Monday, 28th of April

Monterey
Monterey Bay
Pacific Grove
Pacific Grove
The otters
Monterey Aquarium
Monterey Aquarium
Monterey Aquarium
A very good Ice-Cream
Wonderful houses
The house with the price
A little rest
Romantic flair in the harbour
No sugar?: Rub the sugar cubes!
"Flying Bean"
Barbara and the chihuahuas
At diner

This day should lead us to Monterey – to one of the nicest spots on this earth. Many old houses in the colonial style, a romantic harbour quarter and probably the biggest and the nicest sea-aquarium worldwide. A visit is worthwhile. Here we could see sharks , the feeding of the otters for whom Monterey is known , and sea creatures that you can find in the deep sea only. Grady explained to us that the houses cost approx. 5 million dollars in the Bay, the month rent often is about 1700 to 2,000 dollars – and with a tiny small garden around. Big properties are prohibited here. Many old houses, mostly built of wood, are cheaper, nevertheless, they must be restored luxuriously not to go to ruin in the rough sea climate. Grady has renovated some of these houses, for one he has got several prices. At the moment along the seafront the city of Monterey buys up all houses and properties (also commercial) to establish a park there. Who does not want to sell gets expelled in other words thrown out.

On the return journey we went along a lot of fields: Nuts, almonds, lemons, tangerines, strawberries, artichokes, salad: Here everything grows. The salad in rows that can be directly mixed. Different salad kinds are grown on a field in strippes. This looks really multi-coloured. The reason: Directly on the field the harvested salad is cut and packed in bags. And with mixed salad it is easier just if it grows directly „mixed “ on the field. Big billboards along the artichoke fields pointed to the artichoke festival at the end of May, and Grady told us that here Marylin Monroe has been  the first chosen artichoke queen. On the way home we bought a big box of strawberries (in America everything is just a little bit bigger – also the packaging for fruit). Then with Grady and Paul at home we found out that there was no sugar left in the house, therefore we had to rub a couple of sugarcubes together to put sugar our strawberries.

The chihuahuas entertained us in the evening on the patio-terrace again. However, Mr. Bean, Miss Chilli, Cinderella and Zsa Zsa (so the four are called) were really funny. Paul told the story of the „Flying Bean “. The littlel dog had jumped on the sofa at the terrace and then over  the fence. About four metres deep he fell down on the other side – without any damage. As a result Paul and Grady have bought him a superman's costume.

In the evening friends of Paul and Grady came for dinner they where Dane breeders, Barbara and Paul Garcia, And again the animals of Paul and Grady provided for entertainment, because suddenly we heard very loud and very clear „Shut the fuck up “. This was Izzi, the female parrot  who sometimes wanted to get one of the dogs away from her cage. In the beginning the neighbours had asked, why Grady would get angry and curse– now they know that it is the parrot that does this.