Day 11 - Last day :-(

After saying goodbye to our wonderful house in San Diego ("bye bye house full of nice things, bye bye") and to some of the landmarks we had come to know and love ("bye bye Tiger Tiger Bar with the lovely beer, bye bye", "bye bye Freeway 163, bye bye"), we set off for LA Airport.

We managed to find time to stop off for an excellent lunch in one of the many cool, funky, hip, chilled, stylish, friendly, good value eateries that seem to abound in this part of the world. 

After that it was time to go our different ways and say "bye bye California - until the next time!..."

 

 

Day 10 - Balbao Park and Embarcadero

Sadly, all good things must come to an end and this was our last full day in San Diego. After a lazy morning nursing mild hangovers (that bottle of Jim Beam needed to be finished off, after all), we spent some time wandering around Balbao Park. It's full of wide open spaces, beautiful gardens, museums, cultural centres, cafes, a theatre (a Disney-style version of the Globe) and of course there is a small zoo there too.

We opted for the Museum of Man and took in an interesting exhibition about beer, an area in which we consider ourselves to be amateur enthusiasts, if not experts. The most interesting fact was that there is a South American tribe that survives almost entirely on beer. The men drink between 3 and 4 gallons a day, the women between 1 and 2 gallons and the children a paltry half a gallon. I think I will write to Nicky Morgan, the current Education Secretary, and suggest this be provided in UK schools, just as we used to get free milk many years ago before a certain lady politician stopped that evil practice.   

There was also an exhibition on monsters, which included a special board where you could leave a record of the monster you fear the most, in order to exorcise your fear. Someone had included "Anne when she hasn't had breakfast", which was strange. To be fair, it was near a card that simply said "my wife".

The highlight of the holiday for Nathalie came when she was finally able to enjoy the culinary delights of an In-n-Out burger. They are not dissimilar to burgers made by other masters of American cuisine such as Wendys, Macdonalds and Burger King, but they are just that little bit trashier.

Later we went down the Embarcadero, which is the harbour and naval area. There is a giant statue celebrating the end of the second world war, based on a famous photograph, and very nice Bob Hope memorial, with recordings of him entertaining the troops, represented by various bronze statues, many of them injured. It was quite moving.

There was also a giant aircraft carrier which is now a naval museum., but we didn't really feel like celebrating the might of US naval power so we gave that a miss. A interesting area though and quite a contrast to other parts of San Diego.

Disappointingly there were no magic tricks for dinner (the children had selfishly failed to learn any), but it was nevertheless a very pleasant last evening in the sheer wonderfulness that is California.

Day 9 - Birthdays, art, roller coasters, skulls and magic

A wonderful start to the day, with some brilliant birthday cards and presents, as well as a few nice emails and Facebook messages....

There was an album full of reminiscences and photos from Nathalie and a toy hacking kit from Louis, complete with 3D printed model heads of the children, scanned and printed without my knowledge while we have been away! Anne's card is a work of art in its own right and I still have her present to look forward to when we get back. I'm sure it will be absolutely magnificent.

After some time contemplating the thoughtfulness and generosity of my family, we set off for La Jolla, where we watched pelicans and seals before visiting the superb Museum of Modern Art. The gallery must have one of the best views of any gallery anywhere - quite spectacular.

After that, it was off to Mission Park for some retro fairground fun, including a great bone-rattling 1920s wooden roller coaster. Now you wouldn't get that sort of thing in Southport ... oh hang on, I spent two summers working at an almost identical roller coaster on Pleasureland (now sadly gone).

Wandered around Little Italy, visiting some excellent arty shops and then went to San Diego's Day of the Dead shop where we stocked up on various skeletal goods.  Of course skulls are now a bit of a style cliché, but La Dia de los Muertos is an important tradition in Southern California and Mexico and is a way of honouring the dearly departed and confronting one's own mortality.

In the evening we had a superb surf and turf dinner at Lou and Mickeys in Downtown San Diego. We looked for Downtown Abbey once again but could not find it. I am beginning to think there is no such place. The food was exquisite, washed down with a couple of bottles of Francis Ford Coppola's finest Zinfandel. The highlight of the evening, however, was the sommelier / waiter, who turned out to be a highly skilled magician who has performed with Dynamo, no less. He dazzled us with some amazing tricks - for example I signed a card which, after lots of shuffling, ended up folded up inside his mobile phone which had been sitting on the table the whole time. Great fun!

Mobile trickery...

I must say I don't feel any older, but when I look in the mirror I realise that age is indeed catching up with me.

It is probably best to end this wonderful day with the wise words of a local philosopher and sage, Robert Downey Junior...

Day 9 - A sunny celebration

Joyeux Anniversaire. Alles Gut zum Geburtstag. Happy Birthday Dad.

Day 8 - We're all going to the zoo

We started the day with some hearty, healthy (sic) comfort food. So comforting in fact that we hardly ate anything for the rest of the day!

 

It was then time to start singing "We're all going to the zoo today", as were all going to the zoo. As we passed bewildered onlookers in the street, we shook their hands and sang "you can come too, too, too!" but none of them did. The zoo is huge place and after a ride on the impressive sky ride, we enjoyed some beautiful, interesting, creepy and scary sights...

We also saw a very brave chiropodist...

Late in the afternoon our stomachs had recovered from the healthy comfort food and we ate some superb ice cream back in North Park. The ice cream parlour had a nice collection of art and also an interesting display of ice cream scoops. You would never have seen that in Rossi's in Southport.

Anne then went off and had a drink with an ex-police friend while I slaved over a hot stove getting a nice dinner ready for the family (my God, is there no end to this daily grind?)

Day 7 - Tennis, sea and heavy metal

Louis and I started the day with some much needed exercise and a game of tennis at the Balbao Park Tennis Club. As we arrived, a man was being taken away in an ambulance - not an encouraging start to a session of fiercely competitive, high-powered tennis in 80 degrees heat, with no shade. After an hour of superb rallies, volleys, back-hand spins and overhead smashes and a very lucky 6-4 victory for Louis, we cycled back to the house feeling fit and healthy and ready for the next meal.

In the afternoon we went to Mission Beach and did a spot of swimming - the water temperature was perfect, as of course you would expect in late October.

After that it was time for a beer in and a wander around Coronado. We watched the sandpipers having dinner and also strolled around the opulent Del Coronado Hotel, which is where Some Like It Hot was filmed.

In the evening the ladies relaxed at home with a glass of Zinfandel, while the men went to do a spot of head-banging at the House of Blues, seeing two excellent metal bands - The Black Dahlia Murder and Suicide Silence. A nice noisy end to a tranquil and restful day.