San Diego

Today, Thursday, dawned almost bright and sunny.  Most mornings here in San Diego, there has been cloud cover, which burns off later in the day to reveal a reasonable day.  Today, there was sunshine a bit earlier than previously (in LA, there were very few clouds at all, mostly blue skies).

We met up with Tante Thea and her friend Miss Ronnie at their hotel for a quick cup of coffee (tea for Tsana), and said farewell to Miss Ronnie.  She headed off to the beach for the day, over at Coronado, whilst the rest of us headed into downtown SN Diego, first stop, the New Children's Museum.  It was all about playing, creating and sharing - and it was interactive, noisy, messy, and fun!  There was a huge area downstairs with books and nooks for reading; there were 5 chickens, known as 5pm (5 pooping machines - we only have 3pm!); there was a community learning garden across the road (where the boys made newspaper pots and planted them with dwarf beans, which have been passed on to Tante Thea and Miss Ronnie to take home when they leave tomorrow); there was an area for bubble blowing, clay making, painting old farm machines, building structures out of bricks made from dried mushrooms; a room to make music in using kitchen tools; etc.  There were explanatory notes for children (or for the adults in most cases) saying what was in the area, what could be done with it and what would be learnt, and info about the artist.  It was all really well done, and we all enjoyed it.

Next stop was the San Diego waterfront, starting at the Seaport Village end and working our way back to the USS Midway, where we had parked for the day.  En route, we saw a pelican, a harbour seal or a sea lion, lots of statues and memorials for service men (SD is a Navy port, after all).  The boys went on a Looff carousel from 1895.  We saw a gigantic statue of a serviceman kissing a lady, at the end of the war - it was modeled after a photo taken in Times Square - the sailor has apparently recently died.

We then did a drive up to the Presidio, which is the old fort location and looks out over Old Town San Diego and San Diego Bay.  We got to see chipmunks while we were there.

Then, dinner with Tante Thea in Little Italy before dropping her off at her hotel and saying our farewells to her.  Next time we see her, she may be back visiting us in NZ.

Showers, blogs, washing, shopping and packing - all tasks set to get us ready to leave tomorrow for our next set of adventures.