May 13, 2016

May 13  Monterey

   

    After breakfast we got ready to take the first tender boat to shore. We took with us a map of Monterey from the Guest relations desk.  The marine layer of overcast skies was a bit thicker today.  The temperature was a cool 14 but no wind, although there was a hint of a mist.

    The Internet package this cruise is unlimited time and has a much faster speed, it can even support Netflix.  On previous cruises, we could get only about 240 minutes for the same price.  We can keep up to date with emails.  The posting of photos on the blog is now done in minutes not hours.

    The tender boat dropped the passengers off at Old Fisherman’s Wharf about 8:30.  The cafés, restaurants and shops were not all open, but the smell of breakfast cooking was wonderful.  Clam Chowder was one of the menu items for lunch and dinner. All the buildings along the Old Fisherman’s Wharf were painted wooden structures.  At the end of the wharf is the Old Customs House built in 1827. It is the oldest government building in California and was operating when Monterey was the Mexican capital of Alta California. It is one of the historic buildings on the Path of History that winds through the downtown of Monterey.

    We took the Monterey Bay Casual Trail that started to the west of Old Fisherman’s Wharf along the waterfront. We followed it to the Cannery Row section.  Along the way we stopped at a small garden overlooking the marina honoring the Sister Cities of Monterey – Dubrovnik, Croatia; Kusadasi, Turkey; Lerida, Spain; Nanao, Japan; Taiwan City, Taiwan; Trapini, Italy and Lankaran, Azerbaijan also giving the distance to each place. At Cannery Row we followed a walking tour eight streets long and two streets across passing converted fish canning factories which had hotels, cafés, restaurants shops, a few workers restored houses, newer houses and artists’ studios.  In one of the plazas stood a bust of John Steinbeck the author of “Grapes of Wrath” and “Cannery Row”.  There was also a recently dedicated monument to eight characters in Steinbeck’s “Cannery Row” novel.  The fishery attracted people from around the world - Portugese, Chinese, Italians and others.  Near Cannery Row there was a Chinese Village in the second half of the 1800s, but it burned in the early 20th century and was not rebuilt.  Cannery Row was also used in over 60 Hollywood movies including the 1952 movie ”Clash by Night” starring Barbara Stanwyck, Kirk Douglas, Robert Ryan and then unknown actress – Marilyn Munroe.

    We walked back along different streets and the Monterey Bay Casual Trail to the downtown to meet our son’s friend, Zak.  He picked us up for a personal tour of the area.  We started with a drive to Carmel by the Sea and Carmel.  The houses and businesses are nestled in a wooded area and along the sea.  There is a lot of variety in the sizes and shapes of the homes.  We passed Clint Eastwood’s Ranch which is a bed and breakfast and fine restaurant. We could see sheep grazing in the field.

   We stopped at the Carmel Mission and visited the museum and gardens, originally founded in 1770.  Father Lasuen, founder of the Santa Barbara mission and Father Serra founder of the Carmel mission are buried here. The mission was influenced by Moorish design which is a different design than the one at Santa Barbara.  The mission is home to the first library in California. On the road beside the parking lot was a green bell on a post, which marks the Historic Mission Trail that roughly traces 700-mile-long El Camino Real (The Royal Road) between the 21 missions. They were erected in the early 20th century.

    Next we drove along the scenic 17 Mile Drive which is within the community of Pebble Beach.  To reduce the visitor traffic there is a non-resident fee of $10 per vehicle charged to travel the road. The views are breathtaking.  There are six golf courses in Pebble Beach. In the area is a hill where Charles Lindberg (who was the first person to fly a solo non-stop flight from Long Island New York to Paris, France) practiced flying his gliders from the hilltop. The 17 Mile Drive is only two lanes wide and more like a street.  Along the way we stopped at the “Lone Cypress” near the shore.  The Cypress trees lean away from the water due to the winds blowing to the land.

    On the way to lunch we stopped at the Point Pinos Lighthouse, in Praire Grove, built in 1855, but it was only open in the afternoon.  It is the oldest operating lighthouse on the West Coast. It is one of the original seven lighthouse commissioned by the US Congress in 1852.  All West Coast lighthouses were to be fitted with a Fresnel-type lens. Invented by Frenchman Augustine Fresnel (pronounced fruh-NELL), this special lens focused its light into a narrow beam directed out to sea.  We saw a display about Augustine Fresnel at a lighthouse in San Diego.

    The lunch restaurant was a Vietnamese Noodle House.  We had delicious fried Spring Rolls and Pho (pronounced Fah) soup with Bubble Tea. We were driven back to downtown Monterey and walked over to the San Carlos Cathedral built in 1795 which was a mission style church and about the size of the Santa Barbara Mission church.  It is also called the Royal Presidio Chapel and is a National Historic Monument. We saw orange discs in the sidewalk saying Path of History in several languages and we followed the walking tour markers back to the Old Fisherman’s Wharf. We had wondered what the broken line on one of the maps meant and it was showing the route for the Path of History Walking Tour. Some of the points of interest were Robert Louis Stevenson House Museum, where Stevenson stayed in the fall of 1879 while courting Mrs. Fanny Osbourne. The oldest parts of the house were built in 1840. Stevenson was working on his novel “The Old Pacific Capital” and gathered ideas for his novel “Treasure Island”. Also on the path was Colton Hall, where in the fall of 1849 the California Constitutional Convention was held. California became the 31st state to join the United States.  There is another El Camino Real bell on its front lawn. We continued to Casa del Oro and paused at the lovely gardens behind the building, then proceeded to Fisherman’s Wharf less than five minutes away.  There we boarded the tender boat back to the ship.

   We went to a presentation about cruises before dinner.  Richard and Hillary did not join our table for dinner tonight.  We enjoyed appetizers of Caprese Salad and Butternut Squash soup.  The entées were  Braised Lamb is a phyllo wrap with mashed potato with cooked diced carrot and parsnip and Grilled Salmon and mashed potato with several kinds of cooked  squashes.  The dessert was Tiramisu.

   After dinner we joined a group Salsa lesson with 9 or 10 couples and learned the basics, but there was a turn that we do in other dances that we had never done in the Salsa. On the day at sea there will be another ballroom dance lesson.

   The show tonight was Adam and Tabitha performing music using technology.

Total distance walked 12.4 km