March 1st - Girl scouts, red shoes and machine guns

 the border fence and the silver arch

March arrived with a grey sky and rain, weather we're more than used too. We got up, headed to the bakery for breakfast and then hopped on the trolley. We rode it all the way to the end of the line to 12th & Imperial and there we had to change onto the Blue line which we took all the way to San Ysidro. The journey took an hour and we passed some run down looking places on the way. We were also the only tourists I could see on the trolley, mostly it looked like people heading to work. I knew the trolley stopped near the Mexican border, I didn't realise it stopped right NEXT TO IT!! We could have walked across on foot. On leaving the trolley there was a moment of panic, yes that was just after I saw the Mexican soldiers patroling the border with machine guns....but I soon spotted the pedestrian friendly bridge that leads you to the Outlet mall. So off we went, and luckily we found the mall easily. There are actually now two, the San Ysidro Outlet, and Outlets at the border. We stopped for coffee at Ghiradhelli's and bought a lot of chocolate. Yum! As we walked from one mall to the other we passed a cute little girl scout selling cookies, just like we have seen on TV. She was dressed as a cookie and looked so cute, we just had to stop and talk with her. She recommended the mint chocolate cookies, so we bought some from her. I hope she did well, and sold all her cookies. Bless her little cookie crumbs!

We of course had to stop at Sketchers, and we were in there for ages. We both bought new shoes, they are cheaper and not to be missed! I like mine, they're different! We had Chinese at lunch time at the food court and spent a couple more hours looking around. It was very similar to the malls in Orlando. It was so weird tho, as you walked around the mall the border fence was clearly visible, a constant reminder or what lay beyond. We could clearly the see the big silver arch we had stood under days before on the avenue de revolucion. SO close, but yet a world away.

Mid afternoon we got the trolley back to Mission Valley and went to the mall there. We went to the cinema to see Project Almanac. Good movie, but it was filmed on hand held camera's and the constant motion made us feel sick. I had to keep my eyes shut for the last part of the movie. It was an interesting story, but one that's been done before - for example the Butterfly Effect. After the movie we went to the Tilted Kilt for pizza and chardonnay. It was a wet evening, we were slightly bedraggled when we returned to the hotel. But an interesting day!!!

rainy day at the border!

Each day was an adventure, something new around each corner in a city that never failed to amaze and impress. This is truly a place where there is something for everyone!