Hotel del Coronado

Friday, October 2, 2009

On the trolley I won a wooden token for correctly answering the question the driver asked - what is the most popular fruit in America? This was as we drove by the fruit import facility we'd seen on the trolley tour before... so I knew the answer was bananas (even though technically they're not fruit).

We crossed the bridge and headed straight to the Hotel del Coronado.

I was quite excited to be at this place I'd seen so many years ago in postcards.

DRAGON TREE

A sign here reads: "Native to the Canary Islands, this unusual tree was planted at The Del prior to the turn of the century where it thrives in our temperate southern California coastal climate.

The Dragon Tree was used as a backdrop in the Marilyn Monroe movie Some Like It Hot, which was filmed at The Del in 1958."

San Diego - Seaport Village

Friday October 2, 2009

Glenn went off to catch the trolley while I walked over to the park next to the aircraft carrier. We would meet there where the trolley has stopped before, when we had taken the whole tour on Tuesday. That was the plan anyway.

But as I searched around the buildings, I couldn't find a shopping mall. There was only a restaurant. I was getting a sinking feeling that I was in the wrong place. This was confirmed when the trolley bumped along down the street right past the park.

This was bad. Glenn and I were in San Diego. Neither of us had a cell phone - we had no way to contact one another. He was going to the shopping mall and I wasn't even sure where it was. I didn't even know its name. I did know that it was by the water though so I started walking on a path by the shore. Ahead were a number of buildings that could be a shopping centre. As I got near, I saw a trolley pull into the driveway. Eureka! But I was at the other end of the sprawling complex (Seaport Village) and had to cross a large parking lot. I didn't mention that my innards were acting up on this day, so this was no time to risk running. The trolley drove back out of the driveway.

At least I was at the right place but when I eventually got to the end where the trolley stopped, Glenn was nowhere to be found. Oh no. He may have started walking back to the park where he knew I was, but, with so many buildings and paths on the grounds, there would be no way to tell which route he might take. I hoped that he hadn't taken the trolley over to Coronado... or taken a cab back to the hotel. I was envisioning our day in ruins - the whole day spent trying to find one another.

Near the trolley stop was a ticket booth. I asked the man there if he'd perhaps seen my husband, thinking that Glenn might have checked in to see if I had asked about him. "Lady," he said with a droll tone, "Husbands are looking for their wives here all the time."

I stewed for a few minutes trying to figure out what to do. Now here's the amazing part. I turned around and saw Glenn getting off a trolley! It turned out that he'd missed the first one. He was annoyed that he'd missed it but it was sure lucky that he did. I love it when things work out like that.

I didn't take many photos. We visited a book store here, then caught the trolley to Coronado.

A trolley tour

Tuesday September 29, 2009

We couldn't do the Old Town Trolley Tour with luggage and there doesn't seem to be anywhere handy at the dock to store it. Glenn got the brilliant idea to try the train station just a couple of blocks away. We hoped they would accept our bags as we would be travelling with them a few days later. They would, for $3 a bag but they took both our bags for that price. By this time it felt like 80° F so we took a kabuki cab.

The train station is quite an attractive building and I meant to take a picture of it later but forgot. You can see a picture of it here. The sign says Santa Fe just to make things a little confusing.

Time marched on and we missed a trolley by seconds. This is down by the cruise ship dock and since there are many tour operators in this spot there are also lots of tourists, kind of like at San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf only not nearly as tacky.

This picture of a trolley was taken on Coronado. They run about every half hour and make 11 stops. One can jump on off and on at any stop or take the whole tour which takes about 2 hours, I think. At about $30 a ticket it seems expensive but the tours are great fun. The drivers are full of interesting information and they put on recordings in timely spots throughout the tour. For instance, an Arnold Swarchenegger voice made the safety announcement. Our first driver guide had a funny way of talking that made me think of Gilligan's Island. If you keep your receipt, you can ride the trolley on another day for only $18 ea.

This building's claim to fame was that it was where the bar scene in Top Gun was filmed.

Views of downtown San Diego.

You hear a lot about the Gaslamp Quarter, but it didn't particularly fascinate me. Just as well since we couldn't fit everything into four days.

There was a stop and a small mall at the waterfront. We drove by a large industrial yard where bananas are brought in. I believe they said most of the bananas in the country come through here.

Hold onto your hats! The trolley sounds like a tank as it blasts over the Coronado Bridge and it seems out of place with the rest of the traffic. Jaunty music is played during this madcap ride. Somebody mentioned that San Diego can have a curved bridge because it doesn't freeze or snow there, which is something that hadn't occurred to me.

We get a glimpse of the Hotel Del Coronado and the beautiful beach there. More on this later because we'll be back in a few days. The trolley makes two stops on this island which isn't really an island, then it's back across the bridge.

Wonderful Balboa Park. I love this place and could spend days here. We'll be coming back tomorrow on zoo day.

On we go through Little Italy. There were lots of banners of people including one of Frank Sinatra. Don't know who this tennis player is.

The farthest point out is Old Town. This touristy spot looks like a town out of the old west with a Mexican influence. I'd hoped to get back here but it didn't work out.

Even though this end of the city is closer to La Jolla, we had to take the trolley back to the cruise ship area to retrieve our luggage from the train station.

At home I had looked into booking a shuttle to La Jolla, but $60 didn't seem very cheap. People had advised to rent a car, saying that taxis are very expensive, but I didn't want to start my holiday driving in downtown San Diego. We decided to take our chances with a cab. $38.