San Diego

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After weeks in the dry desert, we were longing for a little green and a fresh sea breeze . So what better place to go to than San Diego! A buzzing city on the West Coast, just a six hour drive from Tucson.

Our hotel was located in Little Italy, a nice neighbourhood just a couple of blocks from the harbor and filled with good (Italian) restaurants and bars. Next to good Italian food, we also enjoyed the availability of fresh fish to the fullest. From a delicious Salmon salad at the Harbor Cafe, to tasty swordfish in a shady family restaurant. The fish was good and there was plenty of it!

Since the weather, unfortunately, wasn't that great during our weekend, we didn't start our trip on a beach. We started it on the USS Midway. A former US navy aircraft carrier turned into a maritime museum. Admission includes a nice audiotour narrated by former Midway sailors that takes you from the main exhibition on the hangar deck to the sleeping quarters, engine room, pilot's ready rooms and the control room. While making your way through the ship, the sailors tell you all about life on board the huge carrier. Huge, but still claustrophobic. Walking around the small corridors makes you wonder how one could live like this for months in a row. On the hangar deck, there is also a cafe, a shop, an aircraft simulator and you can watch a film about the battle of Midway. After all, an interesting museum to spend a couple of hours!

After the USS Midway, it was time for some fresh air. So we walked around the Seaport Village, a nice waterfront shopping and dining complex (focused on tourists though). We were lucky to be just in time for the Busker Festival, a day filled with performing street artists around the bay. It created a great atmosphere for our afternoon walk.

The next day we visited the San Diego Zoo, one of the most beautiful parks in the world and awarded for its open-air concept that re-creates natural animal habitats. It is also one of the few zoos in the world that houses the giant panda. We spent the day walking from the Australian Outback to the Arctic and from the tropical forrest to the African dessert. From baby gorilla's (my favorite!) to tigers and 'fighting' tortoises. And last but not least, the Zoo has a buddy program, pairing dogs with wolves and cheetas. A strange and special site to see a labrador in the same space as the angry looking cheetah (they were best friends apparently, anyway the dog was still alive when we left...).

Finally, an overhead gondola lift, called the Skyfari, provides not just a shortcut back to the entrance for the visitor but also a nice aerial view of the Zoo.

And when the heavy rains arrived the next day, it was time to make the drive back to the dry desert...(with the animals of its own).