Views of San Diego from Coronado Island

Spring is in the air (not that San Diego actually experienced winter),so it was time to go out and experience a different past of San Diego - much needed given that we live in North County which is very agrestic (like the community in the comedy called Weeds, where all the homes look the same and everything is very cookie cutter.)














The view from Coronado Island of San Diego downtown is rather impressive and definitely gives one the feeling that we do live in a large city. It is a large city, with 3 million people, however the city is very spread out, especially compared to London.
















I guess that over time we will get used to this sprawling town and its many little enclaves that make it unique and attracts a ton of tourists over the summer, which seems to have started about now..

Last night we decided to head downtown and experience the city life for a change. It was good outing, new york style pizza, old cinemas and lots of 20-somethings waiting for hours to get into the trendy Ivy bar where drinks start at $20.

I had a good laugh when I saw some girls out on a hen's night (kitchen tea, bridal shower, bachelorette party) dressed up very similar to the ladettes in Blackpool, out for a night on the town.. jean's sprayed on with muffin tops and all.. I may be very far from the UK but some things seem to be just the same the world over..

Death Valley...

So a fortnight ago, John adamant to get out of SD for the weekend, decided that we should head out to Death Valley, a national park about 5 hours away from San Deigo.



















Death Valley is a rather descriptive name for this place. There is not much to see other than super dry, barren land, large expanses of it.. The highlight is the fact that this place is considered to be the driest place in America. It also has the lowest elevationm 86m below sea level.
It also has salt pans. According to all the reports on this place, a few million years ago there was an inland sea in this place but as the are turned to desert, it evaorated into salt.



















These views above are probably the most dramatic in the park. Other than that there is not much else to see. Even the rumours about wild flowers coming into bloom was not as amazing a sight as we though it would be.

But we came, we saw and left..

Airports!!!!!

Its midnight, and I am stuck in an airport again.. Give me Heathrow (yes Heathrow with those nice BA or Virgin business lounges) any day over the not so great comforts of the airports of America.. where even first class domestic does not guarantee club lounge access. Can you believe that??? My flight is 4 hours delayed..and will only leave at 1.40am this morning to San Diego from San Francisco. I am en route from a red eye (overnight flight to the east coast sans my flat bed) to Jersey where I had a series of investment meetings and then returned back 12 hours later via SFO. never again... but it will happen again.. because San Diego is what Manchestor is to London (thankfully prettier) but one of those cities that is not just large enough to generate demand for direct flights.. Virgin has finally launched VirginAmerica (thank you Richard!!) and as soon as they start their direct flights from San Diego to the east coast, it will become my next best travel friend.. for a service oriented country, its hard to believe that Americans sacrifice the comforts of travel.. its time to take a leaf out of virgin's or british airways book and realise that service does matter and people are willing to pay that little extra to be treated like humans rather than cattle.

Great Indian in SFO

I just got back from spending the last 2 nights in San Francisco.. love that city... a mini London to some extent.. I had to head there for a conference and when I do get to head there I try to find new things to see and to meet up with friends.

So we have found the equivalent to having your local indian/pakistani place. For $27.00, we ate for two and there was plenty left on the table. The food is excellent, cooked by Mexicans, owned by Pakistani's.. finally a place that equals Lahore Kebab in London.. no alcohol here either but there is no shortage of good cocktail bars close by..

try this one.. Bourbon & Branch, a very cool Speakeasy.. and a definite step back into the 1920's. have to make sure I get to return to both of these places pretty soon..

and now I am back in San Diego, watching America's next top model.. and waiting for JK to come home.. for a change I got home before him.

A different slant on the RAND

So as part of my strange travels around the US, I come across small towns.. and on our way to Mammoth, we came across Randburg and Jannesburg, named wierldy enough after the infamous Egoli in South Africa..

these towns were initally created as mining towns for gold, based on the wealth created by gold in JNB.

In 1896, Randsburg was called Rand Camp, and Red Mountain was originally called Osdick. Johannesburg was established in 1896 as the planned service community for the mining camps. It is the only Rand-area town laid out with straight streets and right-angle intersections. All three towns still retain remnants of the past and have been able to maintain their unique ambiance through the efforts of renovation and preservation.

Its however very different from what we know as Johnnesburg. Would you ever find a swap meet (clothes exchange, the concept of bartering comes to mind) in JNB? My poor fellow South Africans would be surprised to see the lack of high rise buildings or cool cars for that matter.. a very different take on the heart of Africa.

Mammoth.. some great pics

Nuff said.. I think you will work out all the characters in these photos.. the one with the kid (Queen Bea) shows what john and I would like if we adopted a white kid.. welcome to our Brangelina aspirations..............

More Snow.. Mammoth with the Jarvis

Yay!! Finally a vacation in overworked America.. I tell you these folk have it bad.. very little holiday period and they work much longer hours … lets all adopt the French way of living… I would give anything to run a CleanTech Fund in the middle of Paris.. Parisian macaroons, Chateau Margaux wine and the best of the cheeses.. (I don’t have a weight problem) on a daily basis, not to mention a 35 hour work week and the Louvre and great clothing.. I will be the outlier and shower daily.. I promise..

So as a result of Sarah’s initiative we headed out to my first holiday in the US since arriving to Mammoth Mountain.. for a skiing trip.. I agreed to this with only 8 days of skiing under my belt not thinking much.. but just the fact that I can be outdoors and with some old friends.. and Queen Bea… who as you will see still loves handbags.. a women after my own heart!!! When you become a teenager, and if I don’t have any daughters, I will loan you my entire handbag collection… you will be the coolest gal in high school.. forget the Cheerleaders..

Ryan and Chiara, friends of Zachary joined us for part of the time. He is the guy standing while the rest of us sods are sitting around.. they were great, lovers of meat product which bode well with John and of variable ski expertise which bode well with me.




Mammoth is truly beautiful.. check out the photo of Sarah with the awesome background.. and skiing is comparatively cheaper than Europe.. so head over schi canone (“Ski champion”) Andreja and come visit us.. The slopes (green and blue) for yours truly were great as well until we went down the moguls and I fell ever so often.. but all in fun and as long as I did not break any of my appendages, I was happy.

The food was good too.. Its amazing how many chili fries, hamburgers and hot dogs one can put away during lunch, not to mention dinners with lots of wines.. I had not drunk this much since I left my Londres..

On the last evening, after Queen Bea finally realized that the John was cooler than I, we headed for a spa treatment.. how superbly wonderful.. ..

More photos to follow..


Queen Bea and my Longchamp handbag.. it must be the sheen.. but she truly loves it..