First up was breakfast and we both found it very depressing. There was just one tiny room decorated in shades of brown and it was presided over by a woman who was doing Les Dawson impersonations with her mouth... I'm not sure if she was chewing gum or what, but I was fascinated! Her role was to watch us all like hawks and shout at anyone who managed to use the waffle maker in the wrong way...
There was an outside seating area, but we sat inside and munched dismally on oatmeal, waffles (she wasn't watching when I had to scrape the stuff off the heating irons) and bagels. It was all sweet stuff!
We fled as soon as we'd finished and after a short discussion about catching the bus (I wasn't really serious) we drove into Monterey and parked in a multi-storey for $10. It was a short walk to Cannery Row and the Aquarium and we called into a Starbucks first so Sophie could get a fix of coffee. I was still full of waffles so I sat with her while she went into raptures about her coffee and then we walked up the road and had a good look at the surroundings.
Obviously, there are a lot of references to John Steinbeck here and his novel, Cannery Row. There is a sculpture of him and his contemporaries and lots of information signs about his life and work in the area.
Entrance to the Aquarium was quick and easy as we'd booked in advance. The main hall was full of exhibits of whales and a huge skeleton that had been washed up on the shore. There were lots of groups of school children in a very excitable mood and we looked forward to spending a good couple of hours seeing as much as we could.
First up was the Deep Ocean and some very weird creatures, but I'm not talking about just the sea life here...we came across a tank with a huge slimy squid and a woman? came up and started talking to it in a stupid voice calling it a pretty baby... that is NOT how I would describe a large grey, slimy squid!
We saw her/him later on the tour chatting up some sea birds and we noticed he/her had a full beard. Hmmm! Time to make a swift exit!
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| I loved the long, slightly upturned bills on these birds! |
The highlight of our tour was being able to touch the bat sting rays who were gorgeous. They felt so velvety and soft and really seemed enjoy the human interaction.
Another enjoyment was seeing the jellyfish, creatures I've always hated before but some of them are truly beautiful.
We thoroughly enjoyed looking at everything and going outside to stand on the balconies and enjoy the gorgeous views over Monterey Bay. The blue skies and sunshine made so much difference!
We saw hundreds of varieties of fish, a hammerhead shark and enjoyed two talks - one on sea otters (the area is famous for them) and one on Great White Sharks. What really intrigued me was the fish seemed as interested in us as we were in them! They would come up to the glass and really look at us before swimming off!
We were at the Aquarium for three hours and decided to have lunch at Bubba Gump's which was a short walk away. We were sat at a table by the window so we had lovely views of the bay. We both decided on the same meal - a Caesar salad to start followed by Mahi Mahi served in a lobster butter sauce with mashed potato and baked shrimp. The food was delicious.
After lunch we drove into Carmel-by-the-Sea and managed to bag a space right by the beach. It was a gorgeous afternoon and the beach was full of people having fun. Sophie wanted to dip her toes into the Pacific so she went running down and rolled up her jeans.
We sat on the beach for about half an hour, just gazing out at the ocean and relaxing. It was heavenly! A lot of people were walking their dogs along the shoreline and I can only assume they were residents of the town. How lucky to live in such a beautiful area!
As the tide was coming in and we were in danger of getting wet, we returned to the car and drove into the town where we found a 30 minute parking place. I'd been asked by my parents to try and find a gallery where they'd bought an Eyvind Earle print many years ago but we couldn't see it listed on the town map. I said we'd go back to the hotel and Google it as there were so many shops, restaurants and cafes all crammed into the town centre.
Carmel is very difficult to photograph as huge trees line the streets and there are also cars parked along the road as well. We found a bakery selling ice-creams so we bought two and wandered along enjoying them. Some of the shops looked very expensive and every now and again we came across a wine tasting room. I dread to think about the prices!
As our allotted time was nearly up we returned to the car and managed to find our way back onto Highway 1 from the maze of streets. Before going back to the hotel we drove to the shopping centre and visited the Whole Foods Market to buy a bottle of wine for the evening. Because we'd eaten at lunchtime we decided to stay in and eat our leftovers from our meal yesterday. It was at this point we wished the hotel had a nice bar where we could sit for an hour!
The supermarket was busy with people buying their groceries and we found a bottle of Californian Pinot Grigio for about $15. We drove back to the hotel and decided to go and sit by the pool as it was such a beautiful day.
If it had been a bit warmer it would have been great to have had a dip but I didn't really fancy exposing my white skin to the California sun! Sophie's lovely tan had faded a bit, but she still had a healthy glow!
Another family came down while we were there but they went into the jacuzzi to play. It was utter bliss sitting with our feet in the pool and soaking up the gorgeous sun!
The rest of the evening we spent in the hotel room relaxing. At 8pm we watched the film, Meet the Family and heated up our leftovers from last night. The wine was OK but not worth the $15 price tag! However, it was lovely to relax and watch the film after our busy day!
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