Hanging in the Silicon Valley

Today we decided to feast on Udipi food courtesy place called Madras Cafe in Sunnyvale neighborhood of Silicon Valley. The growing plethora of people from regions south in India along with slow and sure education of the locals about cuisine from parts of the world where half their colleagues come from is adding to the demand for Dosas and Idlis.

Dosa being a lentil batter fried crepe and Idli being a lentil and rice slurry that is steamed to yield fluffy, savory, edible pillows.

This was the nourishment prior to exploring some architectural landmarks in the tech hub of the world. Apple recently finished building their new office campus courtesy of Norman Foster Designs - a British architect and it is marvelous to behold. The Visitor Center located outside the main campus in Cupertino, CA provides an Augmented Reality tour to visitors allowing to see inside the building while pointing an ipad at a 1:92 scale model laid out in the center. It is quite something to behold.

Below are some pictures of the center and surrounding area.

Light fixtures and outdoor signage also carry the simple but elegant theme

Affectionately labeled the Spaceship - the HQ is a large circular building with a park and a pond in the inner sanctum

Tunnels below the structure guide employees to the parking spots for their vehicles

Marble stairwells in the visitor center have a smooth and continuous finish and showcase very clean lines

View of a portion of the Main Building's outer circumference off Homestead Ave
seen from the roof of the center

After Apple we went to walk around the other Goliath's campus - that of Google. Although much older and showing signs of wear there is now a new Google Cloud campus being erected not far from the original site.

Spring heralds the arrival of blooming flowers - here the national flower - Poppy

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