Leisure and Activities
One of the things that has pleasantly surprised me about Silicon Valley is the nature that surrounds it.
Whenever we had to come to the United States as a tourist, our visits were mainly restricted to the big cities. Living in Palo Ato has given me another vision of this area.
If you like nature, hiking, biking or visiting beaches this is the place.
There are many routes in less than 20 km radius. But I will make another post about this.
As for "leisure" as we can define it in Spain, that is, restaurants, bars, places to have a drink, in this sense the customs and culture are totally different.
For us, getting together in a restaurant and spending several hours after a meal is something very common and even necessary. In Brazil it is also something that we did regularly
Here, however, it is not common. In fact, in restaurants they usually tell you that you have a table for 1.5-2 hours. When you just finished eating dessert, they already bring your bill to pay, with the sentence "no rush". They don't give you much longer to stay. Neither at lunch time nor at dinner time. For me, this habit continues to annoy me, and the prices are so high that it makes you rethink going out to eat. I'm going to give an example of what a meal for 4 people cost us at a place in Woodside. For 2 salads, 2 hamburgers, 2 desserts, 2 coffees and a bottle of Napa white wine = $350!!!! Even the person who was with us who lives in Zurich was amazed.
It is not usual to find a place to go for a drink. Except for some coffee places, a little different than the typical American place. That considering that from 6 pm, only places for dinner.
The dinners finish very early, because here you have dinner around 6 in the evening, so generally at 10 at night there is no place open, it may vary on weekends.
Places to have a drink… Well, I haven't found any in Palo Alto. The only place we've found close to go for a drink and dance to Latin music is in Mountain View.
In San Francisco (45 minutes away) there are more places, Rooftops, with views of the city and where you can have a drink and have something to eat.
What we do most is get together at friends' houses. Each person brings something to eat and drink and that's how we have fun, especially all Latinos! We play music, drink and dance. But after 11.00 at night, you have to be careful, because if the music is loud, the police can show up at the door... For now, we have neighbors who have not complained and we have been there until 2 in the tomorrow dancing.
That is to say, leisure, we set it up rather among ourselves, because here it does not exist as we enjoy it.
But yes, we always find an excuse to get together and have fun!
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