Trailing around Stanford

I trailed around Stanford last week.

Stanford, a city which has the Stanford University and the university occupies almost all of the city, has nice view points and good exercising and trailing roads.

As always, here are two GPS trailing logs and images rendered of the logs with Kashmir3D.

1. RED line: The Stanford Dish [for about 1.5 hours]
2. BLUE line: around the Lake Lagunita and the Knoll [for about 1 hour]

Although the above image can be seen in flat, the hill of the Stanford Dish seems to be a tough trailing road with sharp ups and downs. Nevertheless there are many exercising people running fast, families some of those who are pushing a stroller.

Unfortunately, the lake lagunita was dried out. In this winter, we don't have enough rain in California. Many farmer worry about drought. I don't know this reservoir can be filled with as much water in spring as students can float sailing boats. Of course, I hope so.

Excellent View from Hoover Tower

My wife came here last week, so I went to several places in California with her this week. We visited:

• Stanford University
• Monterey and Carmel
• San Francisco and Sonoma Valley

The Hoover tower is one of symbols of the Stanford University today. Because there are no tall buildings arround Stanford and Palo Alto, we could see good view of Sillicon Valley. You may know, the sky of California is clear and excellent. So we were very surprised when we got off the elevator of the tower.
I had wanted to go to the tower, the tower had been closed before October however. We were very happy to see all of the Stanford University and Bay Area!

The Sky of California is Quite Beautiful!

Today I ran my bicycle and went to the Stanford Dish.

Actually I had planed to go to San Francisco for sightseeing today, but I was much sleepy in the morning. So I canceled San Francisco and decided to go somewhere else by bicycle. When I drove my car, I knew there is a mountain nearby the Stanford University and some people entered the mountain. I've been interested in it.

By the way it is getting colder and colder recently. And it is cloudy in the morning and it is fine from afternoon now. Today is not the exception.
When it is fine, the sky in California is very good! I like it very much. I could see the beautiful sky because I went to the mountain.

Let me show you some pictures of today.


In California, there are many squirrels in parks, towns and the university. Squirrels in the Stanford Dish mountain seem very fat. I guess there are many food for them.

Stanford大学近辺のホテルについて

成田からサンフランシスコ空港、そしてPalo Altoまではこのエントリで書いたので、今回は現地宿泊について書こうと思います。

留学するにあたり、アパートを既に押さえている方は極力スグにアパートに入居するのが良いと思います。僕のようにアパートを現地で探そうとする場合は、住みたい場所と移動手段を考慮しておいたほうが良いと思います。

僕の場合は、自転車で通える大学近辺であることと安いことが条件でした。(この二つの条件は相反しており現実的ではないので、前者を採りました。)

そのためスタンフォード大学付近にHotelを取りたいと思っていました。バスで大学近辺を移動できるからです。ただ、大学が広大でもあるため、レンタカーの予約もしていました。(実際にはホテルもレンタカーも会社が予約を代行してくれた)。

ホテルは会社の負担限界$150以下のホテルでPaloAlto駅近辺でお願いしたところ、Cardinal Hotelを予約してくれました。
Palo Altoダウンタウンは2時間パーキングがたくさんあるためか、実はこのCardinal Hotelは駐車場を持っていませんでした。これは失敗。日中は2～3時間ごとにレンタカーを移動する日課になり、街をブラブラする"オフ"の日を取れませんでした。夜は夜で繁華街でうるさく、少し離れたところにレンタカーを停めることになり、不安で毎朝見に行きました。
Cardinal Hotelは古き良き雰囲気のようなホームページですが、ただ古いだけです。誰でも入ってこられるロビーで、主に職員がくつろいでいます。そのロビーを通ると客室へスルーなのですが、鍵が簡単な開きそうなドアで、PCはケンジントンロックで固定、貴重品と書類は毎回持ち歩く破目になりました。しかも冷蔵庫がないので、シリアルと牛乳を買って朝ごはんにすることができませんでした。基本的に全て食べに行きます。一階のosteriaというイタリア料理はPalo Altoナンバー1のイタリア料理みたいで、夜は行列です。一度食べた感じだと、東京なら味は普通で、値段は高く、量が多い店です。判断をするにはまだ早いかもしれませんが、日本人は行かなくていいと思います。また会計が不明瞭で、アメリカ人マダムもクレームをつけていました。あと、ホテルのホームページの写真でStanford大学の風景が散りばめられていますが、Stanford大学へは歩いて行けませんし、何も関係がありません。また、写真のようなキレイな結婚式をするスペースもないと思われます。それと、シャワーはちょろちょろとしか出ないので、股の間のシャンプーの泡を落とすのが大変でした。節水のためのようですが、余計に水を必要とした気がします。そしてエアコンすらなく、また半分の部屋は裏路地のゴミ捨て場の上に位置しています。インターネットは$5/24hoursでした。

