2024-05-11 20:53:26
San Diego Trip (1) Nature and Art
San Diego, California, USA is a city familiar to us as the San Diego Padres, the American Major League Baseball (MLB) team where Ha-Sung Kim plays. The weather is mild all year round, palm trees grow thick, and seals and sea lions play on the beach, giving it a tropical feel. It is a border city adjacent to the Mexican border, and is also the setting for the first and second movies, ‘Top Gun’ starring Tom Cruise. I went to one of the top vacation destinations for Americans, a city of gastronomy, culture and art.
● La Jolla Cove Sea Lions
The port city of San Diego is the eighth largest city in the United States and the second largest city in California. While attending the travel expo ‘IPW2024’ held in Los Angeles (LA) from the 4th to the 7th (local time), I rented a car and headed to the nearby city of San Diego. The sunset was setting as I drove along the cool highway along the western coastline. Although I had about 30 minutes left to get to downtown San Diego, I drove to La Jolla Cove (Cape La Jolla) to watch the sunset over the Pacific Ocean.
![Watching the sunset over the Pacific Ocean and filming a nature documentary[전승훈 기자의 아트로드]](https://dimg.donga.com/wps/NEWS/IMAGE/2024/05/10/124877112.1.jpg "Watching the sunset over the Pacific Ocean and filming a nature documentary[전승훈 기자의 아트로드]")
The scheduled sunset time is 7:30 PM. There are about 15 minutes left. Outside the car window, a large red sun hung near the clouds over the sea. I became anxious. Fortunately, one parking space was empty. When I parked the car and came out, there was a red sun hanging between the silhouettes of palm trees on the cliff on the opposite shore. It is a picturesque tropical landscape that you only see on T-shirts.
Looking around, I saw many people holding so-called ‘cannon cameras’ with telephoto lenses. Usually, tourists take photos of the sunset with their cell phones, but why use a telephoto lens? I looked around and saw thousands of black dots on the rocks on the beach. Why are there so many people on the beach? The moment I thought that, I looked closely and saw that they were sea birds. Mother birds nesting in various crevices of the cliffs were busy feeding their fluffy chicks. It wasn’t just birds.
I followed the sound of crying and enlarged the lens, and saw sea lions and seals scattered all over the rocks on the shore. The tawny sea lions are rolling around and sleeping, looking at ease in the world, like cats, as if the rocks against which the waves crash are like a warm tin roof.
On the other hand, the black seals are busy going back and forth, yapping like puppies. A seal emerges from the water, barking and begging its friend, who is sleeping in a cave on the coast, to play with it. The friend seals spend the evening fighting with each other, showing their teeth and whiskers with annoyed expressions.
This is a place designated by the state of California as a marine ecological protection area. There is a warning sign saying, ‘Fishing, swimming, and sailing are absolutely prohibited.’ Additionally, getting close to or collecting animals and plants living on the coast is strictly prohibited.
Another guide provides explanations for questions such as ‘Why are seals and sea lions here?’ The explanation is that this is because while feeding underwater, they have to dry themselves on the rocks on the beach for 7 to 8 hours a day to regulate their body temperature.
San Diego is famous for its zoos such as the world’s largest zoo, the safari that inspired Steven Spielberg’s film ‘Jurassic Park’, and ‘Sea World’ where you can see killer whales and belugas. But you can see seals and seabirds not at the zoo, but on the coast under the highway… . It felt like I went to take pictures of the sunset and then filmed a nature documentary.
‘Hasung Kim’ face all over the city
We unpacked our bags in Old Town along San Diego Bay and set out on a full-scale city tour. The marina area around the port is similar to Haeundae in that it is full of large-scale convention centers and high-rise buildings. There are many hot places with great restaurants, such as Seaport Village, Little Italy, and Gaslamp Quarter.
Ha-seong Kim’s face is hung on banners throughout the city. The face of a star representing the Padres along with Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado is engraved on it. When people in San Diego say they are from Korea, they all say, “I love Ha-seong Kim!” Ha-seong Kim!” he shouted.
