San Diego - Day 1

As we drove out of camp Daryl thought he spotted a kiwi flag so on the way back in we detour and have a closer look - sure enough the NZ flag is hanging off the mirror and we find a pair of kiwi's having a wine.  We stop for a yarn and find they are doing the same as us having just spent two years in Europe.   

Meet Don & Val Megget from Kaiapoi, near Christchurch.

A lovely couple and it was nice to catch up with some more kiwis and swap stories about our travel experiences together.  They will be back next year so who knows we just might meet them again on the road somewhere.
 

Next morning was another beautiful day in perfect temperatures.......  we head over to Old Town for a look around. 

Nice setting but priced for the tourists as you can imagine and we had seen most things before for a lot less $$.  Relaxing just to wander around and enjoy the atmosphere though.

Next we hopped on the trolley which does 11 stops around San Diego and was a great way to see the place without having to drive, navigate and find parking! 

We went past the harbour stop and hopped off at Seaport for a look around the shops and walked around the bay where we had a very fattening but yummy Ben & Jerry ice cream....


The water police checking out Daryl.......hmmm
no seriously the cops had some guy bailed up just down from us and that was the back up in the water.

Lots of restaurants and cafes with fantastic views like this one - such gorgeous weather, what more could you want.


Back on the bus we pass the convention centre & the Horton plaza before hopping off again at the Gaslamp Quarter.

Another cool area to check out and we also found a Hard Rock to add to Daryl's collection of guitars, so that was handy.

Back on the trolley and we go past the next few stops, Hilton Bayfront, Coronado Ferry, Coronado McP's, Balboa Park/Zoo and Little Italy before returning to Old Town.   

Crossing the bridge over to Coronado

 

Old villas and the Coronado Hotel below - some of the original old buildings here.

 

Navy fleet boats as we cross back to San Diego from Coronado

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Balboa Park - there was a free concert playing at the 40 pipe organ.  The architecture is beautiful and the setting in the park lovely.

 

 

We have another look around Old Town as we had not covered a third of it this morning before hopping on the trolley but it is now 5pm and the trolleys are on their last round so we needed to be back where the car was parked.

We decide to head back down to Little Italy for dinner as we both love Italian as this is supposed to be the biggest Little Italy.  Our memory of how we came back on the trolley proved to be a little sketchy so after a couple of loops around the blocks we finally made it back there....

As we stroll around we see a camera shop that was closed but decide to come back tomorrow to look for a lens and we check out the restaurants, selecting a nice one for dinner.