2013 February Travel: California, USA – San Jose

After the beach boardwalk experience, we went straight to San Jose. It’s only an hour bus ride from Santa Cruz to San Jose. My mom’s friend would pick us up and will bring us to nice spots in downtown San Jose.

San Jose (pron.: /ˌsæn hoʊˈzeɪ/; Spanish: St. Joseph) is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S.,[5] and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay. San Jose is the largest city within Silicon Valley, which is a major component of the greater San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 8.4 million people and the fifth largest metropolitan area (CSA) in the United States. It is the largest city in Northern California. — Wikipedia

The HP Pavilion is the first building I saw. I know that the famous Silicon Valley is around the corner and I feel that it’s the place to be. As a programmer, I tend to be amazed with science and technology. Well, technology in particular as I’m not so good with Science. Hahaha!

We went straight to the famous Santana Row. It’s a high-end shopping and residential complex similar to Serendra in Taguig and Rodeo Drive in Hollywood, I guess. There I saw beautiful flowers on the streets and so many good stores and restaurants.

We had our dinner in a French restaurant, Bon and ate dessert and had coffee in Cocola. The food was awesome and the experience was great! At that moment, I felt like a rich kid walking having an ordinary dinner and dessert there. Hahaha!

The next day, we went to the Winchester Mystery House. It is located in San Jose, on Winchester Blvd., between Stevens Creek Blvd. and Interstate 280 (one hour south of San Francisco). We went there early so that we can visit other places by the afternoon.

Entrance for the 65-minute Mansion tour is $33. You also have the option to do the Behind the scenes and the Grand Estate tour that includes both the Mansion and the Behind the Scene tour.

This got to be one of the unique tours I had. Imagine a house that has a lot of doors and multiple staircases? The wife of the owner believed that the spirits took her relatives that’s why she made something that would make the spirits somehow go away and leave the house and her alone. You can actually get lost inside the house so just stay with the group and listen to your tour guide. In the end, you’ll see yourself wondering what really happened during that time.

The house was also affected by the earthquake that struck in California in the early years. Cameras are not allowed inside the house so only the garden and the mansion’s facade can be taken. 

Winchester Mystery House
525 South Winchester Boulevard
San Jose, CA 95128
(408) 247-2101

Another amazing attraction in San Jose is the The Tech Museum, which will be published in a separate post so as not to overload this write up.

Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043
Phone: +1 650-253-0000
Fax: +1 650-253-0001

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