Santa Cruz - Not That Far?
Woke up to complimentary breakfast and the news that Mubarak had walked. I loved his original response to the protesters, that he said he would stand down, but not until September. CNN had one shot of some celebrators from quite far away. It's huge news, it seems. I'm not entirely sure that it will make a huge difference to Egypt, it depends who or what replaces Mubarak. They might end up with another 30-year dictator.
Fisherman's Wharf at Monterey was OK, lots of tacky shops selling 'Pirate' and 'Fish' related tat. We went to the Aquarium, which was pretty good, though mainly aimed at schoolchildren. There was a 'Bat Ray Touch Tank' where kids could touch a ray fish. Except all the ray fish were sensibly hiding out of reach. The highlights were the otters and the penguins - we love penguins.
We drove off to have lunch in Santa Cruz, which turned out to be a beautiful town. The fact that they had some wonderful book and record stores only helped. They even had a Borders. We miss Borders in the UK. If we come back to California, we'll have to spend some time in Santa Cruz.
After lunch we did the big trip up to San Francisco. As we approached the city, the roads got a heck of a lot larger, going up to around five lanes. We're staying at a 'Vertigo' themed hotel that Simon found, with arty decor. We had dinner at 'Louis' Diner', a very, very American Diner, kind of like a Long Island Restaurant. I had a Hot Rod Burger and Apple Pie, Si had fish and chips and a Banana Split. After dinner we walked up some big San Francisco hills to get back to the hotel, getting our first sights of the Coit Tower and Golden Gate Bridge as we went.
Fisherman's Wharf at Monterey was OK, lots of tacky shops selling 'Pirate' and 'Fish' related tat. We went to the Aquarium, which was pretty good, though mainly aimed at schoolchildren. There was a 'Bat Ray Touch Tank' where kids could touch a ray fish. Except all the ray fish were sensibly hiding out of reach. The highlights were the otters and the penguins - we love penguins.
We drove off to have lunch in Santa Cruz, which turned out to be a beautiful town. The fact that they had some wonderful book and record stores only helped. They even had a Borders. We miss Borders in the UK. If we come back to California, we'll have to spend some time in Santa Cruz.
After lunch we did the big trip up to San Francisco. As we approached the city, the roads got a heck of a lot larger, going up to around five lanes. We're staying at a 'Vertigo' themed hotel that Simon found, with arty decor. We had dinner at 'Louis' Diner', a very, very American Diner, kind of like a Long Island Restaurant. I had a Hot Rod Burger and Apple Pie, Si had fish and chips and a Banana Split. After dinner we walked up some big San Francisco hills to get back to the hotel, getting our first sights of the Coit Tower and Golden Gate Bridge as we went.