San Diego

Decided to fly down to San Diego from San Francisco as it cost about the same as the bus and took about an hour rather than half a day! This meant that I had a little time to have a look around the Gaslamp District when I arrived. It's very nice and a good place to go to for a night out, especially if you're not on a budget as there are loads of restaurants, some with live music (if you like jazz or blues).

Sunday was spent finding out when the next baseball game was (San Diego is probably the last chance I'll get to see a game) and then taking a walk up to Balboa Park. Balboa Park is massive (although not as big as it used to be due to some of it being used for a Naval Hospital). Joined a Ranger tour to get a bit more information and then sat down to listen to the free organ recital (the Spreckels Organ is the largest outdoor organ in the world). The organist is actually a Brit and she had just come back from visiting her mum back in the UK, so the first few tunes had a very British flavour. Kind of made me feel a little homesick for a few moments but then looked up at the sky and remembered what the weather would probably be like in the UK at that time which soon sorted that! The wierdest bit of the entire recital was when she played the US national anthem and hence everyone got up to sing along, apart from 3 people (me and 2 others who were obviously from overseas). Still I stood up out of respect, just not singing! I then had a look around some of the museums (which are quite small to be honest and only need an hour or two each) before heading back to the Gaslamp for dinner. The music must have had an effect as I went and had a traditional British meal - curry! It was a pretty good curry to be honest but I'm not used to being asked how hot I want it - isn't that what the names are for?

Monday was spent at the zoo. It's meant to be one of the biggest and best in the world. I used to have a CD-ROM about it at home (got it free), so was interested to see it for real. Unfortunately I think my expectations were a bit high and hence it didn't really knock me out. However I did see the pandas and a live wild cat show, which was held a few feet from the audience as the arena that it is normally held in was under reconstruction. The evening was spent at the Ballpark, watching a game between the San Diego Padres and the San Francisco Giants. It wasn't quite what I was expecting as everyone seems to get up to wander around (getting beer and snacks) whilst the game is on! Also wasn't expecting the '7th Innings Stretch' and the rendition of 'Let's Go Down To The Ballpark', but it's all part of the experience. As for the game, Sand Diego took the lead very early in the game but managed to throw it away in the 9th innings due to a mistake by one of the catchers - overhearing a few other people speaking after the game it is something they do a lot! The end of the game was a bit of an anti-climax as everyone filed out quietly - I was expecting a few chants from the Giants fans at least!

The first part of Tuesday was spent back in Balboa Park, going to some of the museums I had missed out on Sunday. The Museum of Man was quite good (partly due to my background interest in archaeology) - although I was a bit disappointed at first as the best bits were upstairs. The Museum of Natural History was a letdown, even more so than New York's. Obviously the museums in Washington and London are two of the best in the world and everywhere else is a pale imitation. Later in the day I headed up to Pacific Beach (or PB as it is known locally) to stay for a few days. Met up with an Irish guys and 3 Kiwi's on the first night and went to a local Kiwi bar (although apparently the only 'Kiwi' link, apart from the backpakcer staff, is the fact that the owners went on holiday to New Zealand a few years back). Then it was across the road to another bar, playing lots of cheesy 80's music - it was great! Can't remember much after that to be honest ;-)

Wednesday was very quiet - very hung-over! Didn't do much until the evening when I went for a wander to find out what else there was to do in the area other than chill-out on the beach. The big thing that stuck in my mind was the number of second-hand shops - it seemed like every other shop was a second-hand shop!

Thursday was a another chilled-out day. Did meet up with one of the guys from the Yosemite trip, which was good fun. Back up to LA tomorrow.