The deer at Nara are a main attraction and some people like to feed them. We mostly just bowed to them. Sometimes they bowed back.

This figure was the first thing I saw that made me go “Whoa!” as I stared at it for a minute.

I love a scale model and this one, hundreds of years old, was awesome!

The all-wood construction was amazing to behold in all its details. They caught my eye several times.

The whole visit was about two hours as we had to be back in time for something. Would’ve been nice to take it all in for a little longer.

The rest of that day is a bit of a blur as we made our way to the hotel in Shibuya, and then walked around briefly later in the evening as jet-lag threatened to take over any time we sat down anywhere.

It was the next morning, after breakfast, that we wandered off to explore for the first time.

We made our way through the urban landscape of Shibuya passing by the famous Shibuya Crossing, where we hung out for a bit later that same day.

Then through some side streets we wandered in the direction of Yoyogi Park.

The shaded groves of the park were a welcome relief from the sun that was high up by this point, while at the same time, the dappled ground was quite pleasing.

Through the park we came across some of the toilets that are part of the Tokyo Toilet Project, and that we heard about in the film Perfect Days. The walls of these are transparent when unlocked but become opaque when locked.

As I look back at these photos a month later, it’s obvious that I was looking at things with a sense of defamiliarization. Signs, on buildings and roads, and vending machines, which became quite familiar over the course of two weeks there were all so novel and eye catching on this first walk.

This day and walk marked the first of many over the next twelve days as we explored Kyoto, Osaka, and finally other parts of Tokyo. It was a memorable first trip as we hope to revisit and explore other parts of Japan in the future.

Tokyo tarmac, taxi, takeoff. Haneda Airport, Tokyo, Japan. 30th May, 2026.

I just got back from a two week trip to Japan. It was a great trip and I’m sorting through photos and thoughts that I will share in the coming days and weeks.

Astrup Fearnley Museum. Oslo, Norway. 29th June, 2025.

The Royal Palace. Oslo, Norway. 29th June, 2025.

Oslo, Norway. 27th June, 2025.

Kaupanger Stave Church is one of the 28 stave churches (out of an estimated nearly 2000 that existed in the past) preserved in Norway. You can read more about those here.

Most of the graves were newer but there were a few that were pretty old, including one of a person born in the 1600’s.

As we were driving away I got this quick snapshot from a higher vantage point on the road that shows the church in the context of the village around it.

We were there for about an hour during our brief time in the Sogndal area. Even though we couldn’t go inside, it was nice to see a place like this up close.

I saw a bird on nearly every statue taller than 12 feet or so in Oslo.

They depict human forms, human relationships, and the eternal human condition.

The most prominent feature is the massive Monolith.

The metalwork on the gates around the monolith platform complements the sculptures.

These sculptures evoked a unique feeling of human connectedness in me. It seems unlikely that I will ever see them again but I’m very glad I did.

The views were stupid gorgeous when riding a bike around the Esefjord during our time in Balestrand. 6th July, 2025.

View of Bergen harbor from Mt. Fløyen. The panoramic view from there can be seen anytime via a webcam.

Bergen, Norway. 2nd July, 2025.

The Monolith at Vigeland Park. Oslo, Norway. 27th June, 2025.

Didn’t make it to Portland pride parade here today but found myself in the middle of the Oslo pride parade a few weeks ago. It was joyous! 🏳️‍🌈

Oslo, Norway. 28th June, 2025.

Oslo City Hall from the promenade. Celebrating 75 years since its opening, the building, with its brick construction, looks architecturally distinct from older as well as newer buildings.

Oslo, Norway. 27th June, 2025.

Oslo, Norway. 27th June, 2025.

Vigeland Park. Oslo, Norway. 27th June, 2025.

A few days ago I got back from a two week trip to Norway. It was a wonderful trip with Jenni and her family. I’ve been recovering from jet lag, and still decompressing, with questions like, “Why’s the sky dark?!”

Hope to share photos and blog posts in the coming days/weeks.

Sunrise over the hill in Kona, Hawaii. 22nd March, 2025.

Stumbled upon this lovely mural of Vivian Maier while riding in a car a few days ago.

📍 Chicago, Illinois. 7th August, 2024.

The hike is a loop and has a quick ascent going clockwise, then some ups and downs with the last mile or so pretty much flat. It was a very enjoyable hike that had wonderful views, and provided a nice workout with the variations.

Activity Stats and Map

Distance: 4.4 miles
Elevation Gain: 753 ft
Time (including breaks): 2h 24m

Last week I went to Cupertino for Apple’s Special Event at Apple Park.

The Main Event

The announcements at the event and the hot takes around it have gone around the internet, and the world, perhaps a dozen times by now. This is not a post about that, but about my personal experience.

