A Walk to San Diego Old Town

It was roughly 7 kilometres from where I am staying to Old Town in San Diego.  It is a sunny but cool 25 degrees Celsius today, making the walk rather pleasant.  

Along the way, I realised many of the maples have already turned red, and fallen.  

San Diego seems to have quite a few Jimsonweed trees.  The flowers do look like hanging trumpets And they are poisonous.  No wonder some call them Devil’s trumpets.   In Chinese, it is 曼陀羅.  It is said that the toxins can attack the nervous system, and cause hallucinations, damage to the nervous system, and in severe cases, death.  It is said to be the model for 情花 in Jin Yung’s 金庸 novels.  

There are many elegant houses along the way.  Many of them in Spanish styles.  A common 2 bedroom house in a nice residential neighbourhood can cost easily a million US dollars.  Houses that are bigger, near the ocean, etc., costs multiple millions.  

Along the way, there were quite a few homeless people.  One of them ate at the same bench at the lawn in the middle of Old Town where I finished the Armenian sausage wrap that I had for lunch.  Most of the time, he was talking to himself.  When he finished, he picked up all the trash, and drop them into the garbage can, before walking way.  His clothes were old, but not dirty.  He had a big bag, and a medium size backpack.  

At the Old Town, there are many houses built in the older styles.  But I was told most are modern constructions, currently used as shops and restaurants.  Here, one can learn a bit of San Diego history, as well as Mexican culture.  Such as the tradition of the Day of the Dead, when people remember the dead, with pictures and the favourite things that belong to the deceased. I was told it was supposed to be warm, not scary.  

All in all, an enjoyable walk.