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A Fairytale Village in Northern California Location: Spruce Street and Hearst Ave Normandy Village, also known as Thornburg Village, is a neighborhood in Berkeley that resembles a French Village. As someone who adores European Architecture, it’s definitely my favorite continent, I HAD to see this …
I wanted to share with you pictures from my day in an area of San Francisco many of you may not know of. Mission District is a part of San Francisco that even I rarely find myself in. I am a major foodie, so the …
I said in a previous post that I was going to start writing more travel posts about places that are near me in California. This is me finally delivering on that promise. As you probably guessed, I am avoiding any long distance travel due to the Covid virus. Something about sitting in a plane within close proximity to strangers while wearing a mask does not sound appealing to me. I already get claustrophobia on planes and wearing a mask in addition to being in a plane? No, thank you! I hope you all understand the reason behind my lack of content. And for now, can enjoy seeing places in California (more specifically, the Bay Area) you may not know much about.
Downtown
My mom and I started off the day by going to Downtown Livermore for lunch. We wanted to get something to eat before going to the wineries. Plus, I saw this hole-in-the wall Mexican restaurant advertised in an old magazine that I really wanted to go to.
This was my first time in Downtown Livermore. It was a cute area with many small stores and restaurants. I can imagine meeting my friends here every week if we lived in Livermore. It would even be a nice place to go out on a date in the evening.
The restaurant we went to was El Charro Mexican Food & Cantina. The decor for the restaurant was really nice. Definitely didn’t look like a hole-in-the-wall from up close. El Charro is famous for it’s enchiladas with made-from-scratch sauce. So of course, I got the shredded chicken enchiladas. Which our waiter replied to with, “good choice.” Everyone around us seemed to be ordering margaritas so those must be good here as well.
The chicken enchiladas at El Charro were good, but the leftovers! Omg, amazing! Enchiladas must be the lasagna of Mexican food—tastes better the next day.
After lunch we walked over to main street to check out what else was in Downtown and to get some mango milk tea. We can’t be going to the wineries dehydrated! XP
Wente Vineyards
The drive to Wente Vineyards was easy and scenic. Rolling hills and miles of new grape vines all around us. I noticed a trail along the road where a few people were running. Such a nice idea for people who want to drink at the multiple wineries on this road! They could just walk to each one and call a cab at the last one. Granted that the weather is nice.
You’ll pass by a few other wineries on the way up to Wente, but it will be hard for you to mistake it thanks to the big sign at the gate.
Wente Vineyards is known as one of the prettier and more famous vineyards in Livermore. One of the employees told us that people who visit this vineyard are not only from California but all over the world!
As soon as we arrived, I started snapping pictures. The grounds are large and beautifully kept. I loved seeing that they have their own garden and use the produce grown there for the onsite restaurant.
As I was taking pictures of the flowers in the garden, an employee came up to us. I was worried he would tell us we aren’t allowed back here since everyone around looked like an employee. But he actually asked us if we want him to open the wine cellars so we can look inside! He was so nice and waited for us to look around and take pictures.
Other employees would drive by and wave at us while we walked around. Another greeted us at one of the outdoor tables and said he’ll be around if we have any question. Everyone was very welcoming except the woman working at The Vineyard Table and Tasting Lounge on this day. She said I wasn’t allowed to sit and take pictures without a permit. Which I thought was strange because it wasn’t like I showed up in a wedding dress with a professional photographer. She seemed to be the only employee bothered by us so we left the patio right away and walked over to The Grill and golf course instead.
The Course at Wente Vineyards can only be described as large and picturesque. If I knew how to golf, I would definitely be going here to play all 18-holes. You’re surrounded by large hills, ponds, and probably a mile of grape vines. I was happy to find out they teach golf lessons on the course. Including a Ladies Beginner Golf lesson!
After checking out the Golf Course, it was already getting into the later afternoon. We decided to drive to the next Vineyard. I had planned to go to Concannon Vineyard, but unfortunately, they were about to close. But lucky for us, Tesla Road, where Concannon was located, has a bunch of vineyards and wineries! We ended up popping into Mitchell Katz Winery at Shadow Hill Vineyard since they didn’t close until 5pm.
