San Diego

San Diego boasts a waterfront shopping village called “Seaport Village”, it is made up of many small shops and boutiques selling a vast assortment of items, it also supports a number of eating places including a couple of fairly up market restaurants, one of them built on an old wooden pier.

Running through the village are watercourses with bridges and of course ducks and turtles, a lovely place to sit and enjoy a coffee in the warm sunshine.

San Diego has a number of interesting features, I think the best way to see them all is by taking a ride on the “trolley” for an hour or so, a green and orange replica of an old trolley car, all wood and brass, the driver is obviously very expert on all things San Diego, and all drivers have a great sense of humour as well.

During your tour you are going to start probably in old town which is the terminus, it is old, it still has some original Mexican adobe built buildings etc, very interesting.

You will also be shown the gas lamp quarter, not as old as old town but still rather quaint, a great area for eating and drinking in an evening.

Another area covered in the tour is Coronado Island, not quite an Island, it is joined to the mainland by a narrow causeway. The Island is home to the officers of the nearby Naval Air Station and also the famous old wooden Coronado Hotel, many famous people have stayed there including royalty and film stars.

If you are lucky enough to be in San Diego at Xmas time you might be surprised to see a Xmas tree, about 20 feet high made entirely of Poinsettia plants, a beautiful red tree, also as you walk along the sea front in your shorts and t shirt you will notice “merry Xmas” banners on all the lamp posts, meanwhile the temperature is in the low eighties, this place would do me fine, not the Xmas temperature’s I am more used to.

San Diego is a haven for animal lovers, you have Sea World, full of interesting animals, performing “Orca’s’ “or killer whales, Beluga Whales, Walruses, Polar Bears, Penguins and many more interesting animals, a full day is needed here, most interesting.

Another animal lovers spot is the famous San Diego Zoo , a day long visit is the minimum, you can have a rest as you are driven round in a double deck bus in what is a very hilly zoo, the alternative transport is by cable car, gliding silently above tigers etc.

Still not finished, San Diego Wild Animal Park, owned and run by the zoo, this is a huge open area outside San Diego in open country, where the animals are free and the humans are caged.

It is set out in two vast areas, the continent of Africa and the continent of India.

Take the African continent, herds of all kinds of Antelope, herds of Zebra, Giraffe, Elephant, rhino, in fact anything you can find in Africa except any of the big cats, the Indian continent is on the same lines, quite amazing to see, you could believe you were on safari, instead you are transported around in a train running around the perimeter, taking fully an hour to circumnavigate the park.

For the very adventurous there is a rather novel way to get right in among the animals, you can get yourself a journey by open safari type truck driving slowly among the animals, many coming over to see what tasty little tit bit you might have, I would think this would really give the impression of being on safari and a great opportunity with a camera.

All in all, San Diego is a haven for those of us interested in all types of wildlife.