OK folks, I know we are starting to run way behind in the blog. This is partly due being on the road – well, to and in San Diego – for three days, and partly because our San Diego hotel’s wireless was woeful. I didn’t finish the last post until 1.30am because the connection kept falling out. It was, to put it mildly, frustrating, but I was determined to get it done.
The hotel did, however, redeem itself a little by offering gluten-free waffles for breakfast. Now, that was a treat!
Mission San Diego de Alcalá
When we lived in Southern California back in the early 90s, we tried to visit as many of the 21 Spanish missions (that are open to the public) as we could. One of these was the very first mission, Mission San Diego de Alcalá, which was established in 1769 by Fr Junipero Serra (who also established Mission San Juan Capistrano). Mission San Diego de Alcalá is a smaller complex than San Juan Capistrano, but it has its own points of interest …
For example, besides being the first of the missions, it was the only one of the missions to be attacked by Native Americans, the local Kumeyaay. And, as a result of the attack, its priest at the time, Fr Luis Jayme, became California’s first Christian martyr. (That was 1775).
Like the other missions, it is a lovely place to visit – with its campanario (though the bells come from different periods, mostly from the 1800s), its peaceful little courtyard garden, and its more recent chapel which houses old, old, old altar and choir stalls from Monastery Santa Clara (Castille, Spain). They date to 1353.
There is a little museum on the site, which lists the five historic periods of occupation of the San Diego area, starting with the Kumeyaay, and ending with what they call “20th Century restoration”. Hmm, that’s a strange definition of a “period” to me, and I think it related specifically to the mission, not to San Diego as a whole, as the heading suggests. There is also a small area devoted still to archeological digs – with some useful interpretation regarding what might or might not be found there.
All in all, we spent a very pleasant hour or so in the Mission and its grounds, only to have our sense of serenity shattered by finding ourselves, almost immediately upon leaving, behind a car with some of the most brutal signs we’ve seen. One of the milder ones was a perversion of those “my family” signs which usually shows two adults and three children – I’m sure you’ve seen them. On this car, instead of “my family” being represented by figures, they were rifles/guns. Another sticker was “I clean my AK-15 with Obama tears”. And there were worse ones. Horrible. I find such visible in-your-face aggro distressing. (I should add that I’ve seen similar aggro in Australia – though ours of course is not quite so gun-focussed.)
Balboa Park
However, our equanimity was restored by a nearly-3-hour visit to the beautiful Balboa Park. It’s a huge (490 ha) park which comprises parkland and gardens, museums, performance spaces, and the San Diego Zoo. Space was originally set aside for it in 1835, making it one of the earliest public parks in the USA. It was gradually expanded and developed over the century with major building being done for the 1915–16 Panama–California Exposition. It is now both a National Historic Landmark and National Historic Landmark District.
We would love to have visited a museum – the Museum of Man, the National History Museum, the Mingei Museum, the Timken (the old free one), the Museum of Art or the Art Institute, or … the list goes on. There are 16 or so of them. However, when we went to the Visitor Centre, it was suggested that our best bet might be just to get to know the park, so that’s what we opted to do. We had been here before, but only once briefly with young children. We remember little of it. So, we roughly followed the Visitor Centre staffer’s route, checking out the gardens (including the Alcazar Garden and the Memorial Rose Garden with over 2000 roses in bloom), the Botanical Building, the Spreckels Organ Pavilion, the Spanish Art Village, and more, including the 1915–16 Panama–California Exposition buildings.
It was a beautiful day – with the temperature being mid to late 20°sC – and we were only defeated by our sore feet. We barely made it across the road to lunch! (Though I managed to stop for a quick look at the statue of Kate Sessions, a famous American horticulturalist who had a lot to do with the original plantings in Balboa Park)
A very late lunch
There are eateries – of course – in Balboa Park, but we were out of it before we thought about lunch. So, rather than turn back we crossed the road and happened to spy a little place I’d seen recommended in San Diego Eater, Hachi Ramen. The reviewer said that “It’s looking like every neighborhood may soon have a ramen spot of its own. Bankers Hill’s recent addition is a sleek and stylish eatery serving a Japanese menu based in authenticity with creative riffs on ramen and other seasonally-derived plates.” While we love visiting Japan, we are not qualified to comment on the authenticity, but the food we had – me a poké bowl and Len two teriyaki pork buns – was delicious.
End of the day
After a brief rest back at the hotel, we ventured out to do some shopping – electronic bits and pieces, in which we were unsuccessful; and jeans for Len in which we were also unsuccessful – at the unusual Horton Plaza (which I wanted to see again), before walking around the historic Victorian Gaslamp Quarter where we’d also booked to dine.
We always enjoy wandering around old town districts, and San Diego has two – the old Mexican/Spanish-era one we visited our first day, and this later Victorian one.
We ended up, as planned, at the modern-looking Lionfish restaurant, and had a really delicious meal, starting with sharing a Hiramasa Kingfish dish with sliced plum. Len also broke out of his mould and had a bourbon-based cocktail, whilst I settled for a sparkling. I was disappointed though that the dessert, which had partly driven my choice of Lionfish – lime curd, meringue with an apple lemongrass sorbet – was off the menu. Darn it! But they had another gf dessert with some tiny meringues so I was mollified – a little!
Today’s images
Still
Moving
We (Australians) all love a squirrel…
And here come the Marine Corps runners… yelling their cadence “Next motivator won’t you come on out! We want to hear you scream and pass out!”
The Balboa Rose Garden, purportedly over 2000 blooms…
Inside the Basilica at Mission San Diego de Alcala…
Group pedalling…
Aaaah I still remember the hotel I stayed at for one night in Kansas City that had a waffle maker in the breakfast room. Heaven!
Also, go Dad with the cocktail. More of this in Melbourne please.
Your job can be to convince him.