A&J's Travels: FUN IN SAN DIEGO

Late last winter Alaska Airline's announced a new service from Santa Rosa to San Diego so I jumped on the tickets as a treat for Jim's birthday. So here we are in a hotel with a beautiful view of a yacht harbor, not far from all the sights we want to see. Today we decided to go to Maritime Park. But first we had to find some good coffee. I checked out the nearest Starbucks on line and was planning to go to one on Harbor Island at the Sheraton Hotel, but there were thousands of bicyclists there so we did Plan B which, as often is the case with Plan B, turned out to be wonderful. We ended up in Little Italy, sitting outside in the sun drinking our coffee and talking to a guy with a huge parrot. Across the street was a delightful Italian Deli which we checked out. The smell inside was incredible and we bought a few supplies for later.

From there is was an easy drive to the Maritime Museum. There were some amazing boats here. The first one we toured was the Berkeley, a ferry built in 1898 to ferry passengers across San Francisco Bay.

What a beautiful boat! We just don't see craftsmanship like this anymore.

From the stained glass windows to the carved arches and tiled floors, this ferry is a lovely work of art.

Jim remembers riding on this ferry as a child and getting compressed blocks of caramel corn for 10 cents from the concession stand. I wonder what other concessions they sold here.

The Berkeley worked the San Francisco Bay until the 1950s.

We were really, really fortunate to happen on a once-in-a-lifetime special exhibit of 56 pieces of artwork by Paul Gauguin that are seldom seen as they are in the hands of a private collector. These were part of a South Seas exhibit called "Cook, Melville and Gauguin: Three Voyages to Paradise." We were blown away by the gorgeous carvings, watercolors, oils, block prints, ceramics and other artwork by Gauguin from his Tahitian period. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures of this exhibit, however, we bought the book so I can share some of my favorite wood carving photos with you. This one is a mask of Tehamana, the Tahitian woman he lived with during his first trip to Tahiti.

We were both quite surprised at the variety of mediums in which Gauguin was proficient. These swans were one of my favorite carvings and a picture in a book just doesn't do it justice.

This was not the first time we were lucky to happen on a really intriguing art exhibit on our travels, but imaging finding this on a ferry in San Diego!

We took a 45 minute ride on San Diego Bay in 1914 pilot boat and got a great view of the water front, Coronado Island, Naval Ships and lots of sailboats.

Our tour gave us a great water view of another ship in the Maritime Museum, The Star of India.

The Star of India is a riveted steel hull ship which was launched in 1863. She is the oldest ship in the world that still maintains a regular sailing schedule. Later we went aboard because I particularly wanted to see the other half of the South Seas Exhibit, this time photographs by Jack London from his trip in 1907 in the Snark. The photography was breathtaking. I hadn't realized that he was a photojournalist before he was a novelist.

This photo apparently scandalized the publishers of the magazine Jack was writing for, not because of the content but because Jack London's wife Charmain obviously wasn't having a problem with the nakedness.

I realized that I would like to know a whole lot more about her - she was way ahead of her time. I have now added "The Cruise of the Snark" to my must read list.

This is the Medea (with the ferry Berkeley in the background).

She is a 1904 steam yacht built for and owned by the wealthy elite. I especially liked this smoking saloon.

As we walked to docks toward the HMS Surprise, a replica of an 18th century frigate used in movies such as "Master and Commander," we saw this bucket called "Jim's Witches Brew."Then we saw a guy using it on the rigging.