Tuesday, 14 June 2011

Arts for arts sake.......

Our Santa Fe retreat, the "El Rey Inn" is idyllic for visiting the best of Santa Fe and there's lots to see! My advice to any visitor is to start at the Plaza, the Historic centre of the city and boasting 'colour' and some interesting Adobe-style architecture.
There's a cathedral in the Plaza and quite nearby "Canyon Road"....home to a number of up-market galleries which people are welcome to browse without any pressure to buy.
Santa Fe is a lovely city and whilst its population is small (circa 75,000) it boasts the biggest turnover in fine art outside New York and LA! Mind you for any artist, the sky here is inspirational.
We took a two-hour walking tour to re-familiarise ourselves with the city and then meandered through the Plaza at our own pace. I was intrigued by the "Building that never was"....or 109 East Palace, the secret staging post for international scientists destined to work on The Manhattan Project during the Second World War, and where the likes of Einstein and Oppenheimer once passed through, to reach Los Alamos!
After an al fresco lunch in the Plaza's central park we headed back to 'Shangri' El-Rey where we Skyped Jen and Dave, acquainted ourselves with the laundry and sat in the courtyard near its fountain! I could get used to life here!! The following tune went through my head as I was wandering Santa Fe......its 'way old' and I hadn't thought of it in a long time, but it captures the 'pace' of things around here!
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1 comment:

  1. Hugh15 June 2011 at 00:56

    I love the pics of the adobe architecture and the earth colors that go with it, and the way retail developments follow the theme. It seems that developers of residential properties have also come to realize vernacular architecture is OK, and many new homes in Santa Fe also look like old time buildings.

    Apart from the fact that the whole of the southwest US is made-up of disputed territories, I knew little about NM or its capital before I Wiki’d it. The connections with St. Francis of Assisi are interesting, and the dancing sheep nod to this as I think does the statue in the background.

    I also struggled to identify famous sons and daughters, but a Google search identified Jeff Bezos, John Denver, Conrad Hilton, Demi Moore and William Hanna.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PPf3aaZmUw

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJu8RreAGnM&NR=1

    Yabbadabbadoo.

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