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18th February - We woke and decided to try another trip into Mexico, this time to Tijuana, just over the border from San Diego.We decided to try an organised trip this time, with the rationale that this might be safer and we would get some commentary about the area and the places that would be good to see, as well as the places to avoid.We were thrilled when we booked it and discovered that they would pick us up from the hotel, as we had expected to have to walk a couple of miles to the pick up point.Our tour guide was totally crazy, like he was on speed or something!!He NEVER stopped talking the whole time, even things that should just have been kept in his own head!!He even told us that he had invented the hybrid car 20 years before Toyota and they stole his idea, and he now has an idea for a perpetual motion machine - a lovely guy but we think he might be slightly barking mad!We were taken over the border without any problem at all and without the need to stop or get off the coach and we were really glad we had decided to take the coach as, unlike our trip into Mexico from El Paso, the main area of Tijuana is not just over the border, but it about a further 10 minute drive.We were dropped off at a shop affiliated to the tour company where we were given a brief talk on how to spot real silver from fake (although Mexico is known for its silver, over 90% of silver sold in Tijuana is fake).We were then left to our own devises for a couple of hours and, typically, we headed straight to a Mexican cantina for food - no surprise there!We ordered beef burritos and had a real shock when they arrived - they were massive - we could easily have shared one and had loads left over!They consisted of a flour tortilla filled with beef, onion, tomato, coriander (called cilantro over here in the U.S.), beans (the beans over here are liked mashed red kidney beans) and avocado.There was a guy in a Mexican poncho and hat in the cantina playing a glockenspiel for the entire time we were there, which was fun at first but was really annoying towards the end. He played things like "La Bamba" which I am sure was done just for us!!We then headed up through the main street.Tijuana is quite commercial with shop after shop and you have to be ready to be hassled constantly by the owners.A polite but firm "no" seems to do the trick. Its one of those places where none of the items for sale has a price, you have to ask them how much they want for the item and then haggle them down to the price that you are happy to pay.We saw a totally new thing in Tijuana too - Zonkeys!They are donkeys which have black and white stripes like Zebras!They were so cute but looked really forlorn standing for tourist pictures.We also saw, coming down the street, a truck with four large cages on the back blasting out music.And in the cages?Four tigers!!!It was strange enough seeing tigers in cages being driven down the street, but then we saw a Mexican going up to the cages and pounding on them, trying to bait the tigers - total madness!We didn't really want anything so just took a look of the stuff available, which mainly consists of fake designer bags, fake Rolexes and (no word of a lie) tons of wacky wrestling masks, which seems to be a big thing over here (they were like something out of the film 'Nacho Libre'!!).We then headed back to the coach and back to the border where this time we had to get off the coach and queue for about 20 minutes to get through border control.There was some disbelief on the coach that Ralph and I got through border control quicker than the Americans on the trip!The Americans commented they will let anyone into their country these days!Once we were dropped off back at the hotel Ralph decided he fancied a malt shake (his appetite is definitely coming back!) so we headed back to Ocean Beach where there is a shop that does fantastic malts and shakes and enjoyed those before heading back.
19th - Today we took the free hotel minibus to San Diego Zoo.It was a good day and we got to see loads of animals like grizzly bears, elephants, hippopotamus, lions, meer cats etc. but we feel ashamed to say that we think Disney's Animal Kingdom is better!After 5 hours at the zoo we walked back to our hotel, about a 2 mile walk, through Balboa Park.It's a park full of museums, fountains and architecture including Beaux Arts and Spanish Colonial buildings, built for two world fairs held there.There is even a replica of Shakespeare's Old Globe Theatre, which shows plays throughout the year, but unfortunately not at the time we were there.We got back to the hotel and watched a movie and then headed out later for our evening meal to the Little Italy area, and ended up at a restaurant called Bonne Appetit, which we can highly recommend, one of the loveliest meals we have had in a long time.
20th - We woke up to rain!!This is only about the third day in this whole trip so far when we have experienced rain so it was a bit of a shock.There was also low-lying fog and it was hard to see anything so we headed out in the car to Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcala, which is the site of the first California Mission, chosen when the Spanish arrived here.After a very brief look around the building in the rain we headed to the Cabrillo National Monument, but on the way there we realised that the spectacular views it boasts would be wasted today as we could hardly see anything at all with the low-lying cloud, and so we turned round and headed to Coronado.Coronado is an island joined to the mainland by a huge boomerang-shaped bridge.It's a lovely place, really pretty, and famous for the Hotel del Coronado which has had guests such as Brad Pitt and Marilyn Monroe.After a look at the island (much of it is used by the U.S. Navy as an air base) we headed back to the hotel, at only 3 p.m., as we had to admit that the weather had defeated us!We watched more movies (we are getting through loads of them at the moment) and Ralph went out for takeout later on.This also has to go down in the blog as the day my friend Hazel (who now lives in Los Angeles) got the elevator held for her by Tom Cruise and she said he was immaculate…now we will never forget!!
