As we enter a new year – a time for new hopes and dreams. To more travels, food and excitement! All the best for 2016!
Category: California
rouge
Air Canada (AC) replaced their daily scheduled flights to / from San Diego and Toronto last month to what they categorize as their “leisure airline” called rouge. Introduced in July 2013, rouge flies to other destinations as well — to the south (Florida and Las Vegas), the Caribbean, and selected cities in Europe (Dublin, Venice, Barcelona, Athens, among others). At this time, they are utilizing only two types of aircrafts: the Airbus A319 and the Boeing 767-300, the older aircrafts retired from AC, with the interiors refurbished to include new slim seats (read: narrower and less leg room). The flight attendants are friendly and peppy, evidently trying their…
MCASD
The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego was founded in 1941 and has a collection of more than 4,000 works created after 1950 in its location in La Jolla, California and it’s second location in downtown San Diego. The MCASD reflects an artistic program that encourages promising emerging artists and recognizes mid-career artists whose works need more visibility.
Walk on the Beach
I am back in Carlsbad, California for the Easter holidays. There was no marine layer this morning which made it a gorgeous sunny morning (at 19C degrees) for a walk on Tamarack Beach. Making it into Zagat’s “8 Hottest Restaurants in San Diego” for 2013, Rakiraki is a ramen house in the Convoy area that is attracting a lot of attention — especially for its ramen burger (think ramen instead of buns)!
Eggs, Tacos, Pasta & Cupcakes
Not necessarily in one sitting, in one day, nor in that order! Brunch with a view: Caroline’s Seaside Cafe is located in the UC San Diego Scripps Institute of Oceanography campus in La Jolla. Set in a relaxed contemporary interior design, the cafe and patio offers a view of the ocean (and the surfers). Owned by chef Giuseppe Ciuffa, the cafe serves brunch on weekends and is also open for breakfast and lunch on weekdays. Two food spots featured in restauranteur Guy Fieri’s TV show Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives are Haggo’s Organic Taco and Spirito’s Italian Diner. Haggo’s in Leucadia…
Del Mar
Luckily, there is no sign of the polar vortex in Southern California! The small affluent coastal city of Del Mar (“Of the Sea”) is located twenty minutes north of downtown San Diego. With a population of less than 4,500 people in a 2.1 square mile area, Del Mar has two miles of pristine beaches. Home to the Del Mar Racetrack and the San Diego County Fair in the summer, its historic downtown village dates back to the 1880s and has over twenty-five restaurants. Because of an active resident group, billboards and high rises are not permitted within the city limits. The city is immortalized in…
USS Midway
The giant USS Midway aircraft carrier was one of the U.S. Navy’s flagship vessels with close to 50 years of history from 1945 to 1991. It was commissioned towards the end of World War II and has been through the evacuation of Saigon, Operation Desert Storm in the first Gulf War, and into evacuating 1,800 Americans from Subic Bay in the Philippines during the volcanic eruption of Mount Pinatubo. Before being moored in San Diego and turned into a museum in 2004, this “floating city” with a 1,000-foot-long flight deck accommodated a crew of 4,500.
San Diego Zoo
The world-famous San Diego Zoo is one of Southern California’s major attractions. The zoo showcases more than 4,000 animals, representing over 800 species, on 100 acres of beautifully landscaped lush setting that is an accredited botanical garden. Located in the northern section of Balboa Park, the zoo originated with the Panama-California Exposition of 1915-1916. San Diego Zoo is privately operated by the non-profit Zoological Society of San Diego and is one of four zoos in the U.S. which have giant pandas on display and the most successful in terms of panda reproduction.
Balboa Park
The country’s largest urban park with 1,200 acres, Balboa Park in San Diego, is home to 15 museums, performing arts venues, gardens and the world famous San Diego Zoo. Balboa Park was the location of the First World’s Fair of the 1915-1916 Panama-California Exposition (in commemoration of the opening of the Panama Canal) which created many of the stunning Spanish-Rennaissance architecture. Named for the Spanish maritime explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa, the park was also the location of the 1935-1936 California Pacific International Exposition.
La Jolla
With advance apologies to my friends back in the northern part of North America, I escaped the -20C windchill and snowstorm on the weekend and headed to Southern California, where it is a gorgeous +22C sunny day in La Jolla. My system seems to be in a state of confusion, but I am not complaining! La Jolla, or “The Jewel”, is a hilly seaside community in northern San Diego occupying 7 miles of coastline along the Pacific Ocean. For real estate watchers, this neighbourhood is one of the most expensive in the. U.S. Voted one of the best restaurants in San…
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