From Facebook to Google and Apple to Intel, a selfie tour of Silicon Valley’s tech giants
- The Californian cradle of innovation has no shortage of attractions for visitors, be they aspirational, nostalgic or simply star struck
- Visitors can travel from the early days of Hewlett-Packard to the companies that dominate our daily lives
A short drive south of San Francisco, past signs advertising blockchain technology and “mission critical artificial intelligence”, the solid, comfortable Four Seasons Silicon Valley sits in the middle of a cluster of tech firms old and new, and a stone’s throw from the campus of Stanford, the university that kick-started the garage-to-Googleplex story of many an entrepreneur.
The hotel is busy with Germans talking microprocessor deals and frowning Chinese teenagers being fussed over by a phalanx of family members preparing them for Stanford interviews.
For some, the trip around these sites with offspring in tow is aspirational, a sort of tiger mother trail. For others, it’s like taking selfies with film stars; perhaps some of their glamour and moneymaking magic will be transferred.
