title Travels Around San Diego, California - 11th-15th January 2005 intro After a couple of days at Qualcomm HQ, stuck mostly in windowless conference rooms, it's good to get out on a Saturday and explore downtown San Diego. By handy coincidence of timing, we're in two for the Martin Luther King parade and the San Diego Multicultural day, and the weather had significantly picked up from the week before our visit, which had seen more rain in a few days than the usual monthly average, and some heavy landslides further up the coast. imgp2399 A nice old Rolls-Royce outside the Marriott Del Mar imgp2400 An impressive January bloom imgp2401 The hotel's palm-tree-lined swimming pool imgp2405 A lack of swimming trunks meant Nosher could only look at the tempting water imgp2406 A load of pool-side chairs imgp2408 Further down Highway 5, a bunch of Harley-riding biker boys are out for a cruise imgp2417 We stop by at the Broken Yoke, on Garnet Avenue, for breakfast. Its motto: "We've got huevos!" imgp2418 Russell and John both opt for regular 4-egg omlettes, leaving for now the option of a monster 12-egg version imgp2420 Garnet Avenue, San Diego imgp2422 At Marina Park near Harbor Drive by San Diego Bay imgp2423 The marina, with a shiny Marriott Hotel in the background imgp2426 A San Diego Fire Department engine imgp2427 John mills around taking photos imgp2431 A kite flyer gives a demonstration imgp2438 imgp2439 The quaint, but perhaps obviously named Pier Café imgp2441 imgp2443 Russell, the "Man in Beige", scopes out some paintings imgp2508 A San Diego war memorial imgp2509 Cyclists raise money for leukaemia research imgp2513 The USS Midway, with the USS Nimitz in the background imgp2544 Some guy in the weapons control room fiddles with some radio knobs imgp2550 A C-1 "Trader" aircraft, number 700, flown by Lt. Phil "Cowboy" Napierskie imgp2551 Old Glory, with downtown SD in the background imgp2554 An F-4S Phantom II imgp2557 A group of Marines heads back up the runway after recounting stories of their time service on the Midway imgp2559 The carrier's "island" - the Command and Control centre imgp2563 One of the former crew, and now tour-guide, on the bridge imgp2564 In the chart room imgp2566 Further on, along Harbor Drive, the Star of India tall ship imgp2569 imgp2571 The San Diego City and County Administration Building, built in 1931 (?) imgp2572 A line of parking meters and palm trees. Note the aircraft coming in to land at the airport. imgp2573 A seagull on a statue imgp2574 The Pickwick Hotel, in downtown San Diego imgp2580 A bizarre place to find an unexpected ice rink imgp2581 imgp2584 In the heart of the Gaslamp District imgp2586 Russell and John return from a futile quest to find a pool hall imgp2587 Inside the "Rock Bottom" sports bar and micro-brewery imgp2593 The crowds watch the New York Jets and the Pittsburgh Steelers in the NFL playoffs imgp2597 imgp2598 An old cinema, the "Balboa" imgp2602 Water droplets from a fountain near the Convention Centre catch the evening sunlight imgp2608 Russell gets this passing troupe of Mexican musicians to stop for a photo imgp2611 It's SD's Multicultural event: here, some Maoris do a hakka imgp2613 A guy in the audience has bought his dog out in a bag imgp2618 A Samoan guy plays with fire imgp2619 imgp2625 imgp2628 imgp2633 imgp2636 imgp2638