Today is the day I make my big foray into California. I study the maps and Google for a bit, and it seems it would actually be best to take the BART as far as possible to somewhere called Millbrae, then jump on the Caltrain as the Caltrain stations actually in SF are a bit of a trek away. So I head out early and go down into the Embarcadero BART station. This station is basically the entrance/exit to the tunnel going under the bay and four different BART lines all go through here. This means that trains come every two minutes or so. So I'm waiting and none of the trains are going to Millbrae. I wait for a bit, but the air in this station is horrendously polluted and I'm seriously starting to choke down here, so I jump on to any old train and decide I'll just ride it until I get to a station that is outside, then I'll switch to the right train. I change onto the right train and am happily on my way to Millbrae. Something I take note of is that trains either go to Millbrae or the airport, so I'll need to be careful to get the right one on Wednesday to avoid a choke. We get to the stop before the branch to the airport and the driver announces repeatedly that this train is not going to the airport, so get off if you want to go there. Of course after we set off a woman who was happily listening to her headphones pops them out, looks at me and says 'is this train not going to the airport?'
I get to Millbrae and jump off the BART. I acquire a Caltrain day pass and also use my bank card for the first time abroad. No problems. The Caltrain is a double-decker shiny metal train pulled by a big locomotive that has the ringing bell and bellowing horn. It's the kind of train you expect to ride going across Canada or something. I jump on and ride all the way to Sunnyvale, which is both where the Comics Conspiracy is and is the closest stop to Cupertino. A woman on the train next to me is programming in a language I don't understand - T something. Looks like complicated stuff...
I jump off the train at Sunnyvale and start walking in the general direction of the Comics Conspiracy. It's a fair old walk and the sun is beating down. I get there and it's not open yet - I ponder waiting around for it to open, but instead just press my face up to the window, take a photo and leave. Studying the phone it says its a six mile walk to Apple. Hmm, that sounds like too much, so I investigate buses. Thankfully there is a bus route that goes reasonably close, so I catch the number 54 which costs me $2. I good excuse to get rid of some of these dimes I've started to collect from just always thrusting a wad of bills in people's faces each time I'm presented with a bill.
I get reasonably close to Apple, but have to walk a bit to get there. Seems surprisingly hard to get to Apple... Anyway I wander through Cupertino which is lovely - lots of beautiful, well maintained homes. I can tell when I'm getting close as suddenly the buildings are all owned by Apple.
I eventually get to the Infinite loop and its really quiet. I guess most staff have either relocated to the new spaceship HQ or they've just taken the week off for Thanksgiving. I walk around the entire loop which is surprisingly modest. Fairly tasteful granite buildings, but the entrance signs to each one are looking beaten up - most unApple-like. The place is definitely feeling left behind - I guess Apple park is the new hotness and infinite loop is now last year's model.
I still think it's pretty cool. I pop into the Apple store there where you can buy things Apple don't sell anywhere else, so it seems rude not to. The woman tells me I should definitely check out Apple park - it's less than two miles away - so I agree and start walking. Turns out it's a long way, and the midday sun is really giving me the works now, so when I do eventually get there I'm pooped. You have to walk along the north side then halfway down the east side to get to the visitor's centre, and believe the hype, Apple park is massive. I mean really huge - even behind trees you can see it is an epic building.
I'm not sure it was really worth it to go to the visitor's centre. Basically there are three things there. The first is pictured. It's a large aluminium model of the park with grid lines etched into it. The staff lend you an iPad running some AR software, you look at the iPad and you see Apple Park. It was animated - I could see little cars moving around and you could pop the roof off to look inside; maybe I was just tired but it didn't blow my mind. Everyone else there was lapping up the Cool Aid though - lots of gasps of amazement at AR. The second thing there is a huge shop - the custom stuff they sell there looked fairly weak - T-shirts with a circle that say 'Apple Park'. And the third thing is a rooftop where you can try and look out at the spaceship.
Anyway, I was about done, so I investigate how on earth to get out of there. Turns out it was another fairly lengthy walk to a bus stop to get the number 81 bus, so I trek over there. I pop into a shop and grab a coke, more out of a medical need than anything at this point, then as I'm waiting at the bus stop I count out $2. Looks like I'm going to have to dump a load of 5 cent coins in there to do it. I just finish counting and the bus turns up. The number 81 goes to the NASA Ames research centre, so on the front it literally has 81 NASA/Ames on it. That's totally cool. I jump on and the bus driver is a lady who is wonderfully friendly. 'You been to Apple? You look tired, take a seat' I deposit my $2 and she takes me to the Caltrain station at Mountain View. When I get off, so does a dude at the front of the bus. He walks around to the front where he has parked his bike - in a kind of bull bar bike rack stuck to the grill of the bus.
I get into the station and I have to wait for a little while for my train, but it turns up and I'm on the way back. Definitely tired and ready for a bath. I take a seat in a car that has two levels, but you can see through from the top to the bottom.
We're riding along until we get to Redwood City. At this point the locomotive decides to break down. Looks like it's not over for me, and I'm starting to get a bit of a dread feeling. Thankfully the driver does an excellent job of announcing over the intercom exactly what is happening. He announces the loco is not providing drive and he's going to pop open the side of it to try and see the problem. He opens the doors and says 'step outside if you want to stretch you legs or grab a smoke.'
After about 15 minutes he tells us he thinks he's figured it out and announces he's going to test it. The train jumps forward about a foot. Thank goodness. I was just pondering that I'm on the other side of the world - it's 1AM back home and I'm stuck on a broken down train. After such a long day where I have probably walked half a dozen miles I'm so happy when we get under way again. Thankfully at Millbrae a BART is waiting and I'm back to the hotel to relax. I decide to pop over the road to the Walgreen's again to get some Epsom salts to soak my feet.