CA Honeymoon

[Jax172]

My Fiance and I are thinking of California as a Honeymoon. Of course, I was wondering...where are the best jewelry shops? Hehe..I have bargained my way into one whole day of jewelry window shopping!

I think we are either thinking of San Francisco or San Diego or LA

Also, what area of CA is the best for site seeing, shopping and things to do?

(we don''t drink at all, so wine country does not interest us.)


THANKS SO MUCH

 

[Mara]

I live in the SF Bayarea, but I personally do not like SF. We live in the outer suburbs...more inland in San Jose/Silicon Valley. I can see SF's appeal to tourists though, kind of like NYC though I like NYC much better. We go into the city about once every other week for some fun! About a 40 min drive.

LA is much warmer, esp San Diego, than the SF area. The areas outside of SF are pretty warm, but SF itself seems to have not that many sunny days. I would do San Diego if I were you. Or Palm Springs...verra hot there and lots of pools and A/C...fun. I love Palm Springs.

Even if you don't like wine, Napa is very beautiful. Or you can do Santa Cruz/Carmel/Monterey which is gorgeous. I would do those over SF..definitely. The ocean is great and there are amazing small places to stay in along Hwy 1.

Anyway if you do come to SF....outside of the city, there are two small towns called Sausalito and Tiburon, right next to each other almost. They are right off the 101 freeway so you will see signs (or get a map). Sausalito has a cute antiquey jewelry store that sells alot of stuff, but its not that expensive, kind of like cheaper fun baubles. I've seen some pretty rings though. Tiburon has an awesome jewelry store...very small, called Old Gold (like GOG but without the G!), they have antique stuff in there, they had this 3c Shreve and Co ring from 1920..all intact and very beautiful for around $25k. *drool* They have always had an amazing piece that like each time we visit. Also the owner has jewelry that is hammer forged/pressed I believe, the pieces are amazing and very solid...very unique. Not like a typical run-of-the-mill setting. Expensive! Very nice mens' wedding rings too. All in all a really amazing small boutiquey store that is so fun to look in and try things on in. I tried on the 3c Shreve and Co ring of course...my precious!!

So hope that helps somewhat. Also, note that places like Napa and Santa Cruz are about an hour and a half or so driving distance from SF. So if you come to SF and stay there, rent a car and you can travel all over. That'd be much more fun than just staying in SF in my opinion.

Anyway, I am sure there are amazing places in SD and/or LA too.

 

[fire&ice]

Personally, I like Santa Monica - the Georgian Hotel to be exact. You can tour LA - the movie studios, etc - but you are right on the beach - and near plenty of good restaurants & shopping.

 

[caratgirl]

Hi Jax, well, you really can't miss checking out Rodeo drive (Tiffany, Cartier, etc.) in LA if you go there, but for bargain hunting, the LA Jewelry Mart will knock your socks off!
I lived in the SF area for awhile as well, and the touristy section also has some very fun Jewelry stores, like a mini LA JM. I did look in San Diego, but just found one building downtown that had anything like that, but I didn't live there, so I'm not sure.

 

[fire&ice]

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On 5/17/2003 12:43

1 AM caratgirl wrote:

Hi Jax, well, you really can't miss checking out Rodeo drive (Tiffany, Cartier, etc.) ----------------

Only I could find a great bargin on Rodeo drive. An estate jeweler had many pieces of signed vintage silver jewelry. Since his focus was "fine jewelry" he sold the pieces almost for weight. My shopping trip to Rodeo Drive paid for our entire trip - then some.

As far as LA vs SF - SF is more of a laid back experience. LA has more going on. While I found the people of SF nicer, I was bored after a few days. No offense Mara - I would rather live in SF than LA - my position is strickly from a visit point of view.

But, NYC is my favorite city in the world. I appreciated the beautiful vistas that SF & the area had to offer; but, I take the energy of a city like NYC any day. This is just my personality.