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Wednesday, May 4, 2005
Around Sonoma
» Posted by Jon at 10:31 pm :: Comments (0)
A Victorian garden...
... at the inn.
Sebastiani's cranes
Seven flags over Sonoma
More on the square
The Benzinger winery
Our last morning in the Valley of the Moon (hey, there are even signs proclaiming it so), began with a fine breakfast in the dining room. I even mostly figured out how to use the contraption for opening hard-boiled eggs. Amazing how people come up with things. Anyway, fresh fruit, pastries, coffee, a bagel, an egg - it's the kind of breakfast you'd probably make at home to linger over if only you have time to collect it all and then linger over it.
I've brought this up before, but I'll do it again: Why do we live our regular lives so different from how we conduct ourselves on vacations?
After packing up the car and checking out, we started our walk around Sonoma, heading first for the Sebastiani winery a few blocks from the hotel. We didn't get a tour, but did see a nice fountain, the gardens and one of the largest storage barrels of any kind in the world.
Along the town bike trail, through the town park, we came out on the opposite side of the town square, one of Sonoma's pride and joys.
Famous as the place of the raising of the first bear flag of the California Republic (declaring independence from Mexico) the town was laid out like any Mexican village, which i think means a large main road leading up to a square, around which are the civic buildings and the main commercial district. At least, that's what's there now.
A short urban planning digression: Makes you wonder why more towns, no matter what the size, don't keep a central square.
This one has mostly green space on the actual square, surrounded by four roads all with diagaonal parking on both sides and then the shops. I wonder if if somehow wouldn't be better if the shops and their sidewalks were right on the square. I wonder if this setup dates to the days of the horse, or if it was a concession to the automobile at some point.
Anyway, we looked in a few places, a finally ate at The Girl and the Fig, a fine French that probably isn't know for it's lunches but does have quite a number of paintings on its walls featuring a girl and occasionally a fig.
Our last excursion in Wine Country before heading for The City was up to the Benzinger family winery. This one included a tractor-pulled tram through the vineyard (chalk up another mode of transportation) and a walk into the caves bored into the side of a hill that they use to store their product. After a few more tastings, we finally purchased a bottle of muscat. So if you get invitied to dinner, now you know how the festivities will end.
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