day82

Day 82 (November 10, 2006) - Santa Barbara, CA

I had promised my friend and colleague Laurence (an excellent French translator for whoever needs references) that I would stop by for a visit once in California. We have never met in person before. Well, today's the day as we will drive through Santa Barbara, where she lives. We made arrengements last night and this morning, following her advice, we will drive through the Santa Ynes wine valley before getting to SB. Los Olivos, Santa Ynez and Solvang - three villages and a town that was featured in the movie Sideways (go rent it!). Tiny Los Olivos, as the name suggests, is very cute and with many olive trees (duh!). Santa Ynez is not much bigger, with a "blink-and-you've-missed-it" main, while Solvang is picturesque. If in Leavenworth I thought I had ended up in a Bavarian village, here I feel like I fell into a mock recreation of some Danish hamlet. The buildings are decorated with danish motifs, the bakeries sell "Danishes" (which you'd never find in Denmark), the shops are dressed up like Danish cottages: all in the name of Hans Christian Andersen. The whole thing looks fake but I guess many find it amusing, judging from the hoards of tourists around.

Our GPS takes us straight in front of Laurence's house. We finally meet in person! She takes us for a tour of the town, starting with the SB Mission (the Queen of Mission), then the downtown area and down to the pier where we have lunch in the open at a small venue. There's a bunch of Italian fishermen trying to seel urchins to a local market. I listen to them speak Italian and I don't understand one single word of what they are saying. Quite amusing. Back to Laurence's, she makes a true Italian espresso and it's almost time for us to leave. It's a long weekend (Veterans' Day) and campgrounds are filling up fast, we need to get to our destination before we run out of options. Laurence: thank you for your hospitality and for a wonderful afternoon. I'll see you in Boston!