It was a long 2 weeks in LA living in a hotel. Eating out every meal loses its appeal quickly and the food in America is not good for the health conscious. I don’t think much of LA – too
big, too fake, too much money. The highlight after Batman, was having breakfast
twice at a fabulous café called Ruby's Cafe down in Santa Monica. This is an Australian style café, the menu was wonderful, the food was superb and
service was great AND the coffee was excellent. Here’s a link to it and I would recommend it to anyone
wanting a good meal.
The pics below are of Venice Beach boardwalk and the famous Muscle Beach Gym. This is a heavy duty mans outdoor gym. I believe Arnold Schwarzenegger used to work out here.
After a week of work in LA, we took a few days to
visit San Diego which is almost on the Mexican border. Well, everyone said it
was a fabulous place and I was very excited to go but I have to say, it’s not
as good as San Francisco which is kind of what I was expecting. The weather was
lovely and there was the USS Midway ship museum
(which I didn’t go to anyway), but I didn’t find anything else there
really worth recommending to anyone.
We hired a car (not this one in the pic) and drove down from LA, along the
coast road which was a pretty drive and not much more time than the freeway
running parallel to us. Check out the car that we passed on the way - I did a double take in the mirror when I saw that behind us !!
There seemed to be ocean on one side and industrial,
oil rigs and energy/gas plants on the left so fairly ugly contrast really. We
stopped at La Jolla which was close to San Diego as this is the place to watch
seals. They are always gorgeous and these guys were huge, maybe sealions, and
they were sunbaking on the beach and rocks. This little beach used to be a
childrens beach but the seals took over and now is closed for access – except
to the seals.
We arrived into San Diego late afternoon and
decided to have a late lunch/early dinner. I was hanging out for good Mexican
food and around the corner was a good spot apparently. I ordered a Margarita
and it blew my head off. It was pure alcohol and I needed food pretty quick but
too late, it went to my head. Yes, I’m a lightweight when it comes to drinking.
I ordered something different – deep fried pork belly tacos – and it was very
very oily which I paid for later that night over the porcelain bus, so to speak. Sadly we didn’t enjoy much else of
the traditional Mexican fare. We took a walk along the waterfront and there
were plenty of old and new ships to look at. Lots of people were out and about
but again, it was nice to be in the sun but not much else to rave about.
There was a new ship, USS Omaha, in dock which was commissioned
the weekend we were there. I was quite impressed to see this as it is an LCS
(Littoral Combat Ship) which is very stealthy and the look of future ships.
The next day we enjoyed a sleep in and then headed
out for breakfast to a place with good reviews. Interesting menu but we stuck
to eggs bene as my stomach was not up for much fun after the night before. I
ordered a cup of tea and seriously, it was ridiculous. The cup weighed about
2kg and it was like drinking out of a beer mug. I didn’t even attempt to drink
it. I know coffee is not the common drink in the US but honestly, you wouldn’t
serve beer in a tea cup, so why would you serve tea in a beer mug? I wouldn’t
recommend this place anyway, wasn’t worth the high reviews in my opinion.
We jumped on the light rail train thing and went to
Oldtown where there are markets. Hmmm, it was ok but we may as well have been
in Mexico. Deb was interested in some small colourful potplants and a blanket
so we checked them out and decided to come back the next day when the arts and
craft markets would be open for the Saturday crowd. We spent the afternoon at
Coronado Island. There is a huge bridge that links San Diego to the Island and
it’s a nice view. The island is home to the North Island Naval Air Station and
has a beautiful beach. We took the ferry over and walked the streets a bit but
again, not much to see. Yes there were shops and a beach but better suited for
the summer beach tourist.
That night we went to Little Italy which was close
to our hotel. It was full of great Italian restaurants and I had lobster
ravioli which is the 2nd best pasta I’ve ever eaten. God it was bloody nice. The best pasta I’ve ever had was in Italy at Finale Ligure where I did my Solo 24 hour race back in 2012. It was a small town, they didn’t speak much
English, but the food was fantastic. Anyway, it was a great meal.
Our last day was spent on the hop on/off trolley
which was a good way to see San Diego. There is a park called Balboa Park which
was beautiful and if we went back, we would spend some time there. However, we
ended up back at the Oldtown markets to get a few things and then started the
drive back to LA where we stayed the night – had an early flight home in the
morning. It was nice to get home after 2 weeks away and the dogs were excited
as always to see us.
Deb has been doing an online photography course for her iPhone. So far the pictures have been super impressive. I've included some in this post. However, check out the picture of me 'shooting myself'. Deb asks me to help with a photo. Stand there, hands up. Then run around behind me and stand there as if pointing a gun. After 3 attempts and even more strange looks by passers by, here is the outcome. I wish I had my Batman cape on !!
No comments:
Post a Comment