Travel log of Eli and Anna Bendersky

We spent the first three days of our California vacation in San Francisco. San Francisco is built on 47 hills, which means that walking in it is very tiring, as the ascents are quite steep (and we’ve probably climbed a good portion of those hills). It also means that there are beautiful views from every hill. The architecture of the buildings is of European style, but taller, with a unique touch.

On the first day we went to the Alcatraz tour. We got to Alcatraz by ship, and went around the historic jail with headphones, in which we heard stories about Alcatraz by past inmates and guards. No one is known to ever successfully escape Alcatraz, although the island is located very close to the city. Not for lack of trying. The three inmates who got closest to escaping, ran through pipes to the top of the jail. Their fate is unknown, though, as swimming away from the island would result in certain death. The water is very cold, and the waves are high. These inmates were never found. (Prison Break season 1 flashback ).

We had lunch in the Boudin restaurant, famous for its Sour dough (locally baked bread, with dough prepared in a way unique to SF’s air and climate) and clam chowder. Not being sea food fans, we took the bread with other soups instead. It was delicious, but our hala bread is better… We’ve also strolled along the piers, including pier 39 with its charming sea lions which are very fun to watch.

On the next day we went to see the Castro area famous for being the center of the gay-lesbian community. There are a lot of “allow gay marriage” signs everywhere. Gay marriage is legal in 4 states in the US, but surprisingly California, which is known for its diversity and tolerance, is not one of them. Then, we headed for the local park, which is larger than the Central Park of NY and is very beautiful.

We’ve also crossed the golden gate bridge to the other side. There are some very nice views of the city from it. Part of the reason is that unlike other bridges, it does not have high bars, so it is possible to take pictures, and you don’t feel as if you are in a cage. On the other hand, suicide from the bridge is possible. There are several phones on the bridge where people in despair can call for help.

On the other side of the bridge there’s just a tiny visitor center with restrooms and a few posters, but nothing else. Not even a bus station, so we had to cross the bridge on foot the other way as well. In general, the public transport in SF isn’t bad, with a subway, tramways and several types of buses covering most of the city. But in this case (the bridge…) the transportation isn’t friendly for tourists walking on foot to the other side. In total, it was a very productive day - we walked for about 7 hours and visited most of the notable places around SF.

We spent the evening with the Milshteins, which was very family-ish and nice. On Sunday we took a train to Palo Alto and spent half a day in Stanford University with Betty and Moran. Stanford is very impressive. With the same amount of students as the Technion ~12,000 it has much more space and facilities. It is no wonder, as the tutition fee is $40,000 per year (as usual, you get what you pay for). Moran says that studying in Stanford is much more difficult than studying in the Technion. Unlike the Technion, where in most courses it is possible to learn from the lectures only, without really opening a book, in Stanford you should read the material before the lecture, and the lecture is only complementary. It’s probably a better way to study, as it forces the students to read books and learn themselves. In our fast changing world, learning alone from books is a very important ability to have.

When we got back to SF from Stanford, we walked through the Chinatown of SF, which is very nice. The smells and sounds there reminded us of Hong Kong.

Early next morning we had a flight to Las Vegas. In the airport we learned an important lesson about the US - never buy any food marked large or huge. We bought a large chocolate milkshake - it was delicious, but it took us both about 2 hours to finally finish.

The flight went, we landed in Vegas and took a shuttle to our hotel, which is Sahara, located at the northern end of “the Las Vegas strip”. Sahara is an old hotel (from the 1950s), and has seen many of Vegas’ glory days (including hosting a Beatles show). But lots of time has passed since then, and now the hotel justifies the low price it charges for rooms. It’s not too bad, although next time we’ll go somewhere else.

Except the room rates (which are dirt-cheap on weekdays), Vegas is terribly expensive. Everything in the tourist-area costs a lot - food, transportation, shows, even batteries. So gambling is not the only thing they make money off, although they are certainly trying. Gaming machines are everywhere here, not only stacked in 100-long rows in the hotels’ casinos, but also on the street, in fast food restaurants and even right at the departure (and arrival) gates of the airport. Prostitution is legal in Nevada and seems like another major business here, as it’s being advertised very actively and explicitly everywhere you look.

Vegas is definitely glamorous. We went around the strip a few times and saw the major hotels, which are amazing works of architecture and even art. We also saw a very beautiful show at the Wynn hotel called “Le Rêve” - which involved acrobatics, dance and music all set in a specially designed water stage.

On Tuesday, after an artery-clogging breakfast at McDonalds, we rented a car and drove to the Hoover Dam - which is only an hour away. On the way we stacked ourselves with food at the local Wal-mart. Things are much cheaper once you get away a few miles from the strip. The Hoover Dam is very impressive - we strolled on top of it and took the guided tour in the power plant.

In the evening we decided to give gambling a try at the Mirage hotel/casino. After losing a few dollars at the Blackjack machine (it was rigged, we swear!), we tried a couple of the less intelligent games - the ones where you put money in, pull a lever and hope for the best - and… WON!!! Yes, we won $25, which after subtracting our losses totals to an income of $13.31 from Las Vegas.

At this point, to stay in the green, we decided to leave the Casino and go party with our huge wins. Alas, it was barely enough for a pair of yogurts

The next morning we returned the car and flew back to San Francisco. There, we rented another car (for the rest of our trip) - a big Dodge Avenger (which is considered a Midsize car here, go figure) and drove to San Jose to visit the Technology museum. It wasn’t very impressive (Haifa’s Technoda/Mada-tek is better).

Then we drove to our stop for tonight, a motel in Oakhurst - which is a small town just next to the Yosemite national park. We’ll spend the next two days here.

Happy Passover!

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