Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Balboa Park

Balboa Park: via El Prado approaching the Museum of Man
1,200 Acres -- Loaded
Last week, I visited San Diego's Balboa Park, a cultural center with museums, an art colony, botanical building, Japanese garden, theatre, beautiful landscaping, and the San Diego Zoo (more about that in my next posting). I did not have enough time to see it all. I'm eager to return!

Balboa Park: San Diego Museum of Art
Architectural Delight
Quoting Wikipedia, "most of the buildings lining this street [El Prado] are in the Spanish Colonial Revival architecture style, a richly ornamented eclectic mixture of European Spanish architecture and the Spanish Colonial architecture of New Spain-Mexico." Many of the buildings were built for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition and the 1935 California Pacific International Exposition. Balboa Park and the historic buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places.
Balboa Park: Mingei International Museum
If You Visit, Plan Ahead
If you visit San Diego, don't miss Balboa Park. Plan ahead so that you can visit the museums. They are closed on Mondays. I've heard that they are currently closed on Thursdays, too, due to budget cuts, but I'm not sure this is true.

This was a Monday, but at least I was able to enjoy the beautiful architecture! Each time I turned a corner, there was something new to see and all of it was beautiful! I was especially sorry to have missed the Mingei International Museum which was having an exhibit of African American quilts. Click on the photos to enlarge them.
Balboa Park: Botanical Building

So Much More
Visit the first link in this posting to learn about these attractions and the many others that I did not photograph including the world's largest outdoor pipe organ, the Old Globe Theatre complex which includes a replica of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. San Diego is rich with cultural resources indeed.

Balboa Park: Botanical Building (greenhouse)
Balboa Park: La Laguna da la Flores
Balboa Park: Casa del Prado Theatre
Balboa Park: La Laguna da la Flores

1 comment:

Caseymini said...

Minka, I somehow bookmarked your Studio blog instead of your mini blog...Then I couldn't figure out why you didn't blog about minis....Now I am glad that I did. I get to go back and read all of the mini one, but I have gotten to know about another side of you too. I am a big fan of Balboa Park. I usually spend at least one whole day there when we go to SD. Loved seeing the photos!

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