I arrived about an hour before the keynote. After going through the security check, I made my way to Caffé Macs where the event was set up. There was food and beverages. I picked up some coffee, some overnight oats with blueberry compote, and a savory pastry. Once I was done with that I found spot amongst some Apple engineers just in time for the keynote to start.

After the keynote was lunchtime. I walked round for a bit looking at all the food options before settling on the grilled chicken with salad. I took this over to the inner meadow where there were a number of tables set up.

I sat down randomly and started to eat and chat with others. Turned out I was sitting right next to an industrial designer on the Vision Pro, so the conversation was mostly about that.

Then it was time for the Platforms State of the Union. At first I went to the outside area by the main stage and sat on the fabric lounge chairs, but that was bothering my back so I came back inside to sit on a sturdier chair.

As I watched the video, I also noticed the space, how it was full of sunlight, large indoor trees, and expansive and seamlessly transitioning from inside to outside. And every bit of it was curved. This was certainly a unique space.

Once that video was done, it was time for other social events. I had previously signed up for walking tours of the inner meadow and of the ring building, but that system seemed to have not worked too well for Apple as they were now just organizing all that on a first come first served basis. I got in line for the inner meadow tour.

The tour lasted about thirty minutes. Our first stop was by some fruit trees where a docent talked about all the fruit they grow and how it is all set up.

The second stop was by a shallow pond. In the center of the pond was a round plate that goes up and down. This creates a gentle wave that is imperceptible unless one is looking closely, but makes a definite wave crashing sound as it reached the edge of the pond. that was pretty cool.

The third and final stop was by the rainbow arches where a different docent talked about how it came to be as originally a temporary sculpture that was later made permanent. Then we made our way back on the same path.

Right after that I got in line for the building tour. This was very popular and there was a lot of management going on to get people into small batches and move them along as tour guides returned from their previous tour and started a new one. At this point it definitely felt like I was in line for a theme park ride.

The ring tour took us upstairs to the third level from one side of Caffé Macs. Then to the inner side of the building, across the terrace overlooking the main event area and back down.

At one point a docent talked about the structure of the building. Some interesting facts:

• Outer circumference is one mile. Inner circumference is 0.75 mile.
• There’s a four feet quake zone all around the outside, so the whole building is capable of moving significantly in case of an earthquake.
• The two massive doors are the largest ever of their kind. And apparently super quiet when opening/closing.
• A lot of the dirt from digging up the foundation is piled up and forms the landscaping.
• The land is 80% greenery and 20% building. Previously it was the opposite.
• The roof hosts the largest solar installation on a building.
• The building temperature is maintained at a comfortable level by passive mechanisms most of the time.

From there we walked over to an area by the campus transit center. There we descended to a lower level where a gallery space had been set up showing photos and videos from behind the scenes of a project called Mirage. There were even some samples of the cast glass made for the project.

Next up was the Apple Design Awards event. While it is definitely a crowning achievement for the winners, it is always fun and inspiring to see all the apps that make it to the finals, and this year was no exception. There was a lot of excitement and joy in the design awards.

Following the awards ceremony, was the final event of the day. It was billed as “Special Evening Activity” in the days leading up to WWDC, but it was announced earlier that it would be a visit to the Steve Jobs Theater for something related to the Vision Pro hardware. It was unclear if people would get a chance to try it out so there was suddenly a surge of people towards that direction because of course no one wanted to miss that opportunity if it presented itself. The crowd was met by a line of Apple employees that stopped the flow, while whatever final preparations were made so that we could be led there in small batches. Apparently inside the cafe were preparations for beverages and dinner, but I’m not sure if anyone made it to that.

Thankfully I was near the front of the crowd, so my wait was only about thirty minutes. I walked over to the theater, which was hidden from view until the very last bend in the path.

Inside the building was a display of all the new mac hardware but also a line to go downstairs. I made my way down there and into a hands-off area where a number of Vision Pro were on display to see, but not to handle.

A few minutes later as I emerged from the theater building, I saw this lovely sunset view of the grass and the main building.

From there I made my way out as that was it for the day.

The Evening Before the Main Event

The main event was on Monday, but an early check-in gathering was organized for the evening before at Apple’s old headquarters at Infinite Loop. I arrived there at about 6pm. There were hundreds of Apple retail employees at various stations for facilitating check-ins and to greet people as they arrived and left. On check-in I received a badge and also a tote bag filled with goodies.

The gathering was in a courtyard-like large open area surrounded by campus buildings. There were beverages, and seating. I got a beverage and mulled about the crowd. I met a couple of people I knew from online, and a few other people that I’d not met before. I was there for less than an hour and left shortly before the event ended, to make my way to Miniboss Arcade in downtown San Jose for the RevenueCat party.