21st - It was cloudy today but there was no rain - so at least we weren't going to get wet!!We therefore headed back to the Cabrillo National Monument.The views from up there are amazing and you can see all around the harbour and over San Diego's downtown area.At certain times of the year you can whale watch from here but we guessed that from this height it must be hard to try and see whales in the sea all that way below.The monument commemorates the man who led the first Spanish exploration of the West Coast of America.We then decided to take a look at some of the other beaches on offer here, having enjoyed Ocean Beach so much.We first went to Imperial Beach which is near the border with Tijuana.Unfortunately it's a little run down and there was not a huge amount there of interest so we pushed on to Mission Beach, north of San Diego.This joins up with Pacific Beach further north by a car free pathway called Ocean Front Walk, which, as the name suggests, takes you between the two resorts whilst walking along the side of the beach and the ocean.Although no cars are allowed on the pathway, it's full of joggers, roller skaters, rollerbladers etc.We walked the path until we got to Pacific Beach, took a stroll on the pier (which was rocking with the strength of the waves below it!) and then walked back.On the way we managed to have a look at one of the new beach front one bedroom houses that have just been built and are for sale (they were having an open house and we managed to sneak past the salesman without being asked any questions as he had a couple with him who were actually interested in buying something!).They are really quite small but they have the best views, the bedroom wall is mainly glass which opens fully so that you can look out on to the beach and ocean.We then headed on to our final beach resort of the day, La Jolla.This is definitely an upscale part of town and the shops reflected it, with Gucci, Armani, Cartier etc.It seemed very nice (although too rich for our blood on this trip!) and so we headed back to the hotel as Ralph wanted to watch the Democratic debate on t.v. with Barack Obama (Go Barack!) facing Hilary Clinton (boo!).We are both Obama supporters here but the really sad thing is that we have become much more interested in the politics of America than we ever were with British politics.This could be to do with how American politics are dealt with over here and the medias reaction to them, but its all very exciting, the main problem has been trying to get hold of an Obama sticker for our car!!!Another lovely meal in Little Italy beckoned, as tomorrow we head to Los Angeles.I managed to get hold of some tickets today to go to the recording of a t.v. show in Los Angeles we like over here called Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.Its being recorded next week so we are really looking forward to going to that.
22nd - We drove 2.5 hours to Los Angeles, again unfortunately in the pouring rain.The journey was full of mountain greenery and we have honestly not seen as much greenery as this since we were in the UK.We arrived on Sunset Boulevard and after trying to get a room at a hotel we had a coupon for (it was full) we took a drive along the rest of Sunset Boulevard and Hollywood Boulevard, trying hotels for a room all along the way, with no luck.We could not understand this as we often arrive in cities without a room reservation and usually have no problems getting something, and then we saw it….a huge advert for the Oscars being held on Sunday!!Oh dear!!After a couple of further hours trying for a hotel we finally managed to get one near the airport.Not an ideal location for exploring L.A. but somewhere at least!We arrived at the hotel (a Radisson) and it was beautiful and Ralph announced that he was not leaving the hotel at all for the 2 nights we had booked!I got a phone call from my friend Hazel who lives in Los Angeles, which was totally exciting as she was only a 20 minute drive away.We discussed meeting up tomorrow night and then Ralph and I went out to a T.G.I. Friday's for supper, although this was no ordinary T.G.I. Friday's - it was owned by Magic Johnson!!
23rd - We decided to have a relaxed day in the hotel which was a really good idea as, after a sunny start to the day, the clouds came over and the rain started to pour again.We answered e-mails, typed the blog, watched more political debate etc.We then headed over to my friend Hazel's house, who lives with her husband Regis near Santa Monica.We just had the best night there.It was lovely to finally meet Regis and Hazel's dad was also visiting from Sheffield, who I haven't seen since my school days!We also met Regis' friend Gerry and Hazel's friends Lisa and Reid.Regis took great pride in cooking chicken on the most amazing barbeque/rotisserie Ralph has ever seen!The chicken was cooked with the heat and smoke from a real wood fire, and it tasted amazing, specially served with beans, corn fritters, corn on the cob and barbeque sauce, followed by pumpkin pie and cream - delicious!!We chatted and sat by the fire outside as the rain poured and discussed everything from old school friends to politics, and were sad when it came time to leave (although it was after midnight!).We are hoping to meet up again before we leave L.A.
24th - We left our hotel at the airport and headed to the home of David Beckham and the rest of the L.A. Galaxy team, strangely called The Home Depot Center.We were thrilled that the merchandise store (we would call it the club shop!) was open as it meant that I could finally buy my dad's overdue birthday present - an L.A. Galaxy Beckham home shirt.We left the stadium (the season does not start for "Major League Soccer" over here until April so we couldn't take a look inside) and headed to the Oscars!We arrived and parked about a mile away, took a walk and managed to get quite a good spot at the front of the barrier ready to spot the stars.Strangely enough we were once again next to the hateful Westboro Baptist Church members and their placards (similar to the ones they had in Washington D.C. but with a newly added "Heath in Hell" placard referring to the recent death of the actor Heath Ledger who made the film Brokeback Mountain).This time however another group had surrounded them with signs such as "God loves Everyone" and "God supports Gays".Fantastically enough this second group seemed to quell the Westboro Baptist Member, who didn't sing any of their hateful songs or start any of their chants while we were there.After an hour in the rain and only seeing some guy from Seinfield and Jamie Lee Curtis, we left to go and watch the rest of the proceedings on t.v. in the comfort of our hotel, which is great as we have a view of the famous Hollywood sign from our room window!!
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