As you walk along the Marina Park trail next to the Seaport, a large conch-shaped building catches your eye. This is the ‘Rady Shell’ concert hall operated by the San Diego Symphony Orchestra. Like the Sydney Opera House in Australia, the night scenery of San Diego is colored with red and blue lights.
When viewed from the side, the cave-like shape is clearly a conch shell, but when viewed from the front, it looks like a whale shark trying to eat food with its mouth open. A variety of concerts are held here, from classical music to pop music, and the audience is said to be able to seat 2,000 to 20,000 seats on the lawn.
Another attraction in Seaport Village is the ‘USS Midway Museum.’ At the premiere held in San Diego when the movie ‘Top Gun 2: Maverick’ was released in 2022, Tom Cruise appeared as in the movie, landing on the deck of the retired aircraft carrier Midway in a helicopter.
The Midway was an aircraft carrier that served in World War II, the Vietnam War, and the Gulf War from 1945 to 1992. She was renovated in 2004 and she opened as a U.S. Naval Museum. Tourists can walk around the deck and see the majestic array of fighter planes, helicopters, and bombers.
San Diego, where U.S. naval bases are concentrated, is a major filming location for Top Gun 1 and 2. This is because the U.S. Naval Air Station ‘Fighter Town’, where Tom Cruise plays a fighter pilot instructor, is located in San Diego.
The ‘Top Gun House’ from the movie has also been restored at the Mission Pacific Hotel. This classical-style building, built in 1887, was a bungalow used as a beach house, and was used as the home of Kelly McGillis (Charlie), the female protagonist in the first Top Gun. In the movie, the love story begins with Tom Cruise riding a motorcycle to this house and having a heated discussion about the training program. In front of the Top Gun House, a motorcycle of the type Tom Cruise used to ride was placed so that commemorative photos could be taken.
California Expo exhibition hall turned into an art museum
San Diego has also revitalized its downtown through art. A representative place is Balboa Park, which has an area of 490 hectares (ha), which is larger than New York’s Central Park. Upon entering the entrance, visitors are greeted by antique architecture and a fountain, as if they were in Europe. It is a very different landscape from other cities in the United States, which are filled with rectangular, state-of-the-art buildings. The architecture of Balboa Park, which shines golden in the evening sunset, is decorated with round domes, towers, and colorful statues and patterns.
The unique scenery combined with the Spanish-style architecture and palm trees reflected in the pond makes it impossible to take your eyes off. Inside the park, there are 17 art museums, 7 performance halls, 18 gardens, a science museum, a music hall, and even a zoo, making it difficult to see them all in one day.
The Balboa Park building is a historical relic that was used as an exhibition hall during the 1915 California Exposition commemorating the opening of the Panama Canal, which runs through Central America. Just as in Paris, France, buildings built during the World’s Fair held in the early 20th century, such as the Eiffel Tower, Grand Palais, and Petit Palais, remain as symbols of the city, so does Balboa Park. I envy the wisdom of not constructing the expo building as a temporary temporary building, but rather building it into a wonderful building and preserving it as a cultural heritage from generation to generation.
Through large-scale exhibitions of European paintings and Spanish art at the fair, San Diego created an image as a cultural city rather than a maritime or industrial city. The San Diego Museum of Art (SDMA) first opened in 1926 after the Expo. Entering the building with a splendid exterior, you will find a collection of about 20,000 pieces ranging from the Renaissance era of El Greco and Goya to Baroque art, Impressionism, modern and contemporary art, and photographs. There is also an exhibition room in the basement that displays Korean ceramics, Buddha statues, and small tables.
Between the buildings, the maze-like alleys are decorated with gardens, giving you the pleasure of walking. Among them, the thread-like branches and roots of the huge banyan tree, reminiscent of the one from the movie ‘Avatar’, give off a majestic feeling.
San Diego = Reporter Jeon Seung-hoon [email protected]
2024-05-11 20:53:26