Arrived late Monday, due to a technical fault with the air con on the plane, caught up time in the air but still over 2 hours late, our pre-booked Uber though was nearby ready to take us to our hotel.
Had pre-booked a 2 day Go City pass giving us the Trolleybus Hop On Hop Off for both days, entry to loads of museums and other stuff. We saved £40 overall, could have done more but we are on holiday.
Have had a fantastic two days, clear blue skies and 22 degrees, cannot complain. Lots of history in San Diego but mainly no one wanted to live here, land sold for 33 cents an acre to an entrepreneur, built smaller blocks, as corners sold for more, eventually people came with the railroads and it became a prosperous city. There is an island called Coronado, might have only been sepated by a stream, but now has a 200ft high 2.2 mile bridge connecting it to the mainland. Originally uninhabited as it had no water source but it was gifted as a wedding present, sold for $1000, sold again for $5000, 40+ years later sold for $110,000 to 2 gentlemen, Babcock & Storey, who wanted and did build the Hotel Del Coronado (Some Like It Hot was filmed here). A few years later, bought by John Spreckles, a sugar magnet, who restored it to its former glory. The US Air Force wanted to take the north end of the island for free, after 4 years of legal battles he got $6 million, far more than he asked them for in the first place! The average price of a property is $2.5 million!
We did pass the Hard Rock Cafe, but did not go in as we have been before and he has got the T-shirt!
Second day we visited a number of museums including the Automotive, Tinkem, Mingei and the Botanic Gardens. Finished off with a boat tour at the Maritime Museum on an original Pilot Boat operated in San Diego harbour, part of the Maritime Museum. Lots of ships here,Nigel was happy though as one of them was the HMS Surprise, used in the film Master & Commander, one of his favourites as it was based on a book written by Patrick O’Brian one of his favourite authors. He was well happy. The Star of India was impressive and iron hulled ship from 1863, fully restored and operational.
Mexican meal to end the day, on the waterside overlooking the harbour at sunset. We had a voucher from the museum giving us a free starter with any main course, with the portion sizes here one of each was enough for us together with the odd beer and Pomegranate Sangria for me 🥂