Davis & Co. Part 1

Last weekend I had the pleasure of taking a jaunt up to Davis to visit with my friend Claire.
Our first order of business was to immediately go to Claire's favorite pizza place, the Symposium! (I added that exclamation point. It is not part of the restaurant's name.)
The following picture serves a few useful purposes. You get to see the restaurant. You get to see that it is painted orange. You get to see Claire, and you get to see a tree. This is not the only tree in Davis. This tree is only one in a million. In fact, Davis has so many trees, that if I had a fear of things dropping out of trees and onto my head I wouldn't leave the apartment.

Ever.

Yes, there were that many trees.

The Symposium(!) is Greek in nature, and the first thing that happens to your senses (after your eyes adjust to the dimness of it all) is this mural:

I suppose she is a likeness of someone from the old country. Not Meryl Streep, though.
My favorite aspect is the blending of the old and the new, the real and the unreal. I think that plant in the left hand corner is an excellent example of both of those things.


I don't really remember how it all came about, but suddenly, words were flying between me and this guy, and how we came to be on those podium things I think had to do with "needing the upper ground."
I would just like everyone to notice the store next to the Symposium(!), which is "All Things Right & Relevant."

I have no idea what that store contains. You'd think by the name of the store it would be obvious, but I really need it spelled out for me.

After the Orange Buildings, we went to Claire's homie's house for a little Wii action.
I've never Wiid around before, so it was quite the mental experience. Here we are boxing with our excellent fighting stances:

The following picture is included because I really like the style of the guy on the right. His boxing moves mostly include shaking and shimmying. Who knew that the same technique one might use with maraca's would win a Wii boxing match?

This place was pretty great, because we were offered ice cream after our boxing matches. I like ice cream, but not all ice cream is created equal. So, basically at the same time, Claire and I say, "what kind do you have?" (Or, a variation on that question.) Our host said, "Ummm Blackish Cherry something... and Chocolate Malt..." I'm not so sure about this, but Claire asks if they were Thrifty's and he answered yes. Suddenly we say, "Black Cherry and CHOCOLATE MALTED CRUNCH?!?!?!" our voices getting louder at the end as we realize one of our favorite ice creams was in this very house. Chocolate Malted Crunch, baby.

It was delightful.

I had been extremely thirsty since arriving in Davis. Thirsty thirsty thirsty. The appearance of Chocolate Malted Crunch did nothing to curb my desire for water, and when asked for a glass, I received the largest cup I've ever seen. I call it a torso cup because It is mostly the size of my torso.

I must have had something in my eye...