#PARENTS ON TOUR - MUSEUM EDITION

Recently my parents came out to California for their second visit. We were planning to mix sightseeing with lots of relaxing as they (like us) had been rather busy in the lead up to their trip. Whilst Andrew was working we did two day trips to see some of our favourite museums; the Huntington Library and Gardens and the Getty Center. 

The Huntington Library and Gardens gave Dad an opportunity to really try out his new camera, particularly in the Chinese garden. It was a lovely warm day and we enjoyed meandering round. Sadly as it was winter there were fewer plants and flowers out, but you can imagine how beautiful it will be come the summer. Here's a few photos from the Chinese garden, which is my favourite part. 

The only photo I took from the exhibits indoors was this one and I'm afraid its because something about it made me laugh. This was in the European art area. They had allowed a modern artist to come and place art instillations around the existing exhibits. Most of them rather annoyed my mum and some of them I really didn't get, but this one made me chuckle. Its almost like an ancient superhero in my mind. I love it!

As for the Getty Center, we arrived on another really warm day and made the most of the views of Los Angeles, sprawling out below us. Dad took an architectural tour which he really enjoyed. I wish I could tell you some important facts about the buildings and the concepts but all I remember from Dad's recap was that the architect fell out with someone over the garden area and refused to come back onto site. So there we go, fun fact! 

My favourite painting from the Getty on this trip is the picture below. Something about the little girl just captures me. She's so sweet looking and I love the way it looks so tonal with the painted wall in the background. As I was snapping the picture on my phone the security guard said, "That's a good choice, its one of my favourites too." That made me chuckle. 

I love swanning around museums and those two are definitely my favourites in the Los Angeles area. Up next, our epic road trip pit stop; the Hoover Dam.

H

MUSEUM EXPLORATION

The last tourist item on our long weekend away was to visit Exposition Park which houses a few of LA's museums, including the California Science Center. We particularly wanted to go there so that we could see the Endeavour space ship. So we spent the day over there starting off in the Science Center. 

We headed straight into the Endeavour exhibit which took you through the story of the shuttle before you went to see it. There was a cool mission control spot which had monitors replaying take off sequences. I was really fascinated and it helped to have my resident aircraft/spacecraft interpreter to explain things as we went round. 

Then we got our first glimpse of the shuttle. It was huge. No photograph really does it justice. It literally took my breath away and I am definitely not a space cadet! 

Andrew absolutely loves the whole exhibit and clearly got too excited at points. In fact there was discussion of trying to replicate the tiles from the photo above in our bathroom. Apparently they are very cool and he loved the fact they were numbered/sequenced. He even thought as an organising geek I would agree that it was cool. I didn't. There's too much aircraft stuff invading the house as it is without space shuttle bathroom tiles!

We then did a brief wander around the rest of the science center, focusing mainly on the air travel sections. It was here that I found my coolest thing. I particularly liked the spray pattern on this re-entry capsule. I wouldn't have it in my house mind you, but it looked pretty! 

After a 3D IMAX experience about humpback whales we then had a wander around the rest of the park. We saw the rose garden, the Natural History museum and even the coliseum which was used for the Olympic games in 1932. 

We really wanted to look closer at the coliseum but as the Special Olympic world games were starting up in just over a weeks time the area was closed off due to preparations. So we decided to wander around the University of Southern California campus as it was also a site for the games. It was a beautiful campus with some impressive buildings but we realised we took no photos of it. Sorry. 

So there we go, a quick round up of some of our LA tourist spots. Up next, Imagine Dragons!
H

THE MUSEUM OF FLIGHT

So whilst in Seattle we got to go to The Museum of Flight; the largest private air museum in the world. This turned out to be a great decision as the weather was very changeable during the day so we managed to catch the aircraft outside (including the first jet powered 'Air Force One') in the dry before heading inside when the rain started.

