It took us almost two hours to get there, but it was TOTALLY worth it! The tour is self-guided which is nice because you can take your time and look at the things you want to look at and skip the things you don't want to look at. The fist thing you see when you start the tour was this beautiful garden:
Then, directly to your left was a big church:
It was very beautiful from the outside, but when I went in, it just took my breath way.
There was one room in the church that had a plaque telling how the Pope came in the 80's (I think) and took a tour and prayed in that very room. It was very cool. There was also another room in the church that held all of the robes from the priests of the mission for the past two hundred years. They were so amazing! (Sorry the lighting is not so good, but trust me when I say they were BEAUTIFUL!)
After leaving the church, there was an actual cork tree to the right:
After passing the cork tree, we came across the cemetery. It was really neat to see. I know this is going to make me a nerd for saying this, but I was really excited because it reminded me of a bones episode where they found a body in a church cemetery. :)
View on the right side:
View on the left side:
The cemetery was located on the right side of the church. The tour winds around to the back of the church where there is another building. This building is dedicated to the "California's Princess". She was a very prominent woman from a very prominent family, and she was the person who made the mission what it is today. For several years, the mission became abandoned and fell down. She was the one that got it into gear to restore the mission.
Eriks and I sitting and watching a short movie about "California's Princess"
Some of "California's Princess"'s hair things, jewelry and clothing
After leaving that building, we followed the tour along the left side of the church into a giant courtyard:
There was a little prayer garden to the immediate with this statue of Father Junipero Serra who was the founder of all of the missions.
The prayer garden also had this cute water fountain
The court yard was HUGE, and in the middle of it was this very large water fountain. Eriks and I just couldn't resist the photo opp. (more like I couldn't miss it! ) :)
To the left of the courtyard, and to the right of the church was a room dedicated to Father Junipero Serra. This is also the place where he was put to rest. This was the entrance to the room :
And then this is his final resting place:
The tour took us into other rooms within the mission. The first room we entered was all about Father Junipero Serra. It had his confessional, some of his clothes, several artifacts and lots of information on him.
The next room we went into was the actual first library in California! I thought this was really cool! It was actually one of my favorite parts of the whole day. They have the small library behind glass but I still think I got a good picture:
We then went into a section of the mission that was kept just as it was when it was in use. This was the kitchen area. This is a picture of the oven:
Then this was their way to have "running water". I am not sure how it works, but I have a feeling from looking at it that is was like a fountain. What is really cool about this, is that the room adjacent to this wall was the dining room, and exactly where his fountain is on the other side of the wall was another fountain much like the kind in school so you could get fresh water in the dining room. Cool Huh!?
Down the hall from the cooking room was Father Junipero Serra's original room and furniture etc. It was behind a gate so we couldn't go in, but I think the picture turned out well:
Father Junipero Serra's room was the end of our tour. By this time, we were all very hungry so we decided to go into the city of Carmel to have dinner. Carmel is right by the sea, and let me tell you... It gets cold at night. I only had on a sun dress because it was warm all day. I was FREEZING! But anywho... We went to a really nice dinner. First we sat at the bar and got a drink. I had my first ever martini! It was a house specialty with Malibu, pineapple juice, Blue Electric, and something else I can't remember. It was very good. And wow was the bar tender generous with the alcohol. Man, one drink and I was way past done! Once they had our table ready, we ordered. We had these shrimp that were very similar to crawdads. I thought they would come out shelled and everything. Oh No! They come out shell, head, eyes and all! I was a little turned off by it, so Eriks helped a little by shelling them. The waitress tried to get us to suck the brains out of the head, but I just couldn't do it. If I was in a culture where everyone ate like that, I think I could but in the restaurant setting, I just couldn't muster up the courage. After the shrimp, I had a wonderful salad and a big bowl of Minestrone soup. It was AMAZING.
By the time dinner was over, we were all ready to go home. Let me tell you, I thought I was cold before dinner, I was way more cold after. I wanted to run all the way to the care. Once we got in the car, I passed out and slept until we got home.
It was a fabulous day! I learned a lot and had a great time with Eriks and Lauma.
No comments:
Post a Comment