San Jose, California.

Do I know the way to San Jose? No I don't, I went to bed in Oakland and woke the next morning here, so that means the train driver did, which is a good thing. Even though it is a little bit further than last week we did think we would get into San Francisco again this week, but it was a longer journey than we thought so didn't.

The train yard was in quite a nice area with the ?? hills on one side and a fairly new housing complex with names like Heavenly Place and Serenity Place on the other. From the train it was a very short walk to 'The Great Mall' unfortunately for us we were on the wrong end of the train so the short walk was doubled. We were one long line and a really long walk. The mall was nothing special though just the same as nearly every other mall. Though it did have a farmers market on Sunday, the second week we have been able to walk to one. This week wasn't as good as last week but nice all the same with cheap fresh food. Also in walking distance was quite a few little play parks, most probably weren't for the public, but no one seemed to mind Willow using them, especially as no one else seemed to be.

One of the main tourist attractions in San Jose is the Winchester Mystery Mansion which was built by Sarah Winchester, who was the heiress to the Winchester Rifle fortune. We had heard lots about this house before we went, from the staircase that leads to the ceiling, the door to nowhere and other oddities. With theses exceptions it wasn't as odd as I expected. Yes it was a really interesting house and tour but I think it was just someone a bit eccentric with 'loads of money' building non stop for 38 years (for whatever reason) with no plans, so it was a very well built higgledy piggledy house, with a Hogwarts feel to it.



Willow liked the location of the building this week as it was right next to a really good play park. So close that school went over there for their break time. It was also right next to a River Walk which was quite nice but 'river' was stretching it just a wee bit. We spotted a heron that also looked like he was trying to find the river. And the simple things that please me like being able to walk to Target and Trader Joe's.

So next week we head to our final week in California.