100 Things | Santa Fe

6. I feel very connected to Santa Fe/Taos area.

For years before I visited Santa Fe I had these dreams where I would wake up and know I was dreaming of Santa Fe. I had never been. I really hadn't see many pictures of it. I just knew it was Santa Fe. So I shared the dream with Michael shortly after we were together. A year after living with him, he made my dream of visiting come true by taking me to Santa Fe.

It was truly amazing experience.

Art - We could have spent all the days we were there seeing art and not covered it all. Michael and I both love art, so it was very nice to go in and out of galleries seeing art with him. There are over 300 galleries and museums. The Georgia O'Keefe Museum was closed but we went to 2 others and then many many galleries. The art is not just southwest art either - it has classical, modern, folk - paintings, sculptures and photographs. Just everything you desire in art is in Santa Fe. It was very inspiring looking at all the different types of art. We looked at art everyday and never got through even 1/3 of the art available there. One of the places I really enjoyed was The Awakening. It is a monumental work of art...very powerful The ceiling and walls are covered with 8000 sq. feet of carved and painted wood. The pictures on the website and in the brochures do not do it justice. They allowed you to touch the works, take all sorts of pictures, lay on the floor or benches to look at the ceiling and have paper and pencils in the space in case you are inspired. It was inspiring. I did not sketch, but Michael took lots of pictures. Jean Claude Gaugy is the artist that created The Awakening. His work with color and line expresses emotion and movement. I really enjoyed witnessing his works.

(clicking on the images will take you to a bigger view of the photo)

Two pictures from The Awakening....
























Two other pictures - one of a sculputre in front of a gallery and then the second were part of a garden. They had dessert type plants and flowers and then these scupltures with twirly pieces on them that turned in the wind.

Architecture

- Michael and I both like adobe style buildings so of course we saw plenty in Santa Fe. The main street in town leads to a cathedral....St. Francis Cathedral. It is really one of the few buildings that is not done in the adobe architecture. Archbishop Jean Baptiste Lamy built a Romanesque cathedral. There were so many beautiful churches - from the St. Francis Cathedral. To Loretto which was Gothic style and has a spiral staircase that has no visible support - no dowels or nails were used in building it. To the oldest church in the USA which is San Miguel Mission. Michael took several pictures of adobe style churches. They were just so beautiful with the beams, craved doors, stucco, and iron work.

San Miguel Mission














Loretto
















St. Francis



















St. Francis













The plaza area downtown is lined in galleries, museums, and then shops that sell everything from high quality fashions to trinkets in a five and dime general store. There is a building called the Palace of the Governors on the plaza. Outside the Palace under the portal Native American women offer all sorts of goods for sale. It is called the market. For about a block women are sitting with their goods on the ground. They have blankets spread out with their good on them - LOTS of jewelry. Others have dolls, pottery, organic foods and herbal remedies. What I thought was interesting is that it is 80 degrees maybe 78 and all the women have long sleeves plus some with coats and sweaters and others under blankets....like it is cold. Some that are in the sun have umbrellas. But most are under a covered porch area.

Palace of the Governors







So many other things I could highlight because something I could not get over is how Santa Fe has everything - scenery, architecture, food....just cultural, history and art pouring out of it.

Oh I didn't mention Taos - the reason is we only spent a little time there. We wished we had been able to spend more. It is more artsy and rustic then Santa Fe but we had a nice time there too.

And just 2 more pictures even though Michael took a ton of pictures and this is just a small handful....