Thursday and Friday April 23 and 24

We have decided to spend a couple of days in San Diego. We had ordered the maps for the Pacific Coast Route, hopefully they arrive before we leave on Saturday.

As usual we have things to do before we can enjoy ourselves. I cleaned the bikes and Ralf did the laundry and took care of resupply. The maps arrived today (Thursday) so we were able to plan the route and send out some emails for warmshowers. We got positive responses so we know we have somewhere to stay for the next few nights.

The Pacific Coast route has more opportunity to camp as we go up the coast we should be able to stick to our budget.

On Friday we had a good breakfast of pancakes and yogurt. We headed downtown on the bus.

San Diego has the rent a bike system like many other cities we have been in throughout the world.

The downtown has some lovely architecture.

We spotted a busker, who played really well.

Busking must be good, he just got out of this red Mercedes.

After doing a bit of shopping in Horton Plaza, we headed to Balboa Park.

Balboa Park is a 1,200-acre urban cultural park adjacent to the San Diego Zoo.

We really enjoyed walking around Balbao Park.

The Park and buildings were built at the turn of the 1900’s for a “Worlds Fair” The 1915-16 Panama-California Exposition commemorated the opening of the Panama Canal and provided a major impetus for the creation of the Park as it appears today—the first of two Expositions that created many of the cultural institutions as well as the stunning architecture in the Park.

It has a distinct Spanish influence.

I loved going into the Botanical buildings.

The Orchid\’s were beautiful.

Although the San Diego zoo is world famous it is very expensive ($46.00 per adult). We were more than happy to wander around Bilbao Park, as a lot of the museums and exhibition areas were free.

We ate pasta at the hostel, and bought some \”grape\” juice. Ralf put it in an apple juice container, so that no one knew we were drinking in the hostel!

We chatted to some more people. Leslie came back from her day out and had free passes to the zoo. She offered them to me, but we were leaving the next day. We had chatted to a young woman from NZ who said she was going to the zoo. Leslie handed them out, what a really nice person. We have to be in San Francisco before May 15^th as her daughter will be visiting on May 19^th and she will not have a room for us.

A relatively early night, although tomorrow\’s ride is not very far, we can have a relaxing breakfast and head out later.