Are you feeling lucky? -Monetrey, Carmel

We headed up to Monterey Bay after our adventures in Yosemite. We left Los Banos in a jiffy and headed to Hollister for breakfast, just because we liked and recognised the sound of the name. It's a cute little town, which highway 156 runs through. Everyone smiles and nods as they walk past. We tried the main coffee shop- full of people on their computers surrounded by big art posters and paintings. Unfortunately they had no more than a few bagels and cake slices. We turned to a diner accross the road, which turned out to be retro inspired diner.

The staff were welcoming and ready to break out a joke or a roast, and the service was great.

Head straight for route 1/101, don't try driving through town. We ended up circumventing all the farms around the town, before reaching route 1.

We headed for Monterey and after driving around in circles we found the tourist informaton centre, which, it turns out, is the only place locals don't know the location of. We were joined by a friend, who kindly let us stay in his house, which looked like a mansion for London's standard- right by dunes and a stone's throw from the beach.

We were warned about the weather being unpredictable up here, but we didn't believe it until we reached the 17 mile drive. It was recommended in the guide books and we thought why not, as it linked us to Carmel-by -sea. Unfortunately the views were so limited, I wanted to throw the guide book out for lying. It was a slow twisty turny drive taking us past many golf courses and the shore.

We made it to Carmel, a town with a previous Dirty Harry mayor, but it was after 6 pm, so a lot of the shops were closing. Although it had a reputation for being one of the nicest towns on the pacific close, I was bored to be honest. It had a few nice places, but a lot of the shops and sections were pseudo European/English, and it felt insincere. There was even a Xmas shop- 24/7, it was selling Xmas merchandise. There were a few designer shops, so if it's your thing, it's pleasant to visit. I had my first authentic pecan pie and it was so sticky, I couldn't open my jaw. Not sure if that is a sign of a good pie (?)

To end our night we were taken to an "authentic" English var in Monterey, where all the Naval college were at and everybody signed up for karaoke. It was fun, but it didn't make me feel homesick somehow.



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