A day view from my window at UCSB.

The UCSB Lagoon is teeming with all kinds of birds.

Another view of the Lagoon.

Outdoor poster session - only in California!

We had an evening reception at the Double Tree Hotel in Santa Barbara. The hotel has nice Spanish architecture.

There was live music and Flamengo dance during dinner.

A view of the beach that's right by my dorm. I jog on it in the morning.

Enthusiastic Hammond lab members at dinner in San Francisco.

Me with Professor Robert Grubbs (2006 Nobel Chemistry) of Caltech. I had the privilege of having lunch at his table.

Inside the Mision San Francisco de Asis (or Mission Dolores) in San Francisco. This is the chapel.

These are the original redwood logs suppporting the roof, though they are repainted with the original Ohlone Indian designs.

The front of the Basilica. This building did not survive the 1906 quake and was rebuilt in 1918.

A view of the back of the Basilica. This window depicts Sant Francis of Assisi.

A statue of San Francisco de Asis.

The Mission also had a garden cemetery. A scene in Hitchcock's Vertigo was filmed here.

A statue of Father Junipero Serra, who directed the establishment of Mission Dolores.

Don de Haro was also buried here - he was the first mayor of San Francisco.

A view of the Basilica.

Interesting graffiti on 16th Street as I approached the Castro District.

I have arrived at the famous Castro Street. The flag told me I was at the right place.

A sample view of Castro Street and part of the Castro Theatre. It was definitely teemig with gay couples. One of them helped me out with return directions :).

The next day, I decided to seek the 'perfect lunch' in San Francisco. After a pleasant walk down the Embarcadero, I had reached my lunch destination (no, not Hooters). Here's my all-CA lunch: In-n-Out burger and a Boudin salad with their sourdough bread.

I picked a lunch spot with good views.

In case you are wondering exactly where my lunch spot was, it's a covered seating area above a public restroom... As you can see, the "covered" aspect of my lunch spot was important.

My lunch spot was on top of this cylindrical public restroom - there were stairs on the other side. No tourist seems to know that there's a good rest spot on top of the restroom...

Never get tired of the bridge...

Here is proof that the Fisherman's Wharf sign has been fixed.

The Bay Bridge as viewed from Embarcadero.