I don’t know what I was expecting from San Diego so to say I was slightly disappointed wouldn’t be right. But that’s how I feel. Our hostel was up on Pacific Beach and quite far out from the city centre. It was literally on the beach and provided fantastic views of the sunset. In the summer I’m sure it’s a great place with a real party atmosphere and loads of party nights on the beach. However at this time of year it’s not really like that. Most of the people there were still up for partying but if I’m honest they weren’t really my kind of people. Ollie got on with them well enough and so did I, but I never felt completely comfortable. I was having one of my reclusive moods anyway so I was very happy to be alone for a bit anyway! So many weeks of being sociable has finally got to me I think!
Pacific beach reminded me very much of Newquay. It catered for surfers and although it’s a very popular destination for visitors some parts are quite run down. I could tell it was definitely a place where loads of Spring Breakers would frequent; just like G.C.S.E graduates go to Newquay! Now there’s nothing wrong with Newquay but after two days I’ve usually had enough and this was the same for PB. If the weather had been sunnier I might have felt differently but as it was there was no chance for sunbathing and the water was freezing!
We did take a trolley ride to ‘Old San Diego Town’ and that was super fun. It’s a small fake town made up of buildings that recreate how the city would have been when it was first built. There’s a county jail, candle stick maker, baker, general store, saloon and all the other places that would make up a western town. I loved the strong mix of mexican and wild west and there was a museum displaying lots of old stage coaches and history. I say history but everything on display was only about a hundred years old or a little bit more! It was so weird for Ollie and I to think that most American history only goes back that far! We haven’t got used to it while being here at all. I’ve lived in a house that is older than amost anything in American history! We had some amazing roasted peanuts from a vendor, smelt wonderful olive oil, candle wax and sweets and all the little restaurants smelled delicious too! Every shop seemed to be selling our favourite things! There was even a beef jerky shop for Ollie to drool over!
Ollie’s favourite place though was the Cigar shop. The original shop had burnt down in the big fire of San Diego many years ago and this was a careful reconstruction of that exact old store. Inside was part museum and part tobacco shop. Antique pipes sat in old display cases, barber shop tools in a rack on top of the counter and ancient gambling chips and artifacts covered in dust sat in piles all about the place. Some pipes were wooden, some ivory and one that interested me in particular was made from Wedgewood Jasper. The blue and white china stood out boldly from the other pipes and actually looked a bit out of place. It was funny to see though! Ollie’s attention went immediately to the hundreds of cigars stacked on the counter. Flavoured, strong, mild, spicy, sweet, short, fat, stubby, thin, long, expensive, metal cased, every type you could imagine. Instead of going for the most ridiculous fattest, biggest cigar for the cheapest amount of money, this time Ollie asked some advice and took time to chose a cigar he would actually really enjoy. He also got all excited when he found a brass Jack Daniels zippo. Like a little boy he skipped out of the shop with his purchases and didn’t stop looking at them for the rest of the day!
Twilight sneaked around us as we stood on the trolley platform. I had one more stop I wanted to make before we went back to the hostel. No trip to San Diego could have been complete without getting a picture of Qualcomm stadium, home of The Chargers for Jack! It may have been practically dark by the time we got there and freezing but we did walk around the edge and get some photos. O.k they were only concrete pillar and fluorescent sign shots...but the thought was there!!!!
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Travelling has finally managed to wipe me out and I honestly have never felt as tired as I have this past week. A constant headache, eyes involuntarily shutting, teeth aching, teasy tired that has a boer constrictor grip on me. So although Ollie managed to make it out for our last evening at the hostel I very sadly was in bed by eleven. Shame on me I know. I had been trying to read my book but it’s such a difficult read and had got to a very dodgy part, so falling a sleep was far too easy. However in the morning Ollie admitted he was just as tired and so instead of doing any other sight seeing we headed straight for the bus station.
We arrived at the Greyhound station to find it completely closed up. A security officer standing inside the door. According to him the station had moved today, although there had been no information to tell anyone this. We were told we could wait inside for a ‘shuttle’ that would take us to the new place. A few minutes later a woman and her family car turned up with a Greyhound sticker stuck on the boot. ‘I’m the shuttle’ she said. It was a pretty random moment as Ollie, a stranger who spoke little English and I sat in this woman’s car and hoped she really was taking us to the new station and not Columbia to be sold as drug mules.
According to the woman, Greyhound had been kicked out of their previous abode; they were letting down the quality of the neighbourhood! A few weeks ago this might have surprised us but not anymore. Moving offices and not telling any travelers was just something Greyhound was more than capable of! Oh and their new station? An out door small triangle of seating in the middle of a car park. You stay classy Greyhound!
So that was San Diego. An interesting if slightly unimpressive visit. I suppose the main thing that upset me was finding out that ‘Anchorman’ my favourite San Diego based film was not actually filmed there at all! I was devastated to learn that the majority of filming took place in Long Beach and that the San Diego sky line was superimposed. Even the famous bridge poor Baxter was thrown off didn’t exist. I’m not angry. Just disappointed.
15/11/11
Sorry you were a bit disappointed with San Diego. When we visited we were staying with my cousin, so had a rather different perspective. We also met my 89-year-old Aunt, to whom Hilary had been writing for years.
ReplyDeleteTo be truthful I can't remember much about the place itself. This was very much a family get together. Mike's aunt and I were penpals. we'd write massively long letters to each other about 3 times a year - usually 15 pages, sometimes more.I'd need to put a good chunk of a day aside for it. But it was great. Finally she had to stop because of severe arthritis. When we met it was quite special. We'd flown from SF to SD and Mike's cousins were out on the tarmac to meet us, along with Aunt Dolly. We just grasped each other and stared into each others faces for about 5 minutes. then she said to me 'I thought you'd have blue eyes" Non stop talking together for the next 10 days. We had had ginormously huge margheritas somewhere at an exotic restaurant. But apart from that all I can really remember is Aunt Dolly. Oh and one other think which was hilarious. Mike's cousins had invited friends round for dinner at their place, who were totally transfixed by our accents. One in particular thought Mike sounded like Laurence Olivier and wanted to know, if she crept into our room while we were asleep and woke him up, would he still sound like that. keep writing Amy - great stuff.
ReplyDeleteHilary reminded me of the fascination of the English accent to most Americans. I remember when I doing the Home shopping Channel in Tampa Florida, back in the day (Tuff job but somebody had to do it ). We had a live two hour show and a caller rang in, not to buy anything but to say "Gee I just love the way you speak! Can we just talk about England? . She said “I have a friend who lives in London who is American, may be you know him !!!!!!!!!!!!
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