noon to dusk in joshua tree national park

The little lady and I are in California for Christmas. We got here on 12/23 and won't be going back to MN until 1/1. After spending Thanksgiving with a couple of younger kids, I decided I wouldn't be able to handle 12/23 - 1/1 being around more young kids, so I planned a small side trip for the little lady and me. We left my parents' home in LA county on Tuesday morning and drove straight to Joshua Tree National Park, which is about 2.5 hours away from my parents' place. The park was surprisingly busy, but not in a way that made crowds annoying or anything like that. The weather was perfect--high 60's--and we had a good time driving around the park, stopping to walk around a bit and take photos.







These giant palm trees were growing next to a spring:


This tree, which was growing near the spring, was one of the coolest looking trees I've ever seen. I think it's a cottonwood:




These tall bushes look fairly benign:


When you get up close, however, it's a different story:


One of our favorite places in the park was this "meadow" of cholla cactus:






Despite the park's name, Joshua trees can't be found in much of the park. So, we were pretty excited when we finally found some.







The higher up in the park we went, the more Joshua trees we found. We found an area that was full of them near dusk, which made for some great photos.









I believe Keys View was the highest point in the park that could be driven to. We arrived right at sunset and got some great views of the Coachella Valley below.











Joshua Tree isn't as spectacular as other desert parks, like the ones in Utah, but it's well worth a visit if you're in the vicinity.

an afternoon in london

I hit the town to visit a couple attractions last Sunday. My first stop was the Cortauld Gallery, a small art gallery that looks like it's housed in some aristocrat's residence:



Despite its small size (and I mean REALLY small), the Cortauld had an impressive collection of art, including many works by famous impressionist painters. There were works by famous artists like Monet, Manet, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Seurat and Cezanne.











My main purpose in going there was to see the current exhibit of Cezanne's card player paintings. Cezanne did a number of paintings of peasants and ordinary folk playing cards. I saw a poster in the subway for the exhibit and it sounded interesting, so...







When I was done in the gallery (took less than an hour, since it was so small), I went outside and noticed that an ice skating rink had been set up in the courtyard of the gallery/other surrounding buildings. I decided this would be another great opportunity to go into stalker mode and take pictures of random people:











Turns out that skating rinks are a great place to see all sorts of emotions and facial expressions, particularly since most people don't know how to skate.

Afterward, I got back on the tube and went back a couple stops to the Natural History Museum. As its name implies, this museum contains all sorts of exhibits devoted to geology, paleontology, nature and the like. This would be a paradise for my nephews. In their honor, here are some fossils:

Megatherium:


Diplodocus (I think):


The Natural History Museum is one of the coolest buildings I've ever been in. Check out the architecture:





Also cool was this escalator I rode into one of the geology exhibits:


My favorite part of my visit was the nature photography exhibit that was going. I hadn't known about it, so this was a special treat and well worth the GBP9.00 I had to pay to get in. Pictures weren't allowed in that part of the museum, unfortunately.

Outside the museum, I found a winter carnival going, which included a merry-go-round and another ice skating rink. You guessed it--time to go back into stalker mode to take more random photos:



My man here totally biffed it after attempting the jump you see here:




The most colorfully dressed busker I found in the tunnel to the subway:


I made it back home Friday night, after having just missed Snowpocalypse UK (it actually started right before my flight took off). If I'm going to have to deal with snow, I'm glad I live in a place like MN, where the local government can handle the snow and people don't freak out about it.

a visit to winchester, england

As I mentioned in my last post, I spent last Saturday in Winchester, a small cathedral town of about 40,000 people. I had previously been told it was a nice place to visit, so I figured heading south would be a safe bet, since the weather further north has been pretty bad for the last couple of weeks, with parts of northern England and Scotland getting as many as 16" of snow.

Winchester is very small and really doesn't have a ton to see, particularly in the winter, when the British like to close smaller museums and attractions. Still, what Winchester lacks in attractions, it makes up for with its character. It seems like it would be a very pleasant place to live.

Walking into town from the train station:


Westgate, one of the original gates in the medieval city wall:


I found an area with a couple of military museums and a nice courtyard, but after wandering through an introduction to the military museums, I decided not to bother with them since that sort of thing doesn't interest me all that much. The courtyard, with its brick buildings on all sides, tall trees and nicely manicured bushes, was very pleasant, however.



My next stop was the Great Hall, the only remaining portion of a once magnificent castle that used to be in Winchester, but which Oliver Cromwell ordered destroyed during the English Civil War. Winchester actually used to be the capital of England, and one of the medieval kings had the Great Hall added to the castle in the 1200s.

The Great Hall is at the end of this path:


The Great Hall's major draw is a replica of King Arthur's Round Table, which hangs on a wall inside and is colorfully painted with Arthur's name and the names of his knights:





Interesting to see, but not the kind of thing you'd want to go back to see over and over again.

The opposite end of the hall:


When I walked outside, I went down into the castle remains, but there wasn't really much to see:





Next, I walked down Winchester high street to mingle in the crowds. The high street was alive with people shopping for Christmas presents (shopping malls are relatively rare here, so everyone hits the high street for their shopping), buskers, and bands and dancing groups performing for various charities. See my previous entry for photos of the high street, if you missed that.

My next stop was Winchester Cathedral, which is one of the few cathedrals in all of England. It was smaller than York Minster or Westminster Abbey, but still pretty magnificent. Its grounds were rather creepy, with crypts and tombstones scattered around. Coupled with the gothic architecture and the cold, overcast weather, it might possibly have been the creepiest thing I've ever seen that wasn't purposely designed to be creepy.









The grounds opposite the cathedral were fairly pleasant, however, and I'm sure Winchester is beautiful in the spring.





Upon entering the cathedral, I was greeted by the sounds of a choir singing baroque-sounding songs. I took a video of it, but am having trouble uploading it and will have to try it again later.

More of the cathedral:













All cathedrals here have famous people buried in them: kings, clergy, famous statesmen, lords and ladies, etc. Winchester Cathedral's most famous "inhabitant" is probably Jane Austen, who died in Winchester and whose father was a member of the local clergy:





I'm pretty tired of hearing about Jane Austen books and movies and would thus like to be able to say that I danced on her grave, but I actually just stood on it whilst trying to get a decent photo of the inscription.

When I was done inside, I wandered around the Christmas shops that were set up inside the church's courtyard. There were dozens of these little shops:



Said market happens every year and is apparently a very big draw. This was the most crowded part of Winchester that I saw. I stopped here for lunch, which consisted of a small tray of seasoned, fried potato wedges with my choice of sauces (I opted for caramelized onions, blue cheese dressing and sour cream and chive dressing). Or, as a person standing next to me said, "overpriced chips". They were still pretty good, however, and they hit the spot in the cold weather.

I next decided to search for Wolvesey Castle, the only remaining castle in town, but it was closed to tourists until the spring. Bummer. Still, the walk around the around was nice.











King Alfred the Great, one of the great Saxon kings of England before the Norman French invaded:


Winchester high street:


That's about it for Winchester. Highly recommended if you spend a lot of time in the UK and have an open day.