The Morning After the Main Event

On Tuesday morning I went to an event at the Apple Developer Center, across the street from Apple Park. We were led into their Big Sur theater that seats two hundred people. There we got a live presentation about the space and how it is relevant to developers. That was followed by second presentation about developing for visionOS using RealityKit, ARKit, Reality Composer Pro, and the new simulator. It looks like Apple has put a lot of thought into making this new platform approachable by developers who currently build apps for all their existing platforms, but perhaps have no experience with developing for headsets using 3D frameworks.

After the presentation we were led to a space that had beverages and food for socializing and meeting people from relevant teams at Apple. This developer center event was unexpected and I was pleasantly surprised at the thought that went into it. It was a nice culmination of my time in person at WWDC.

My heartiest gratitude to the people of Apple for their hospitality ❤️

Sunset over Apple Park, as seen from the Steve Jobs Theater. 5th June, 2023.

My heartiest gratitude to the people of Apple for their hospitality ❤️

We arrived at the site a couple hours before sunset so the Sun was about halfway down which meant that as we walked around the campus, and the light changed color, we could see it all on play out the Taj. This was especially delightful. The primary stone in the construction is Makrana marble, which is famous for being strong and translucent.

The center of the main gate’s arch is perfectly aligned with the center of the main arch of the Taj Mahal, and both are perfectly aligned due North. Our guide, Tarun, made us aware of this and challenged us to check using the phone’s compass, which I did!

We walked the charbagh garden pathways, and made our way as Tarun took some photos of us all the while sharing the story of the Taj.

The work to cut stones and inlay them is very intricate and labor intensive and there’s a large industry that continues to do this work, the knowledge of which has been passed down for generations since the time of the Taj’s construction.

Inside the mausoleum, photography is prohibited, and the outer rooms are cordoned off. The replica of the graves of Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan lie in the center, and one can walk around that in a designated path. The actual graves are in the basement underneath but that is inaccessible to the public. This is the original design.

A man with a small flashlight demonstrated how the stones in the inlaid flowers glow when light is applied on them. It is really a wonderful effect, and one that I don’t recall seeing on previous trips. This same man asked for our names by turn and said it out loud as he looked upwards, to sound an echo.

After walking around the inside, we made our way to the outside on the provided path. As we did so, the light of the setting sun made lovely patterns as it made its way in through the carved and perforated marble walls.

Even a Tuesday afternoon brought a lot of visitors.

As we made our way back to the exit by the main gate, the Sun set completely and so the Taj appeared a cool white, which was very different from the vibrant yellow and orange it had been in the hours before. I’m pretty sure that previously I had only visited in mid-day so hadn’t seen this effect. Experiencing these changing colors on the Taj was my favorite thing about this visit, which was my third or fourth.

Maybe someday I’ll even see the famous full-moon-lit shade of Taj.

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Mumbai, India.

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Seagulls Sea Link

Mumbai, India.

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And the views did not disappoint! Here are a few along with my best guess for the place.

Sedona.

Grand Canyon, east of Grand Canyon Village on the South Rim.

Marble Canyon, with Navajo Mountain in the distance.

Vermillion Cliffs.

Bryce Canyon.

Great Salt Lake.

Great Salt Lake.

Great Salt Lake.

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I reached there on a Friday afternoon, quite jet-lagged. The hotel (Hotel Melia Gaia Porto) was in the area south of the Douro river called Vila Nova De Gaia. That evening I got food at a nearby place and explored about a mile around the hotel, partly in search of a wall adapter for my laptop power cord. Walking around Gaia reminded me of India, especially my maternal grandma’s neighborhood in Delhi. The streets are narrow. The cars are small. Old rustic architecture is mixed with modern glassy facades.


The conference was at the hotel and ran from Saturday thru Tuesday. Each day, I would attend sessions until about 6pm and then head out to explore the city. On Saturday I took a leisurely photowalk towards the city center. As I got closer to the river, historic buildings appeared and this time I was reminded of Bombay, which has a heavy Portugese influence. The extent of that influence was more than I realized. I rediscovered words that I thought were of Indian origin, only to find that they were in fact Portugese. In Bombay, the word for bread is ‘pao’ and the word for potato is ‘batata’. Both of those are Portugese words. This discovery surprised my friends and family too.


Over the next few days I explored several areas around the Porto city center. The metro was very convenient. On my last day there I went to Casa da Música. It is an interesting building with non-perpendicular corners and a variety of unique rooms. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that it was completely open to the public for free. You could just walk into and all around its various rooms, even into the main auditorium. You could sit at a Steinway grand piano and play to your heart’s content and no one would bother. I didn’t because I don’t know how but a guy was doing just that.

Overall the trip was productive and pleasant, definitely whetting my appetite to explore more of Europe. My photos from the trip are in the slideshow below. You can follow it to the photos on flickr where you can view their location on a map.

[https://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=59254](https://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=59254)