レンタカーの期限である一週間と共に、Cardinalホテルの期限も終了したので、次の宿泊先へ移動することにしました。次の宿泊先は、格安モーテルSuper8です。
Super8はStanford大学に接しているわけではないですが、自転車があれば楽に通えます。レンタカーを返してしまったので、San Antonioショッピングセンターの先のバイクショップThe Off Rampで、DiamondbackのEdgewood '08を買いました。Diamondbackというメーカーは知らなかったのですが、Edgewoodのデザインと軽さ、価格($299)で決めました。これさえあれば、レンタカー要らずで、Stanford University内外を行き来できます。Super8の近くに、Mike's Bikeがあります。こちらはSPECIALIZEDのバイクばかりで、かなり高め。Super8の店員に聞いたら、少し遠いけどThe Off Rampのほうが安いよって教えてくれたのです。
肝心のSuper8ですが、格安ですが、悪くないです。割り当てられた部屋は香水の匂いがきつかったですが、それ以外は普通です。サービスも良いです。窓がないのが欠点でしょうか。冷蔵庫もありますし、シャワーもちゃんとでます。エアコンもあります。AT&T、Fry'sにも近いです。インターネットは無料です。

まだ二つしか泊まっていませんが、Super8は位置的にも価格的にも、悪くなかったです。

まとめ

• Cardinal Hotel
• 全くお勧めできない
• 8月中旬 $150
• 冷蔵庫とエアコンがない
• インターネット$5/24hours
• 半数の部屋は路地裏のゴミ捨て場の上
• 夜は繁華街でうるさい
• 駐車場がないので不便、不安
• セキュリティがゼロ
  
• シャワーの水がちょろちょろとしか出ない
• Stanford大学には遠い(と思うがバスを使えば便利か)
• ただ古いだけ
• Super8 PaloAlto
• 位置と値段の面で、お勧めできる
• 8月下旬 $100
• 自転車があれば便利
• 香水臭い部屋だった
• シャワーの水はちゃんと出る(排水が弱かったが)
• 冷蔵庫、エアコン、テレビあり。
• 名前がアメリカっぽくてイカす
• インターネット無料

Stanford Hair Cut

It was the first time to have my hair cut.

I had my hair cut at Stanford Hair. I didn't know how to express my desired hair style. However I tried the service without any preparation.

First, a shopper said "Hello". And I asked him whether I'm in time, or not because it is the time to close the shop. He said "OK, come on". Very friendly!

Then I was asked "How do you...?". I said "Please cut my hair around ears and back". He asked "short? middle? long?". Oh, simple selections. So I said to him "Middle plus a little bit". He said "longer than middle, or shorter than middle?". I asked "longer than middle".

So he brought the hair clippers slowly and cut my hair side and back of my head. Hair on the top was cut by scissors. While cutting, I had never been able to see my hair style. I was worried about my head because he cut roughly.

After 20 minutes, it finished. The showing is...good! He asked me "Not so bad?". I answered "Good!". It costed $18.


That's all of my first experience at the US bar bar. Simple and Short time!

I have a friend who has been to several universities to have his hair cut. I'd like to talk with him about this experience. He has named the hair styles cut by the university hair salon as XXX-cuts. So I call my current hair style Stanford-cut.

Airplane, Trains, Bus, and Car to Stanford from Narita

At last, I've arrived at Stanford. I'm now very busy to set-up my life environment:

• Banking and Money
  
• SSN
  
• University Check-in
  
• House
  
• Driver's Lincense
  

But some of them were finished. Today the most important task is to decide my room in Stanford. I think the rental fee of rooms near Stanford is very expensive. Perhaps it is higher than Tokyo's one. But considering the security status, I can't help doing without selecting apartments such as the Oak Creek and the Sharon Green, I think.

By the way, let me write more detail and a lot of things later.

Today, I'd like to introduce the vehicles and a plain that I used from Narita to Stanford.

1. United Airlines
   From Narita International Airport to SF International Airport. It took about 9 hours. The airplain was not so bad, I think.
   
2. The Airtrain in SF International Airport
   This is an unmanned train which goes around the airport. I tried to take the experience and went around a half of the airport without necessary. :)
   
3. BART
   This is a metro which connects Sunfrancisco and the airport. I used it between the airport and Sun Bruno and between Sun Bruno and Millbrae.
   
4. Caltrain
   The most exciting portion in my trip is the Caltrain. I've never seen the big train such as this!
   
5. VTA Bus (Rapid)
   To borrow a rent-a-car, I used the bus to the Hertz in the Palo Alto. To ride buses at Palo Alto, it costs $1.75, and we must pay it exactly with coins. At first, I have no coins. So I was refused to ride it. So I run to Citi Bank and change $5 bill into 25-cent coins, and tried it again. Then I could use it. But the bus was a little bit scare. So I'd not like to ride it again.
   
6. Mazda3
   Finally, I am driving Mazda3 (Axela in Japan) which I borrowed from Hertz with the Hertz navigation system, Neverlost. The navigation system seems good because it is simple GPS system and it can guide routes in several languages.