*sigh* Time to go home...

It's been really fun, but it's time for me to depart. I only wish I could have had another week here to visit and do more fun stuff. But, as they say, we'll always have Paris. (Hmm... Paris... there's a thought.)

Just one more thing:


OH YEAH! Found one! Though it's not quite what I expected.

A day in Berkeley

Today we're going to fabulous Berkeley.


And here is Marcia, my lovely hostess for the day.


We are at La Note for lunch. Mmmmmm, La Note.

What should I choose? Lots of things on the menu sound delicious. A lot of breakfast items sound really good (gingerbread pancakes? Mmmm!), but since it's lunchtime...


I'll have a baguette au pâté with petits cornichons and tossed greens. Mmmm, delish.


After a leisurely lunch, we went shopping. Here's a somewhat macabre collection of doll parts. But I guess it's not really any stranger than the Build-a-Mini section of the Lego store.


Ariel? Is that you?


They also had about a bazillion little spools of perle cotton in every color you could imagine, plus a few you can't.


Then we went looking for cheese in the Pasta Shop at Rockridge Market Hall. Ah, fromage! Quite a lot of local cheeses, too. (I like Mt. Tam.)

Adventure! Excitement! Cheese! And no frogs! It was a good day.

Big world, small house

If my adventures have taught me one thing, it's that the world is big. Really big. Crazy stupid incredible big.

Now, I don't want you to think I'm complaining, because I'm not.


Sometimes the fact that the world is so big is kind of cool.


But every now and then, I get to wishing that things were sized a little... oh, I don't know... smaller, maybe?

So today I was very excited to discover some things that were just the right size for me.


Things like a house! A whole house!


With a very nice kitchen, I might add. Let's see what's in the fridge.


In the same building there's a nice little corner store, complete with cash register.


The produce department is a little weird, though.


Outside there was an awesome muscle car. I think I'm taking this baby out for a spin to look for frogs. And I shall call it... THE FROGINATOR.


Here's Mister I, who is a fun guy. And he has good taste in Batman shirts.


Here he's joined by Miss E. Thanks for letting me play with the toys, guys!

Lunchtime!

I don't know about you, but I'm hungry.


Time for lunch.


And here's where we're eating today: a nice Mexican restaurant.


Spiffy interior decor, too.


The waiter brought us some chips and salsa. Mmmm, salsa.


Salsa is addictive. I had chip after chip after chip...


until the chips were gone and I was full. And that was before the entrees arrived!


Just so you know, I am not OM NOM NOM NOMing the guacamole. I am... uh... I'm looking for frogs! Yeah, that's it.

Discovery and the search for Pseudacris regilla

Maybe you'd like to know how the flight went for me?

Pretty well, actually...

until this lady found me hiding in her makeup bag during a layover at the Long Beach airport. (I think maybe I gave myself away by eating a whole bunch of her Altoids, but I couldn't help myself. They were delicious.)

I explained that I was a world traveler, and she seemed skeptical, but she let me come with her anyway. Now I'm staying in a house in the East Bay Area of California.


Wait, what's that noise?

It sounds a lot like this.

Maybe I'll go out into the yard and take a look around, see where the noise is coming from.


They have a lemon tree growing in this yard. I thought a high vantage point might help me figure out the source of the noise, but it's not helping.


I do see some lemons, though. And a whole lot of ivy.


I've got to stop and think for a minute. Where have I heard that noise before?


Thanks, lady. What's that? Frogs? Really?!


It's time for further investigation. Yoo-hoo! Froggies! Where are you?


This is Miss M. I think she likes me.


And this is Miss H. I think she likes me too.


Miss H is helping me look for frogs.


Still searching, but these must be really small frogs. I can't seem to find them anywhere.


I wonder if -- oooh look, a slide!


WHEEEEEEEE!

I guess we will resume the search for frogs tomorrow.

I'm leaving on a jet plane...

I didn't think I would leave so soon after my last trip, but this opportunity came up to visit the San Francisco Bay Area, and I've never been there before.


Ssshhh. I'm stowing away in this lady's suitcase. Don't tell!

Beantown ahoy!

Can you imagine a place where, back in 1919, many people were drowned in a huge wave of molasses? Believe it or not, it happened.

A whole lot of other American history, too. In fact, I'm going to go see some of it. Come along, won't you?


We begin our tour at the edge of the Boston Public Garden, on the Haffenreffer Walk. This is the same garden that features in the book Taking Care of Terrific by Lois Lowry, and also in the picture book Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey.


Who's that off in the distance?


It's General Washington!


And this is a statue of Edward Everett Hale, famous literary guy.


He was pretty tall.


From here I walked across to Boston Common. You can see the Massachusetts State House from here, with its golden dome.


Not far from the State House is a graveyard called the Granary Burying Ground. Some of the graves date back to the 1600s. Many of them are tipped way over, like this memorial marker.


Here's the gravestone of Mary Goose, who died in 1690. Some people think she is the lady for whom the Mother Goose nursery rhymes are named. As you can probably tell, it's considered good luck to put pennies on her grave.


Here I am outside King's Chapel.


And here's the inside of King's Chapel, with its mighty mighty organ.


This marker, laid into the pavement, commemorates the first public school in the United States.

It also makes a pretty good hopscotch course.


Just outside the Old City Hall there is a statue of Ben Franklin.


There's also a bronze donkey statue.


I tried to get him to give me a ride, but he was having none of it.


This is a sad little monument to the many people who perished in the Irish potato famine. Of those who survived, many came to the United States for a chance at a new and better life.


My hostess said, "If they're that hungry, they should think about catching those pigeons." That's not very nice, hostess!


Here's a site of great renown in Boston: the Old South Meeting House.


Something very interesting happened here in 1773.


A whole bunch of local guys, angry about their taxes, dumped a whole lot of tea into the harbor. I guess there wasn't much else to do on a Thursday night back then.


Actually, a lot of interesting things happened here.


But here's my favorite place at Old South... it's where they keep the goodies.


Look, treats!


I wanted some Boston baked bean candies, but my hostess said no.


Instead we moved on to the Old State House.


This is near the place where the Boston Massacre happened.


There is a statue of Samuel Adams near here, looking pretty stern.


I can look pretty stern too. Check it out.


By this point I was getting pretty hungry, so we passed Faneuil Hall (which was being worked on) and went to the oldest continuously operated restaurant in the United States to get a cup of clam chowder.


Then we went into Paul Revere's house. It's really interesting inside, and it has one of the biggest fireplaces I've ever seen.


Please give generously, won't you?


We walked on until we found the Old North Church. This is the place where they hung up the lanterns to let Paul Revere, William Dawes and other alarm riders know which way the British Army was coming, so they could warn the colonists.


In the courtyard is this little statue of St. Francis of Assisi, who seems rather sad that he's lost one hand and a whole lot of fingers.


Here's the inside of the Old North Church.


Paul Revere shows up everywhere!


Outside the Old North Church, there was a little building that is now a gift shop. Two lion dogs were guarding the front door.


They weren't as mean as they looked.


This is the Copp's Hill graveyard. It's very close to the place where they had the tidal wave of molasses in 1919.


This is Mike's Pastry, home of many delicious treats.


I am so ready for some pastry.


MMMMM CHOCOLATE CANNOLI!


*urp* Delicious.


My compliments to the chef.

So these were my adventures in Boston. Pretty amazing!