San Diego-Day 4: Cruise & Gaslamp

On the last day of our tour, we took the 2 hour cruise from Harbor drive. It was a narrated tour that took us down the south bay and the north bay.

The guide showed us a large number of ships used by the US navy. I learnt that San Diego is the second largest naval base and has one third of the naval ships. Since I'm not too keen on ships, I didn't pay much attention to it and was interested in taking in the beauty of the ocean.

At one point we saw 3 islands which marked the Mexican border. We also saw the Shelter island marinas, Maritime museum, Naval training building, Coronado bay bridge and the downtown skyline.

After which we walked to the downtown region known as the Gaslamp quarters. It has a lot of eateries and businesses. It was a complete contrast to the cosy restaurants of Old town. Here, it was more about flashy and shows hotels. We walked along the entire stretch checking out all the places until we got hungry. We had an early dinner (5.30 pm!) at a fancy Italian restaurant and then headed back to the hotel as we had to catch a flight at 7.30 pm.

San Diego has so much to offer and appeals to everyone's tastes. Some of the things that we could not cover were Sea World, La Jolla Island, Sea Port village and Coronado island. There is just so much to do and four days was just not enough. It was a perfect break for us. 

San Diego-Day 3: Visit to Old Town

After spending an entire day in the Zoo, we decided to head out to Old Town. It is the birthplace of California and was the first place where the Spanish explorers settled. The heavy Spanish influence can be seen in the people, art, houses and music.

Old Town park

The Old Town Historic park is a fantastic cultural hub with quaint museums, arts & craft stores, numerous eateries, ancient homes and musicians playing Spanish songs. 

Performers

We first went to a cafe called 'California Cottage' It was a cottage converted into a cafe. We sat outdoor with the gas fireplaces and brilliant lighting. As I sat sipping my Hot white chocolate (which was simply out of this world) an elderly gentleman with a Spanish guitar moved to our table and asked us if we'd like to hear a song. V immediately agreed and the gentleman said he would play a romantic song for us. He played a Spanish song-although we didn't understand the meaning of it, we thoroughly enjoyed the melody.

Musician

We then walked to the park and looked around the stores with their old-world charm selling pottery, tobacco, masks and others. There was live music, freshly baked mexican goodies, wine sellers, olive oil tasting and open air restaurants. I will never forget that scene in my life-colorful, lively and buzzing with activity.

Decorated shops

The streets are lined with a wide array of mexican restaurants. I had a tough time picking one. However, one of them 'Old town cafe' has a separate section for vegetarian food and also mentioned that vegetarian food is cooked in separate oil. I hadn't heard of such a thing in any other place and immediately decided to go in. This was also very quaint and cosy. We ordered and surprised to see the huge portions-one dish enough for two people.

 

There is a haunted house -Whaley's house which is supposed to be the most haunted place in the US. We briefly passed by the house and saw there was a huge queue outside waiting for the ghost tour. I was not interested in paying money and getting sleepless nights.

We were so glad that we picked this place to spend the evening.

San Diego-Day 3: Visit to the Zoo

Zoo Entrance

The 100 acres San Diego Zoo is one the most famous attractions in San Diego. It has 400 endangered animals and 800 different species. It also has a wide range of flora. It is located inside the Balboa park campus.

It is divided into several different sections: Africa Rocks, Asian Passage, Elephant Odyssey, Lost Forest, Northern Frontier, Panda Canyon. As the names suggest, each zone has its unique theme and special attractions.

Like the other attractions in Balboa park, one needs to plan ahead and identify the areas one wants to explore as the zoo is huge and cannot be covered in one day. We saw the Polar bears, pandas, apes, african lions, elephants and a whole bunch of deer-like animals whose names I forgot.

Monkey

Panda-The star attraction

Polar Bear

The zoo has a skyfari which takes you from one end of the zoo to the other giving you a bird's eye view of the entire zoo. As expected it was crowded but we managed to get 2 rides in it. A wonderful view from up above.

Skyfari

We also saw a 4-D movie 'Ice Age and Christmas.' It was fun and kids love it. We also took the 35-minute bus safari that takes you on a trip around the zoo and gives very interesting info about the animals. Plenty of shopping and dining options available throughout the zoo.

Bus Safari

What: San Diego Zoo
Where: 2920 Zoo Drive, San Diego, CA 92101
When: 9 am-5 pm (changes during winter/fall months)
Fee: $42

San Diego-Day 2: Balboa Park

Balboa Park is easily one of the best attractions in San Diego. It has a little something for everybody. 14 museums, parks, 19 gardens, gigantic zoo, tennis courts, gym, theatre, shows, restaurants and more. Since V and I are both museum lovers, I decided to allocate an entire day to explore the park. It was a tough call to choose from so many museums. We finally picked 5 and armed with a map of the park in hand, we began our journey. 

It being a Friday, gave us some more time as some museums operate longer on Fridays. The five museums we visited were:

Museum of Man

1. San Diego Museum of Man: 

Mayan Statue

Mummy coffins

A beautiful display of exhibits that trace the journey of man. Right from replica of fossils of the early man to the Maya statues and modern photographs. My favorite part was the Anthropology section that showed the evolution of man. The changes in the brain, bones, teeth etc over time from monkeys and apes to modern man. It was amazing to see all the stuff that we learnt in history. Only this time, instead of text books, it was more of visual learning. I also saw mummies-real Egyptian mummies. They are truly fascinating. 

I would have loved to spend more time here but we had other museums to cover so had to limit ourselves to only an hour at each place. 

