Day 23

Sunday, 29th June

Viva Espana; Viva Mariners; Viva Target!

We were up rather late, but just in time for breakfast, which wasn't marvellous - not as good as the Santa Fe Homewood breakfasts, and they had paper plates and plastic cutlery .. But it was very comfy outside, sitting in a comfy rocking chair, enjoying the sunshine, until it was time for the big game!

All the previous Euro 2008 games had been shown on ESPN, but this one, being the final, was shown on ABC. Could they do it? The Spanish? At last?? Could they beat the Germans?? YES, they could!! They beat them 1-0, thanks to a goal from Fernando Torres (Liverpool, gah). Brilliant! I would never have guessed that if Spain actually managed to win another major tournament in my lifetime, that I would watch it in San Diego, California!! (How come I always feel sorry for Michael Ballack??)

We ordered a taxi for Petco Park. The driver was pretty friendly, chatting about the Europeans and their sunburn - but I think he robbed us with his fair (he was not a regular taxi, but a car ordered for us by the hotel). Anyway, he dropped us off at Petco Park and we went to find our seats. Other people were sitting in them, so we sat somewhere else! It was very warm and we thought we had brought suntan lotion with us, but it turned out to be insect repellent!! I enjoyed the game. And, more especially, the atmosphere. It was great fun - and I can see why families enjoy making baseball and afternoon out - I particularly liked the singsongs! The (San Diego) Padres lost 9-2 to the (Seattle) Mariners - they didn't even bother with the last innings!! (Match report).

After the game, we walked around to the Hard Rock Cafe, where Paul bought (yet another) T-shirt to add to his collection. Then we walked over to outside the Marriott, where we got a taxi back to the hotel.

So, we picked up our car - but where to go? We decided to drive around the beaches and Mission Bay area. San Diego is, however, so sprawled out, that we got quite lost and stuck in Sunday beach traffic. We didn't see an awful lot of anything of Pacific Beach!! We parked for a while at Mission Bay though - and also (finally!) at La Jolla Cove, where there was the most incredible surf rolling in!

Then we found, close to a McDonalds and a truck place, a TARGET store! We needed to buy a couple of bags for our return flight, because (a) the handle on Paul's was broken and (b) we had extra stuff to take home. So we bought our bags (and some scrapbook stuff!) and headed happily back to the Homewood Suites!

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