The End

Mexican Tiles

The end of our trip

The Waterfront

Naval ship arriving in the bay

At last we set out for the last 10 miles to finish our West Coast trip.  This is a cool city, which is worth visiting. San Diego is the second largest city in California and the eighth largest in the US, yet the downtown area is small and it’s easy to walk and visit most of the main attractions by foot.

The historic waterfront

San Diego was the first place on the West Coast that Europeans set foot on in 1542 when Juan Cabrillo sailed into San Diego Bay. The city is ideally situated near the Mexican border with a deep harbour that became crucial to the American Navy after Pearl Harbour. It’s now a major naval base, which has had an important impact on the nature and culture of the city.

The waterfront is crucial to the city and the face it shows to the world and it’s a great to walk along it. Wealth is apparent as you pass the Marina, which is jam-packed with expensive boats but next to them is the old Tuna Market area. Sadly, this is yet another place on this coast where resources have been stripped out without any thought of future sustainability. The old dock is empty expect for a few old boats (and the Tuna have gone as well!)

The old Tuna Market area. Another empty over fished resource

Further down the monster retired US Aircraft Carrier, USS Midway towers above the old dockyard. This was where the sailors disembarked from their ships during the war and it was an ideal place to moor this old ship. You just don’t realise how big these ships are until you get next to them. It’s sad to think that we spend so much money on military hardware!

The Midway towers above everything else

 This is where sailors disembarked during the war

Big ship

It blocks out the sun!

The only reason that the famous Gaslamp area survived is that it became seedy and rundown. The great and the good wanted to live and shop elsewhere, so this part of the city became the no-go, red light district. Its all a bit like Haight Ashbury in San Francisco and then the planners discovered that this was one of the only historic parts of the city left and it was worth preserving. Funny how things go full circle if you leave them alone. It’s now the place to go and be seen in San Diego. Nice place!

Still some risqué places despite the clean up

 The Gaslamp buildings

 Angels on the streets of San Diego

Some cool wheels in the Gaslamp

Everyone tells you that you must visit Baiboa Park when you go the San Diego. This place is a revelation and it's very beautiful. The Park is huge and covers over 1,200 acres of valuable real-estate in the middle of the city. The park was established as part of the Panama-California International Exhibition in 1915. A series of magnificent pavilions were built in the Spanish style and they now  house most of San Diego's museums and galleries. The museums are open every day of the week, except Wednesday and guess which day we visited. If you take a positive spin on this, then at least its quiet and restful walking around the closed buildings! 

 Busker at the Baiboa Park

 The Botanical House

 Wonderful Spanish style architecture in the pavilions from the 1915 exhibition

A very peaceful and beautiful place to be

A few were open including the Botanical House, the Photographic Museum (not very good) and a small but marvellous collection of European paintings and Russian Icons at the Timken Museum. The gallery houses the Putnam Foundation Collection. If Getty bought cheap and in bulk, this collection is small and its a jewel. Its defiantly worth a visit!

Lady in a Green Dress: Bartolomeo Veneto 1530: Our favourite!

Francois Boucher: Lovers in the park 1758

Jacques-Loius David: Portrait of Cooper Penrose 1802

Pieter Bruegel the Elder; Parable of the Sower 1557

Frans Hals: Portrait of a man 1634

Rembrandt van Rijn: Saint Bartholomew 1657

Sir Anthony van Dyck: Mary Villiers, Lady Herbert of Shurland 1636: Just wonderful!

The Zoo and Sea World are both worth a visit and are world class exhibits but we have seen a lot of really free wildlife on this trip and decided to leave them this time.

Back to La Jolla for a meal at an Italian Restaurant on La Jolla Shores thats worth a visit:

Osteria Romantica, 2151 Avenida De La Playa (between Avenida De La Ribera & Calle De La Plata), La Jolla, CA 92037