Day 24 - San Diego

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Today we're off to visit the biggest museum we've ever seen - the Aircraft Carrier, USS Midway.

As recommended we parked the car for free at the Old Town and took the San Diego Trolley (a train) into the city centre. Had a quick look around the Seaport Village area before walking along the waterfront boulevard to the Midway ship which is permanently moored in the harbour. OMG! It's massive!!! Great value for money at only $34 for us all to enter including both self guided audio tours and small group tours of "island" (the bit including the bridge) area of the ship.

The USS Midway is a navy ship that was commissioned in 1945 and traveled in the ocean for 47 years. The average age of it's crew was only 19 years old, and it was obviously pretty dangerous work. The living conditions were understandably cramped and apparently the working areas were extremely hot and stuffy.

There were a number of ex-naval guys on the ship talking about their experiences on this and other aircraft carriers which was really interesting and the audio tour did a great job of putting everything into perspective.

We spent about 3 hours climbing up and down steep staircases and checking out all of the aircraft lined up on the deck. This would have to be up there with one of the best things we have done on our holiday - even the girls enjoyed themselves.

After a quick bite to eat at one of the cafes at Seaport Village we wandered the streets until we came upon the Gaslamp Quarter of San Diego. This area is very pretty with all it's old buildings and lamps but I think it is more an evening destination. We grabbed a couple of hot chocolate fudge sundaes from Giradelli's Chocolate shop as we had missed out in San Francisco, then checked out Horton Plaza Shopping Mall (met an Aussie lad who had lived here for three years and was hanging out to get home - he liked Steve's Holden cap) before heading back on the trolley to the Old Town to collect the car.

Decided to detour over the huge bridge to Coronado Island to check out the beach for the first time - hmmmm, nice, but our beach is waaaaay better.

Had another great evening meal at the hotel, a swim in the pool and did a bit of packing - boo hoo. Two more nights and we head home...

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