A late but delicious
breakfast in a pavement café [almond croissant Malc, chocolate croissant Diana]
was followed by a potter around beautiful Monterey Cannery Row near where we
are staying. Our hotel, The Clement,
Intercontinental, a contemporary hotel favoured by conference delegates is
otherwise lovely. We have a great room,
superb bathroom with separate bath and shower and a surfeit of lovely fluffy
white towels. The bed is uber
comfortable and the colours relaxing; we wish the room maid wouldn’t put the
anxious looking seal and her pup ‘cuddly’ toy between our pillows [it looks
like something from a horror film] which we are exhorted to purchase. The only downside is we don’t have a sea view
but we just have to go downstairs and look out of the window to get that. We look out onto Bubba Gump which has some
connection to Forest Gump but not sure what; there was also one at Santa Monica
we remember, potentially another American institution which we don’t quite get.
We spent the rest of the
morning exploring nearby Carmel by the Sea and loving the many boutique shops
and galleries – even Malcolm enjoyed the shops - which is saying something!
The 17 mile drive was
nearby so we took that and spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the scenic
drive and enjoying our picnic lunch by the sea.
We sat at a splendidly located picnic table on the beach and stuffed
ourselves full of prawn salad and a strawberry tart which we bought at the
bakery this morning following our lovely breakfast. Malcolm decided to return our cooler box to
the car whilst Diana sat taking photographs of the sea.
Diana! Diana! DIANA!
……….. Eventually she heard the robust, plaintiff cry and immediately
panicked. What had happened to Malcolm,
was he alright, had someone stolen something from the car, or even worse …… the
car. She looked round to find Malcolm
pointing urgently, and two girls nearby
in fits of giggles. She looked in the
direction indicated and found that a crow, the one
which had been taking an interest in us during our lunch, had acquired our
remaining crisp packet and had taken it away and was attempting – surrounded by
his friends the seagulls - to open
it. Diana jumped to her feet , bravely
shouted “Oh no you don’t” and retrieved the stolen article fortunately
undamaged; not an easy job, those seagulls are huge.
We suffered yet another
lovely meal at the Fish Hopper this
evening and what delicious fish dishes they have. It was great watching the sun gradually
disappear and the lights in the bay brighten the night sky, although it got
decidedly colder despite the abundance of heaters around. Tomorrow night we will just have to give in a
wear our fleeces like everyone else.
