Off to San Diego

Last night I arrange for a limousine to the train station for $55.  A taxi is about $50 but no guarantee because of the traffic. I decided not attempt to do the local bus either from the hotel.  There might have been something at the airport but not sure.  I should have done some research beforehand. The ride goes well since we are in the car pool lane but I pity the other driver as some spots were not moving very quickly and this is a 7AM.  It takes about 45 minutes to reach the train station. 

It is beautiful as it probably dates to the 1900s, not sure. The ticket cost $31.  We board the train on time.  They announce we are going to be 30 minutes late leaving as there was a car accident at one of the crossing.  When we leave the conductor announces that we will be going at reduce speed for a bit as one track will be closed. Arrival time will be about 1 hour late.  More time to update my trip report as once we get going I want to watch the scenery and it might be bumpy ride for typing.

The train ride to San Diego is very nice.  On the left side of the train you can see the mountains.  On the right side for about half the time you can see the ocean and the beaches. 

The train station in San Diego is also beautiful but much smaller than the one in Los Angeles

I was waiting at the bus station for the airport bus to meet Wendy.  A cab stops and asked if anyone would like to go to the airport for $5.  I hop in and meet Wendy where we go pick up our rental minivan. 

They try to get us to upgrade to a Toyota Sienna for an extra $15 a day.  We said no.  We get upgraded anyway.  I guess they did not have our regular minivan anyway for us. We check in at the hotel and then go for a drive along the coast.  We drive up to Del Mar where we go for a nice walk on the beach.  This is a beautiful beach and the weather is great, around 70 with no wind.  There are tons of people on the beach.  We stop at La Jolla on the way back.

Wendy is taking over  the blog from here: Uneventful trip here,  Left Moncton at 7:30 am to arrive in San Diego 1:00 PM, sounds quick, but there is a 4 hour time difference. I know I will pay for later. I did have about 30 minutes in TO that I was able to go to the lounge and drop off a note to Andre that I should arrive on time. I made my connections, thanks again Fred for the lounge passes, it will be put to better use on the way home when we have a couple of hours!  I am walking along to pick up my luggage in San Diego and see André waiting for me at the bottom of the escalator, nice surprise, I didn`t expect him to be here! Off we go to pick up the van, and Andre has filled you in up to La Jolla. 

La Jolla is an extremely affluent part of California, fun to see how the rich half live.  It is a beautiful spot along the coast.  Many years ago (30`s) they build a children’s area on the shore so the kids could play without worry of rip tides, well in the 70`s the seals started taking over the spot, and still today this is a great spot to go and see the seals.  There is some controversy over who should be using the spot, seals or people, but so far the seals are winning.

We walked around here, then started heading back to San Diego, through Mission Beach.  Mission Beach had a big amusement park, reminded me a bit of old orchard beach, maybe something to do with Joey’s boys,  buy I know our time is going to be short!

I am really starting to fade now so we decide to go back to our hotel and head out to supper.  We have a drink in the room and that just about does me in.  I am starving, my muffin at the Moncton airport and $7 gross sandwich on the plane are long gone, and the tequila has taken over.  It is about 6PM which is 10PM for me at home (sorry Gilles, I will not do that comparison again) and it was a struggle for me to even get out of the room. 

We debate where to go for supper, look at a map and realize we are only about 5 blocks from Little Italy, which sounds good to us.  The desk clerk recommends a restaurant named Filippi`s, from the second we get there we know this is a local place.  There were about 25 people in line if front of us, remember this is a Wednesday night!  The couple in front of us tell us not to worry; it is only about 20 minutes.  The tables are at the back of the deli, so you meander in a line by all the aisles of amazing authentic Italian ingredients, Andre is drooling the whole time.  Dinner is amazing, I order a pizza, Andre has a split of Lasagna and Ravioli, and we ordered garlic toast to start as we were so hungry.  We had enough for another whole family!  I brought home 4 pieces of pizza, breakfast for tomorrow. We are thinking of bringing Joey and boys back to the same spot tomorrow night, we`ll see how the day goes.  An early night to bed, just hope I make it through the whole night and am not up at 1:30 AM California time!