Our first few days in San Diego were very relaxing, as would our next few days be as well.

We didn’t have much on our ‚to-do‘ list, so we were able to slowly start our days with a delicious breakfast, and then spontaneously decide what we wanted to do that day.

On the fourth day, we went out for breakfast to a place called the Breakfast Republic which was recommended to us by a friend. We thought it was really good, especially in terms of quality to price. For that reason, we even went there twice!

We wanted to go to the Farmer’s Insurance Open while we were in San Diego, but we were too late to buy discounted tickets!  But, while having breakfast, we found out that Goat Hill Park still had tickets.

So, we decided to drive to Oceanside. Plus, Goat Hill Park is a golf course that happened to be on our list. Oh, what a coincidence!!

Therefore, as they say, we were able to kill two birds with one stone! We drove up there, got our tickets for the golf tournament the next day, and also played 9-holes. Perfect!

In the late afternoon, we stopped at Old Town, which should be on the To-Do list of any San Diego visitor. Old Town is a historic park with endless Mexican restaurants, souvenir shops, hotels, and entertainment. If you want to learn about San Diego’s history, Old Town is the perfect place to be.

We liked it very much there, however, unfortunately, we arrived a little late, and many shops had already closed.

And, we were hungry, so we decided to move on and go to Lucha Libre, a very unique taco shop nearby for dinner.

On 24.01.19, the time had finally come. The FIO, as it is also called, was to take place.

The day before we were able to get our tickets. We also booked a shuttle via their website. Even though we had a rental car, we found that this was the best solution as we wanted to be able to arrive at the tournament relaxed and didn’t want to go crazy searching for parking. Not to mention getting killed paying the parking prices.

James surprised me with tickets to the Ryder Cup last year. The prices for that event were, in my opinion, horrendous, but we bought the FIO tickets for $35 each. And, the best part was that more than half of the ticket price supported the North County Junior Golf Association! Parking, which included a shuttle to the course was US$22. This pleased not only us but also our travel and golf budgets!

And, the golf tournament was so cool. All the greats of golf were there. And, we’ve never seen Tiger Woods so close!

It was such a memorial day and we are very happy that we were able to go!

Friday was the only day that we had planned out (other than the golf tournament). We had arranged visits to both adidas Golf and TaylorMade.

Both companies welcomed us with open arms. We even got a little tour of each. It was very interesting to see. Even though I can‘t imagine this would be on a normal sightseeing list of ordinary travelers!

After our tours of the golf offices, James had a special surprise for me. During his studies, he worked as a valet in Del Mar. The restaurant for which he worked as a valet is called Poseidon, and I knew about it from all his tales.

He drove me around the nice little town and showed me the restaurant and the beach. We had a very good lunch at the Poseidon and also walked around where he told me more memories.  He enjoyed chatting with the current valet, and they shared some fun valet stories.

Thank you my heart for showing me all this!

Since we have had our little website, and have been on Instagram and Pinterest regularly, we discover a lot of useful (or useless) stuff there.

One of the things that we found is the “secret swing” in La Jolla. Someone finds a beautiful place and puts up a swing. And most of the time they have stunning views. They are a bit hidden, and you have to search. You only know the approximate place that others post on Instagram.

Unfortunately, probably for safety reasons, the swings are regularly removed by the city.

Although we had checked Instagram the evening before where the latest swing was located, we were late. It must have been removed recently. We found the cut ropes hanging from the tree. Still… the view of the ocean was madness!

That was too bad! I really would have liked to swing there.

On such a beautiful sunny day, a walk on the beach can’t be missed. We drove down the hill into La Jolla so that we could take a walk on Scripps Beach at Scripps Pier.

We walked along the long beach, took some pictures, and then headed to Pacific Beach Pier, where we ended the day with another romantic sunset.

Farmer’s Markets take place almost daily in San Diego, so you’re really spoilt for choice. We had chosen the Saturday market in Little Italy and were really looking forward to all the different stands, not to mention sampling the food!

Vegetables, herbs, oils, dips, and spreads, pretty much everything was available.  We could have spent the whole day here!

However, we still had Coronado on our list, so we decided it was time to move on …

We were particularly looking forward to Coronado! First, the views from Centennial Park of the San Diego skyline are incredible.

And secondly, of course, is the famous Hotel Del Mar and its beach!

On the way to the hotel, we made a short stop to photograph the Coronado mural.

And what a hotel! How I would have loved to see a room. Unfortunately, we didn’t stand a chance and weren’t allowed to look at one. So we just looked around the lobby, spotted the old elevator and the many shops and bars, and stopped on the perfectly manicured lawn in front to shoot a few thousand photos.

For this day we had set Balboa Park as our destination, where we ended up spending almost the entire day.

Balboa Park is a very large area with interesting buildings, 17 museums, many restaurants, the San Diego Zoo, and much more.

It is San Diego’s largest green space and offers so much to do. Probably because of this, the parking lots were correspondingly full!

We spent most of the day there and we still only saw a fraction of the park.

And so we spent our last day in San Diego:

Arriving at Balboa Park, we first made a small lap and got a general overview.

In hindsight, I have to say that we should have made a plan for the day so we could have gotten the most out of it and seen as much as possible.

Strolling around we found an orchid exhibition.

We arrived at the California Tower just in time to hear the bells ring. You really should see that. It isn’t a normal bell ringing, but plays to the tune of “California Dreaming.” How cool is that!

Tours are available where you can climb the 123 steps and enjoy the view. However, since the admission was US $23, and you can only stay 10 to 15 minutes, we decided against it.

Next, we visited the Museum of Man. Unfortunately, the exhibition on human anthropology was not available, which is the reason why we wanted to go in the first place. Nevertheless, it was still very interesting.

The Botanical Building with the Lily Pond is a very often photographed motif that we didn’t want to miss either.

The building is one of the largest wooden slat structures buildings in the world. And it is home to over 2000 different plants.

For us, the Spanish Village Art Center was the crowning glory of our visit to Balboa Park.

In World War 2, the neighborhood was used as a barrack by the U.S. Army. Today, however, it is dedicated to artists and is full of dazzling colors. More than 200 local artists exhibit their artworks here.

All great things have come to an end at some point, even today. But is there a nicer way to end a day than spending an evening with friends? Certainly not. Tonight we were invited to dinner with the parents-in-law of Eric, James’ longtime best friend, whom he had grown up with.

We had met Eric and his wife Tina at the Noodle House in Ocean Beach a few nights earlier and had a great time catching up. By the way, we would highly recommend the Noodle House! And be sure to try the home-brewed whiskey!!!

Anyway, we started our last evening on the terrace of Tina’s parents, relaxing with a glass of wine, while enjoying another incredible sunset.

You must NOT miss San Diego’s sunsets!

After enjoying the evening on the terrace, we went inside to find Tina’s mother had prepared a delicious chili! We had such a wonderful evening among friends and it really felt like home. It was the perfect ending to a perfect day.

San Diego is absolutely worth a trip!

There are regular flight connections, tons of Rental car options, and accommodations that fit every budget.

San Diego is not the least expensive city in the US and we had to get used to the prices!

Especially breakfast, which we found to be very high-priced, and one reason why we preferred BR, even if it is a chain.

Compared to breakfast, dinner is a much better value for your money.

Petrol is much cheaper than in Europe!

The Atmosphere

The Beaches

The Sports Facilities

Lots of cool Neighbourhoods to Visit

Our time in San Diego was so incredible and we’d definitely come back!!!