Note: Hours were shortened at wineries due to Covid-19 when we went. Make sure to check their websites for updated hours and make a reservation.
Mitchell Katz Winery
Mitchell Katz has a lovely backyard barn feel to the winery. The vibe is relaxed and cozy—which I love. I overheard they do a movie night which sounds like fun and worth checking out!
If you’re looking for a relaxed winery where you can sit outside and freely walk through the vineyards, I recommend Mitchell Katz.
I hope you enjoyed reading about my day in Livermore and seeing some of the wineries. I am not an avid wine drinker so I couldn’t give you much of a review on that. But if it helps, I know a few people who are and they all recommended Wente Vineyards in addition to a many others in Livermore.
I can’t wait to go to more wineries when the grapes are growing on the vines! And hopefully I’ll finally visit Concannon next time!
-Ayla ♥
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There are amazing, incredible, beautiful cities all over the world but no city has as many songs written about it, films based in it or novels written about it. Half of which are practically a love letter to New York City itself. Hello? Sex and …
As soon as summer begins, my family drives to our summer mansion settled right on the cliffs of Newport…Alright, that’s not true. But that’s how it was (and still is) for the wealthiest families in America.
After concluding the Canadian portion of our cruise with New Brunswick, we headed to New England. Our first stop was Boston, Massachusetts. It was my first time in the state of Massachusetts making me excited to experience a new place and add another state to my list of states I’ve visited in the US.
Boston feels like a slice of American history pie. Possibly the largest slice of the pie too. If you weren’t paying attention in your US History class, it will show when you visit Boston! There is so much to learn in Boston, it could overwhelm anyone who isn’t from there. I know I felt a bit overwhelmed by everything, and our short amount of time to try and experience it all.
Even though Boston has great public transportation and lots of free maps, we decided to do another tour with our cruise company. The tour took us to Harvard, Skywalk and Quincy Market. It was the perfect tour for us as first time visitors of Boston.
We started off our wonderful tour by driving through the city, over the Charles River, to Harvard Square. My first impression of Boston was positive. The drive through Boston to Cambridge was scenic and even a bit surreal.
Seeing Harvard University in person was the most surreal. It’s America’s oldest and most prestigious university. I’d seen and heard about it many times in movies and TV, and to actually be walking around the campus was crazy. I definitely felt a little bit smarter just by being there.
After our tour around Harvard Square, we drove around a bit making our way to the city center to enjoy a bird’s eye view of Boston from the Prudential Building.
The Skywalk is supposed to offer a 360 degree panoramic view of Boston, but we missed about 120 degrees due to a private party. The geography of Boston is new to me but I think they closed off the part where you see the Seaport District.
You don’t need a tour to go to the Skywalk Observatory but you do need to buy tickets for admission. Calling ahead to make sure it’s not closed, sold out or reserved for a party would be a good idea.
We spent about 30 minutes in the Skywalk before heading to Faneuil Hall Marketplace to enjoy some time shopping and exploring. The markets were popular places for many tourists. We walked around the halls and looked inside a few different stores. I would highly recommend going inside the Christmas in Boston store if you really love holiday decor. You won’t believe the different kinds of ornaments. They have ornaments for every aesthetic and would make great gifts or souvenir if you collect ornaments from different places. Another must see place was the Cheers Cafe. I didn’t watch Cheers (I was more of a Golden Girls gal) but it’s very popular and nicely decorated.
After all that looking around, my mom needed her caffeine fix before we went make to our tours meeting spot. Starbucks was huge and the line was long so I explored a bit more on my own until it was time to meet up with the group and head back to our cruise port.
Now that I have seen the surface level of Boston, I would love to return for 3-4 days and really dive deep into Boston. The food and drink scene are definitely something I’d love to experience, as well as visit some nearby places like Salem. Have you guys been to Boston? What were you most excited to try/see?
P.S. If you’re interested in seeing my time in New Brunswick, I posted it all on my instagram story instead of writing a travel diary. You maybe need to skip through a few other cities since it’s near to the end.
Our next port stop in Nova Scotia was Halifax, where we experienced breathtaking ocean scenery and a tour around the entire city.