The last weekend, we spent in San Diego. I love San Diego!
Friday morning, I picked up my parents and Basti at their hotel and we took Highway 1 south. We drove along the coast through the “Beach Cities” of Los Angeles and Orange County and for us Germans it was the epitome of California and it felt very much like “vacation”… beautiful beaches, sidewalk cafés, surfers and swimmers. Just awesome! You could almost forget that we were still in the sprawling city of Los Angeles.We arrived in San Diego at 3 p.m. and checked into our hotel, the Best Western Bayside Inn, which is conveniently located within walking distance of the downtown area. We decided to take a walk and first went to the see the “Star of India”, a museum ship, which bobs up and down right down the street from our hotel.
Then we walked to “Horton Plaza”, an open-air Shopping Mall, and explored the stores and when we realized that we had gotten really hungry, decided for having dinner at the “Hard Rock Café”.
My Mom and I shared a Club Sandwich and Caesar Salad! while my Dad and Basti had Steak. It was a really yummy dinner :) Revitalized, we took a walk through the historic Gaslamp Quarter with its many shops and restaurants.
We had a beautiful view over the harbor and the Coronado Bridge from the Convention Center and then walked along the Ocean Frontwalk to Seaport Village, a shopping and dining complex overlooking the bay of San Diego. It was a very nice area and it was a beautiful night which was perfected by an [almost] full moon.
Saturday morning, we took the “San Diego Trolley” from the Santa Fe Station to Old Town, the historic center of San Diego. It’s an open-air museum of the first Spanish settlement with Spanish and early American architecture. The little houses accommodate little shops and restaurants today.
Afterwards, we took the bus to “Sea World”. My parents had promised Basti that he can chose one of the adventure parks in CA that he would like to see and he chose “Sea World”. I have to say that -despite all the things I had heard about it before- I liked it very much. Yeah, there was a lot of commercialized advertisement and that kind of stuff, but the whales and dolphins were amazing.
We also got to touch bat rays and sea stars.
We walked through a glass tube that was built within an aquarium while different kind of sharks were swimming around us and we also got to see a show with dolphins and a pilot whale. It was particularly funny when one of the dolphin trainers who had pretended to be a tourist fell into the pool and started swimming with the dolphins ;)
We left the park at around 6 p.m. and took the Trolley back to the Gaslamp Quarter and had Mexican Food at Fred’s Mexican Café. It was Basti’s first time to have Mexican food and he LOVED it :)
Sunday morning it already was time to leave San Diego again. There was so much more we wanted to see, but we just didn’t have more time. We decided to stop at Balboa Park, a cultural complex in the heart of San Diego. It contains a variety of cultural attractions including museums, theaters, gardens, shops and restaurants as well as the world-renowned San Diego Zoo. Most of the buildings are in Spanish architecture and richly ornamented.
I almost felt sent back in time to vacations my family spent in Spain. Just beautiful! I really want to go back to San Diego again! :)
We also stopped at the La Jolla Cove on the way and walked along the waterfront. It’s a beautiful coastal area with cliffs and sandy beaches. I invited my parents and Basti to a refreshment – frappuccinos. They’d never had one before, but they LOVED it. I might want to say, they’re addicted now! :)
We made it back to LA by 7 p.m. and, being Germans, we all felt like having some “bread, cheese and cold cuts” for dinner after eating out for 7 days in a row ;) We went shopping at Trader’s Joes and had a yummy dinner at our place.
When my parents wanted to drive back to their hotel, we noticed that we had an almost flat tire on our rental car and decided to leave the car where it is and call Roadside Assistance the next morning.
kim
July 6, 2007 at 1:07 amseriously, this sounds like the MOST PERFECT vacation / visit EVER.
almost too good to be true. do you guys ever just “hang out” and “chill” ?
i really hope to see you in november. i miss you tons! *smoochies*
PS: C really, REALLY misses the cali mexican food. poor guy ;)
kim
July 6, 2007 at 1:09 amPPS: i just got biometric passport photos this morning in order to get a new passport [and personalausweis, btw]. guess what for ? :) man, it’d be SO awesome if it would really happen. i won’t be too excited just yet [jeah, right..] but it’s lookin’ gooood! :D
Maribeth
July 6, 2007 at 4:16 amI Love San Diego too. So much to do and see. It’s wonderful that you are having such a good time with your family! How much longer are they with you here?
Hemlock
July 6, 2007 at 4:31 amOnce again, looks amazing!
Antje
July 6, 2007 at 6:57 amYour vacation just sounds amazing and it really makes me miss California a lot!
:-( It’s such an awesome place! Keep on having a wonderful time! smoochies!
silke
July 6, 2007 at 8:08 amGosh, I really envy you for that vacation with your parents
Have a wonderful weekend, Cutie!
ilka
July 6, 2007 at 8:10 amthis looks like an awesome time, and i am really jealous for san diego. i love that city. so pretty. seems like your folks have a better tan than you, huh?;-) miss ya
san
July 6, 2007 at 8:22 amkim… we DO have the best time ever. i’ll miss them so much once they have to leave again…
P.S. OMG… I am really keeping my fingers crossed for cheap flights! And then we’ll have Mexican Food :)
Maribeth They’ll be here for another 10 days! Yay!
Hemlock, Antje, Silke… thank you guys!
Ilka… yeah, yeah… I just don’t get a tan.
Susi
July 6, 2007 at 2:10 pmTold ya – San Diego is awesome! Glad you liked it too.
Enjoy your last days with your parents – SMOOCHES
Susi
Jess
July 6, 2007 at 7:15 pmHi San, it really looks like a great vacation for all of you (thank god you didn’t have to start your job yet)!!! When I see those pictures it makes me miss my parents and the rest of my family and friends even more!!! So enjoy every second of it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sanna
July 10, 2007 at 1:46 amOh San Diego looks like the place to be! You guys seem to enjoy yourselves very much so yay! And all the good food… yum!
Smoochie!
PS: I love your bay window!
Sophie
July 10, 2007 at 1:43 pmI love this post because my brother lives in San Diego: he has a sailboat where he spends half the week and an apartment somewhere else (shrug shoulders) for the other half. (He also has a house up in Big Bear; it’s complicated!)
I haven’t been out to San Diego in about six years, so I was glad to see your photos. I love Balboa Park! I also went to the zoo and Old Town. Boy, I’ve forgotten how beautiful California is.
First time for Mexican food? That makes me chuckle; it’s as common as dirt around here. I’m glad it was a hit. However, when I went to San Diego, I had Vietnamese food for the first time. (did I spell that right? oh well.) YUM!