dolphingirl47
In Search of the Tag Fairy
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2007
Our next and final destination was Balboa Park. Our friends from Seal Beach took us there in 2012 and I just fell in love with the place. Land was set aside for Balboa Park in 1835, which makes the park's site is one of the oldest in the United States dedicated to public recreational use. It is owned and managed by the City of San Diego. Balboa Park housed the Panama-California Exposition from 1915 to 1916 and the California Pacific International Exposition from 1935 to 1936. Some of Balboa Parks famous landmarks like the Botanical Building, the Spreckels Organ Pavilion and Old Globe Theatre were part of those expositions. Today Balboa Park is home to San Diego Zoo, a number of museums, gardens and performing arts venues. One of the first things we saw when we entered the park was the Japanese Friendship Garden. This was going through major expansion work in 2012 and it appears that this is still not completed and is now expected to be finished by August next year. I really would like to see this in all its glory.
The first place I wanted to visit this time round was one of the museums. The Mingei International Museum owns a number of pieces by Dale Chihuly. Normally the admission is $8, but I was happy to pay this. I got lucky and they had a free admission day. Unfortunately they had none of their Chihuly collection on display. It was not a complete washout though. They have a gorgeous Chihuly chandelier in the stairwell. I spent a fair while admiring this and photographing it from all angles. Then I headed back outside to find Graham.
We had a bit of a wander and discovered the miniature railway museum. We both thought this sounded quite interesting, but decided that we wanted to enjoy the gorgeous weather so we decided to give this a miss. We came across some beautiful flowering trees and bushes and stopped for a while to admire those. Then we headed to an area that we had not explored on our previous visit. We walked up towards the zoo and on the way we came across a huge tree. Shortly after this, we discovered the Arts and Crafts Village. I loved the buildings and the setup of the village, but was not too impressed with the arts and crafts on display. They seemed to be mass produced and strictly for the tourist market. The only interesting thing was a glass blower.
The first place I wanted to visit this time round was one of the museums. The Mingei International Museum owns a number of pieces by Dale Chihuly. Normally the admission is $8, but I was happy to pay this. I got lucky and they had a free admission day. Unfortunately they had none of their Chihuly collection on display. It was not a complete washout though. They have a gorgeous Chihuly chandelier in the stairwell. I spent a fair while admiring this and photographing it from all angles. Then I headed back outside to find Graham.
We had a bit of a wander and discovered the miniature railway museum. We both thought this sounded quite interesting, but decided that we wanted to enjoy the gorgeous weather so we decided to give this a miss. We came across some beautiful flowering trees and bushes and stopped for a while to admire those. Then we headed to an area that we had not explored on our previous visit. We walked up towards the zoo and on the way we came across a huge tree. Shortly after this, we discovered the Arts and Crafts Village. I loved the buildings and the setup of the village, but was not too impressed with the arts and crafts on display. They seemed to be mass produced and strictly for the tourist market. The only interesting thing was a glass blower.