Yesterday morning I began my day by paying a visit to my favorite bookstore in downtown Mountain View. After stocking up on crossword puzzle books and some bedside reading, I did about a forty-five minute walkabout of a city I am very familiar with but rarely bring my camera to. None of the photographs is particularly interesting on its own, but they serve to give a look at some of the charms and oddities of this place. Speaking of oddities, I found the Odd Fellows Hall as well as the Eagles Aerie, both fraternal organizations that I have never really understood the purpose of. The restaurant above the Odd Fellows Hall caught my eye, first because of the menu in the window, and then because of the poster in the next window advertising a concert by Jon Nakamatsu, a world class pianist and friend of mine I used to teach with until he won the Van Cliburn prize and took off for a career in music. Great piano player and an even nicer guy. I made my way down to the train station and the Sunday farmer's market, stopping to talk to ta lovely French couple who sell "Artisanal Charcuterie." I practiced my French on them for a few minutes and moved on. Mountain View is probably most known for being the home of Google and other hi-tech companies, and for its sky-high rental costs. For me, it's known as a restaurant mecca. Every possible ethnic category is located on Castro Street, the main thoroughfare of town. (maybe not Ethiopian) and since it's such a fickle business, there are new restaurants opening up all the time. It would take at least a year to eat at all the restaurants in this city.
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