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Spring in San Diego feels a great deal like spring at home. Cool, crisp, and more than slightly overcast \u2013 with the perpetual near-dampness of oncoming spring rain. After the heat and humidity of Mexico and Panama, this kind of weather was a beautifully refreshing change. After all, all you really need is a light jacket, it\u2019s not as though it was bundle up weather.<\/p>\n
I love San Diego, partially because there\u2019s something about it that reminds me of home \u2013 and when you spend as much time away from home as I do, the little reminders come to mean something.<\/p>\n
Originally, Amras and I had a vague idea of going to the zoo, but as it turned out it wasn\u2019t exactly zoo weather (although I love spring showers, it isn\u2019t really conducive to wandering around outside looking at animals) \u2013 so we ended up just exploring instead. We have a few favourite haunts for food, and there are some great places for specialty teas very close to the ship, and it\u2019s nice to just have nothing to do once in a while. We were actually in port considerably longer than usual \u2013 as our call didn\u2019t fall at the end of a cruise, which is almost unheard of, so instead of having to rush back to the ship at 2pm we could actually stay out<\/em> for dinner.<\/p>\n As much as I love spring weather on the west coast, it does have the effect of sometimes making things feel a little spooky. Like any other city, businesses close and reopen in San Diego on a regular basis, but there are a few things you expect to stay basically the same so we were caught by surprise when our wondering steps finally took us to the mall that we\u2019ve visited every<\/em> San Diego port for years now\u2026only to find that the place was a ghost-town. Shuttered up store-fronts and stalled escalators that obviously hadn\u2019t been repaired in so long that people had just started treating them like stairs; empty kiosks and flaking marquees, and the sad ghost of what was once our favourite Cinnabon store only last season. It was spooky<\/em>. There were only a few storefronts left in operation, and our footsteps almost seemed to echo as we made our way to Hot Topic\u2026<\/p>\n When we finally found someone to ask what on earth had happened to the place, we found out htat one of the anchor stores had shut down, and when that happened apparently the rest of the mall went with it\u2026<\/p>\n The results were eerie\u2026<\/p>\n In some ways I almost just wanted to sit and stare at the empty space, I\u2019m finding myself fascinated with abandoned spaces\u2026perhaps it\u2019s the writer in me that thinks that every<\/em> space has a story to tell of what it once was.<\/p>\n Once we left the empty mall behind us we \u2013 no big surprise \u2013 found the pub that had the most awesome pinball machines. And for once I actually won! Total disbelief, I actually beat Amras at pinball! Things I never thought I would see happen.<\/p>\n But my favourite part of San Diego, bar none, is the waterfront. Walking back from dinner, the first edges of the spars started rearing up against the sky, and by the time we reached the waterfront, the vast cream-coloured sails of the Star of India<\/em> could be seen spreading themselves across the overcast grey; and I could hear the rigging creaking against the wind. I have been known to spend hours at the San Diego Martime Museum\u2026I know these ladies, they know me. Sadly, we didn\u2019t have enough time for a proper visit, so I had to say my greetings from afar and take my traditional turn around the gift shop. Once again I am reminded that the tall ship sailing course is something I have<\/em> to do, thankfully the program doesn\u2019t have an age limit as long as the person applying is healthy and strong enough to handle the work \u2013 but I\u2019ve been putting this off for so long that it feels like past time to stop doing so.<\/p>\n Further along the waterfront stands the very imposing silhouette of the HMS Midway<\/em> museum. Something that I have never been able to really make myself do. My relationship with military ships is\u2026turbulent. Somehow I just can\u2019t handle them. But \u2013 with the exception of the Pearl Harbour memorial \u2013 I\u2019ve always been afraid to even approach one. I\u2019m thinking that might change now that I\u2019m usually travelling with Amras, as he\u2019s a military history buff and enough of a grounding influence htat he can keep me from flying all to pieces from the energy pressure (that may not make sense ot some people, but trust me it is a thing, which more than a few people I know will understand).<\/p>\n The area around the Midway<\/em> is full of memorial statues, to sailors of course, but also to the ships themselves. The area is full of history, in fact one particular area of it made me physically dizzy. My favourite part of the area however is the giant statue of the famous end-of-war kiss (officially titled \u201cembracing peace\u201d) that stands on the edge of the water. There is something about that statue that gives me\u2026an incredible amount of hope. And there\u2019s something eerily ironic about having it stand so close to a warship. In the evening it\u2019s very quiet, and the thronging crowds taking pictures around the statue\u2019s base are light, in fact it\u2019s quiet enough that you can hear the old-time radio broadcast that plays on a loop from the nearby Bob Hope tribute drifting through on the air\u2026.<\/p>\n Ghost malls, speaking sails, and radio carried on the wind\u2026yeah, I love this city.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Spring in San Diego feels a great deal like spring at home. Cool, crisp, and more than slightly overcast \u2013 with the perpetual near-dampness of oncoming spring rain. After the heat and humidity of Mexico and Panama, this kind of … Continue reading