The museum has a giant space section holding the shuttle trainer and a few re-entry capsules that were a little burnt on the outside. I can't believe how little room they had!
The museum, with a very interesting story, had restored the original Boeing company building called 'The Red Barn' which they bought from Seattle Port for $1!  This incredible building was filled out with fascinating early aviation exhibits on the beginnings of the aviation industry in America. The building itself was incredible and so airy and light, to help the drafters and engineers construct the earliest aircraft. I think its going to inspire me when I get round to building my own house one day.

Obviously I was also looking for seaplanes and flying boats and was not disappointed with the few dotted around the museum; yet more inspiration. We then looked at the WW1 exhibition with interesting stories and cool dioramas, with a great collection of planes from so many countries. Finally we ended up in the 'Great Gallery', a huge hall covered in a strong lattice ceiling that could hold the multiple aircraft hanging from it.

All in all a great aviation museum trip. Think Hannah now needs a break before the next plane museum but not too long a break!

A

THE GETTY CENTER

Yesterday Andrew and I took a cultured trip over to the Getty Center in Los Angeles. Its situated on the top of a hill in the Brentwood area looking out across the whole of LA. Its reachable by a tram which takes you up from the car park at the bottom and up to the heart of the center. There is so much to explore at the museum; there are lots of different buildings housing different art collections from a variety of time periods but also special exhibitions as well, not to mention the grounds and gardens.

We looked at so many beautiful paintings, drawings, sculptures, collections and even furniture. It was lovely to just wander around and see what we could spot. Below are some photographs that give you a snapshot of what it was like. We've already decided that its a place we'll go regularly though, so you may get more photographs by and by. 

This was one of my favourite things in the museum. It's a choir book from the middle ages and this particular page is all about Saint Nicholas who is the forerunner to Santa Claus. The letter C depicts Saint Nicholas giving out gold coins to those who were in need and it is said to have inspired the gift of giving at Christmas. 

So there we go, a snapshot of culture for your 2014 Christmas. 
H

SAN FRANCISCO PART II

Wow! We have had a fantastic Memorial Weekend. San Francisco was an amazing place and neither of us really wanted to leave. We did so much exploring but there was so much more to do, we really only scratched the surface. As a result you will now be subjected to quite a few posts showing you some of the many things we did whilst there! This post is going to cover some of the places we went to visit, but not the Golden Gate Bridge as that gets a post all to itself!

So the first place I want to help you virtually tour is the area we were staying in. It is called Russian Hill and is in the north of the city. Its got a lot of the steeper streets there including the one we stayed on which was quite tough to climb after a hard day of travelling. Amazingly we were staying very near to the world's crookedest street, which attracted a lot of tourist attention. We have both walked and driven down it. It looks pretty but it wasn't a favourite spot for me. Here are some pictures of the street and others of the Russian Hill area.

The next place I want to show you is the Fisherman's wharf. This area isn't too far from Russian Hill but was so crowded the whole time we were there. It was worth a look but quite touristy so we didn't spend long there. We did however have a look round the USS Pampanito which was fascinating. The Second World War is a topic that I enjoy learning about so I was thrilled to have a look round it, especially as I was given my own personal tour by Andrew with his ever increasing fount of crazy knowledge! 

The cable cars were one of the most enjoyable parts of San Francisco. We left riding them until the last day, not out of choice but just simply because we were too busy exploring all the areas. We did enjoy going from one end of the city to the other, following the insane ups and downs of the streets. Here's a few snaps of those. 

The last place I'm going to show you is the Golden Gate Park, which oddly is not located next to the bridge. It's a huge park that spans quite a big of San Francisco. We didn't spend a lot of time there as we wanted an overview of the city, but we did spend the morning in the California Academy of Science. It was an amazing place with all kinds of exhibits, including an aquarium and planetarium. We spent most of the time in the aquarium. Here's a few snaps of what we saw.

So there we go, there's a few snaps from San Francisco. Well there's the first part, more to come later in the week!

H