I must confess that for the last four years i've been conducting a not-so-secret love affair with the city of San Francisco. During annual visits for a conference, each year I've been lucky enough to take some time to explore a little. Alcatraz one year, Sausalito another, Berkeley this year. And every year I find an excuse to pop over to Haight Ashbury quickly (which seems to have become a spiritual home).
It's a town that excites me tremendously, and with it now feeling really quite familiar, I can feel quite at home there. In Muslim countries it is traditional to make guests feel more comfortable by telling them it's their "second home". Well I don't need anyone to tell me that San Fran is mine. But a good deal of the affection for the place has been a sense of it's almost twinning with my first home, Sydney town. However, this year's visit revealed a more identical twin than that even: San Diego.
"It's apparently the most perfect harbour in the world" my friend told me, an epithet I'd also heard about Sydney. It's assembled around a beautiful body of water just like Sydney (and San Francisco) and is "held together" by a beautiful bridge (again like Sydney). It's a working port with a large student population and a thriving CBD (San Francisco too). But from there on in, the similarities with SF diminish but with SD they continue in uncanny fashion.The climate is remarkably similar. I was blessed by a beautifully sunny weekend in the late Twenties/early thirties. The summer peaks in the region of 40 degrees while the winter rarely dips below 10 degrees during the day and the sky is always blue.There are countless beaches, although i think Sydney has San Diego quite beaten in both quantity and quality (but then Sydney does have an embarrassment of riches in that department). Sydney's Bondi is mirrored by Ocean Beach: a grungy, vibrant and groovy area with a terrific cluster of bars and apparently one of the best burgers in the US.
On the northern side across the massive Coronado Bridge is Coronado which while not physically similar to Manly, fulfils a similar role as a laid-back get-away spot. It's the home of the Hotel Del Coronado, famous for hosting Billie Wilder, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemon and Marilyn Monroe while they shot "Some Like It Hot" in it's grounds.
San Diego also shares with Sydney a passion for the art of fireworks, as this video - of the KGB sky show to celebrate 100 of radio I was lucky enough to attend at the Qualcomm stadium - demonstrates rather well. (The sense of parallel made all the more profound by driving on the wrong side of the road and entering “fall” in one and spring in the other.)
It certainly felt like a parallel universe in so many ways, and I urge those of both cities to consider the other an attractive destination option for a glamorous holiday that while at first glance might appear merely "more of the same"; in actual fact delivers at once so many new experiences as well as a validation of the everyday ones. After all, travel is as much about what you learn about your home as your destination.[BTW: Many, many thanks to my gracious hosts - Simon, Launa, Matthew and Ryan - who ensured a delightfully relaxing and enjoyable excursion!]