Evolution of Man Exhibits

2. San Diego Air and Space museum:

Aircraft used during World War II

The receptionist at the previous museum recommended that we check out this one. Although, neither of us was too keen on visiting it, we decided to go as she made it sound very exciting. This museum houses all the planes that were used during the world wars. It also has flags, clothes etc used by the astronauts who went to the moon. To some one who is interested in this subject, this would be a wonderful place but to me it was quite boring. The only fun part of this one was the 4-D theatre.  Three five-minute movies were played and the 4-D effect was mind-blowing. I would visit this museum again only for the 4-D show.

3. Museum of Photographic Arts:

I have no words to express what I felt at this museum. I was stunned to see the collection by Ruud Van Empel. Each work was a result of stitching together several different photographs together. I was surprised to find out that every individual represented in the pictures was put together using features from many different people. There was a haunting quality in each of his works-almost surreal yet piercing. Fabricated reality-that was the term used to describe his works. Photography was not allowed inside the museum so could not click any.

4. Reuben.H.Fleet Science center:

An interactive science center that has numerous exhibits that allows one to learn the different science phenomenon. Interesting, educative and fun. I'm sure my relationship with physics wouldn't have been so bad had I got a chance to learn it in an interactive way like the science center. All the models were thought provoking and had detailed info about the phenomenon it described. However, the place was crowded with children who were more interested in playing with the models rather than learning anything. It was quite sad that most parents too didn't try to use the exhibits as a learning tool and let the children use them as toys. The best part about this museum is the dome shaped IMAX theatre. We opted to watch the movie 'To The Artic'. The theatre is like a planetarium-the screen stretches from the ceiling all the way down to the floor. The movie depicted the sad state of the polar bear due to the melting of the arctic snow caps as a result of global warming. It was an irony that it was both touching and beautiful at the same time. 

5. The San Diego Museum of Art:

The last museum for the day. We only had 40 minutes to explore this one before it was closing time. There are several galleries for Asian, African, American, European and Modern Art. Since we were pressed for time, we chose the European section. We walked through the Renaissance, Impressionist, Post-impressionism paintings from Italy, France and Germany. V explained to me how the themes and art evolved during each of the periods. It was quite overwhelming to see paintings that were so old yet were magnificent.

Overall, the visit was very informative and fun at the same time. I would definitely recommend keeping an entire day for this activity. A day well-spent!

San Diego-Day 1: Cabrillo National Park

I had read a lot of interesting things about the Cabrillo National Park and had put that on our itinerary for two reasons. One, it would give V a chance for photography and two, it was supposed to be one of the most scenic places in San Diego.

Cabrillo Monument

We were in for a surprise when the cab driver said he had never heard of such a place. He had to ask at the hotel front desk for directions. I was prepared to be disappointed because cab drivers told me that he lived here for 25 years and had never heard of this place. But the drive to the top of the hill where the park was located was totally worth it. We could see the bay and the city skyline from there. A breathtaking view. I even learnt that the harbor view is considered one of the best in the world!

The two most famous things about the par were the Cabrillo monument and the old light house. We learnt a little bit about the history of the place as well. Cabrillo was a Spanish adventurer who along with his team entered California through the harbor at San Diego. He came on the famous ship 'San Salvador' which is currently being reconstructed by the San Diego Maritime Museum. There is a museum near the visitor center that has a collection of tools, instruments, clothing and other artifacts about the Spanish conquistadors.

The old lighthouse at Point Loma is also another attraction. Visitors can climb up the lighthouse and take a peak at the house of the keeper. The rooms are furnished in the old fashioned way and gives you an idea of what life was back in the day.

Point Loma Light House

Also, there is an area for tide pooling. During low tides, one can see a variety of sea life in the rocky intertidal zones. We weren't able to see that as it wasn't the right time of the day for it. For those who are interested in hiking, there is a beautiful hiking trail that starts from the lighthouse. Since I was already tired with all the walking, we walked for 10 minutes and returned. 

Harbor View

What: Cabrillo National Park
When: 364 days (except Christmas) 9 am-5 pm
Where: 1800 Cabrillo Memorial Drive San Diego, CA 92106
Entry Fee: $5 for vehicles, $3 for walk-ins and bicycle

Sunny San Diego

All set for the trip

It was our first Thanksgiving in the US and so we were very excited about the long weekend. It was a very special vacation because right from choosing the destination, booking flights, making hotel reservation to chalking out the itinerary was my responsibility. Even the packing of bags was done by me!

 After a lot of deliberation and thinking, I zeroed in on San Diego as the destination. Until the night before we left, I was reading reviews and travel recommendations to make sure that it was a memorable trip. Now let me jump right into the details of the vacation. 4 days of absolute fun and entertainment. I wouldn't call it relaxing as there was a LOT of walking around to do but then it wasn't hectic so neither of us complained.

Hotel where we stayed

We started from San Francisco on Wednesday evening. After a yummy dinner of Broccoli and cream cheese soup and bread at the airport, we boarded the flight, all set to embark on our adventure. It was a very short flight-although the ticket said an hour and a half, we reached San Diego in an hour. The hotel (Humphrey's Half Moon Inn) sent a courtesy shuttle to pick us up and we reached the hotel in 10 minutes.

Since we had to begin our day early, we crashed in as soon as we reached. Instead of cramming everything into a single post, I figured it would be best if I broke down each tourist attraction into a separate post. That way, I will be able to do complete justice to the place. So keep reading!

View from the hotel