California vacation (part 7)

On Thursday Pat and I decided to visit San Diego, because I've never been there and Pat hadn't seen it since he was a child. We decided to just explore Balboa Park. What a great place! I did a little research and learned its history:  from the mid- to late-1800s it was mostly open space for the public to enjoy, but in the early 1900s the city decided to hold a large "expo" to coincide with the opening of the Panama Canal. The Panama-California Exposition of 1915-16 was a huge event, years in the making, and the land formerly known as City Park was rechristened Balboa Park. Magnificent structures were built on its grounds in the Spanish Colonial Revival style. The park continued to evolve from these roots to become the cultural heart of San Diego. Pat and I were amazed at the beauty of the place, and we were especially impressed that almost all of the city's museums were located within easy walking distance of each other in the park (really, it's just one great museum after another!). San Diego's famous zoo is also located there. I feel like we didn't really spend enough time to explore Balboa Park (in fact, we only visited one museum: the Museum of Photographic Arts, of course!), and it's a place that you should dedicate several days to, but I thoroughly enjoyed the time we spent there and I plan to go back the next time I'm in California.

I hope you enjoy these pictures of Balboa Park. Tomorrow I'll show you what we saw in Hollywood!

The Botanical Building and lily pond.

Because we were there in early May, not high tourist season, we practically had the place to ourselves. There were relatively few people about. That was nice.

Pat and I discovered a sculpture garden adjacent to the California Building. We were idly exploring it when I spied this magnificent Henry Moore piece in the distance. My reaction was something like this: "Is that a HENRY MOORE?!?" And of course I had to run over and admire it, and of course it's a Henry Moore, and it's beautiful.

The California Building, which houses the Museum of Man, and the adjacent California Tower. Superb!