport in the evening today. Our flight to Hong Kong is at 1.40am. Coming up - is the visit to China.

June 10 - At Framingham. 

The day starts at 1130am, got my cuppa tea....checked mail. It's a drizzling outside same as past few days in Boston. Looks like we're going to take it easy today and just relax at home and step out for lunch in a while.

Lunch was at 'Chennai Woodlands' - a buffet. The packed with Indians.
We watched 'Mission Impossible 3' at the AMC theatre in the afternoon.

We returned home. Had 'A's sister, 'Nam' & her hubby  with their li'l baby - 'Evanya' visit us in the evening. Later dinner at an Indian restaurant & dessert at TGIF where another fren, 'Megs' joined in.

Looking forward to tomorrow. We are to meet my friend Mini. Later evening at a Casino - Mohegan Sun.

Boarded our Jetblue 'red eye' flight from San Jose airport (June 5, 9 PM). Arrived at the Logan Airport early at 5am. Hopped onto Logan Express that connected airport to Framingham (west). The bus service also runs for Braintree (south), Peabody and Woburn (north). I know that for sure as I saw those buses whizz past me while we waited. About 45 min later, we reached Framingham, off Massachusetts Turnpike Exit 13, between Route 9 and Route 30 at the Shoppers' World Mall from where Vcat's friend, 'R' took us to his home. 

Some background info - Vcat has this whole bunch of friends in Boston, Framingham and Waltham. This is exactly the area where Vcat stayed for a good number of years - camping out, clubbing, socialising, and yes, working.

Back to present - In Framingham 'R' & 'A' have this pretty white cottage surrounded by lush green lawn. We plonked our bags in the guest room on ground floor. On first floor there's a big sun-lit kitchen with a balcony, and a neat living area. Above which is another bedroom.

June 6 - The first day was sunny and cool (no rains). We drove from Framingham to Boston. Spent the day strolling at Harvard after we had managed to park. The convocation ceremony was going to be held at the University the next day. We found the stage all set for that. Walked around the Harvard Square. It was so charming to see musicians playing music on several streets while students, locals and visitors buzzed around. We snacked at a popular Spanish joint, surfed through books at Coops. Returned to Framingham in the evening and dined at TGIF with the same friends.

June 7 -  We drove upto Nashua and went over to the Nashua Mall. Dinner at 'Legal Sea Food'.

June 8 - We drove around Waltham and the historic Lexington. I cooked fish for dinner at home which turned out to be finger-licking good as all said.

June 9 - Got off the Boston Commuter rail at its last stop - South End Station, and then walked over to the Wharf, Fanuill Hall, Quincy Market, North End, dined at Italian restaurant with R & A. Went to a pub next where another friend - 'S' showed up. Home now. Time to Zzzz.