It's About the (RV) Journey....: Sight-seeing in Santa Fe..........................

Friday we headed to Santa Fe again, to explore the square, have an authentic New Mexican lunch, and visit the International Folk Art Museum. It was hot again, but we I have been managing quite well with a cooling kerchief every day.....my new favorite "accessory", along with a hat!

The Visitor Center was more than helpful for us....starting with the parking. As long as we weren't in "30 min parking", or handicapped parking, we could park in the Visitor Center parking lot, which is shared with the State Capitol parking. Signs were up all over stating parking for "government business" only, but she assured us that as long as we signed in, we were good. A little wary, we did what she said....and we were happy we did. The parking is crazy in Santa Fe, with expensive lots near the square. If you park on the street, the meters take a quarter for 15 minutes. Who carries around quarters? Regardless, good luck finding any parking! So, stopping at the Visitor Center was an especially good move!

On our way to the square, which was about 2-3 blocks away, she had highlighted a few historic buildings to check out, as well as some nearby museums.

the courtyard outside the Visitor Center

San Miguel Mission

Oldest House in the country

Oldest House

close up

oldest house

As we approached the Santa Fe Square, the shops and galleries became quite nice and we had fun window-shopping. There were several museums nearby, but we were leaving time for Museum Hill, where we wanted to visit the International Folk Museum, so we by-passed those.

lots of shops, galleries and restaurants

love the art everywhere

ohhh....a spa!

lots of shopping here

and history too

a lot of churches too

pretty

Southwest charm everywhere

Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi

elaborate entryway

the labyrinth

first Native American saint

Saint Francis outside the Basilica

Museum of Contemporary Native Arts

heading to the Plaza

the roads around the plaza are closed to traffic

vendors

another view of the Plaza itself....a lovely park

lots of wares

It was getting near lunchtime, or close enough anyway, and we spotted another Visitor Info kiosk. We stopped briefly to ask for a recommendation for lunch. Wisely, the volunteer told us where they eat lunch when they go out.....authentic northern New Mexico cuisine, delicious, and reasonable. She said all the magic words, so off we went.... a couple of blocks away to Tia Sophia's. She was right...it was delicious and reasonable!

hmm...is it lunchtime?

Performing Arts Theater across from Tia Sophia's

the recommended restaurant-Tia Sophia's

wow...that's a lot of food!

oh no...too much!

As we were paying our bill at the register, I spotted a press release and picture of Bill Clinton in Tia Sophia's. I asked about it (since I didn't have my glasses on to read the article). Turns out, he made a surprise visit to the restaurant while campaigning for Hillary right before the New Mexican primaries about 7 weeks ago. Without getting political, let's just say as exciting as it would be to see a past president, we were glad his "campaigning" didn't interfere with our wonderful lunch. You can read about his visit here and here.

We ambled along some of the streets around the square, and noticed some threatening weather moving in. The wind kicked up, giving us pleasurable relief from the heat. We had enough window-shopping, and decided it was a good time to move on.

Nightclub

angry storm clouds moving in

We headed up to Museum Hill, which is where the International Folk Art Museum is located, along with a few other museums. The views from the Hill are really nice too. Lovely, peaceful setting for some great museums! We watched as monsoonal looking weather seemed to be moving in before we headed into the museum. What a treat!

heading to Museum Hill in Santa Fe

more storm clouds...depending where you look in the sky!

another cool labyrinth

International Folk Art Museum

This museum was so interesting to both of us! Yes, Tom too!!! Yippee! A large part of the museum had a "toy room", with toys from all over the world. Take a look at some of the pics to see what is depicted as "toys"! Wow, the displays were amazing. Lots of miniatures. I've read some comments on TripAdvisor that this was an inspiration for "Its a Small World" at Disneyworld - one of my favorites (right Jess and Chris? hahhahah)!! I can see how people might think that, but I'm not so sure about the accuracy of that comment!

these flowers are just great!!!

Another wing, sponsored by Neutrogena (Johnson and Johnson), had an exhibit on religious icons from around the world. It, too, was interesting. Some of the details were amazing. The Buddha exhibit was my favorite....simple and informative.

Spirit Houses-Thailand

Buddha

Another current exhibit was on Flamenco. Wow...the costumes were just beautiful. I could have spent a bit more time here, reading some of the information and learning a little more about Flamenco, if I was on my own...ahhahha. But....the BigTop was calling!

beautiful costumes

enjoying the exhibit Tom?

A miniature circus, built by Mr. Morris of Arkansas over his lifetime, was pretty fascinating up close. The details were amazing....and so small! Though I am not a fan of the circus, I was reminded of a great book I read a few years ago, "Water for Elephants".

The Big Top!

so much detail...takes a while to take it all in

Located on the other end of the plaza was the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, as well as a building called The Anthropology Laboratory. That one sounded very interesting to me, but was not open to the public. The plaza was very pleasant and we enjoyed a little stroll around it before heading back to Albuquerque. We thoroughly enjoyed our day in Santa Fe!