Thursday, 14 November 2014
We stayed the night at Claudine's place and she had taken the following day off to be with us. So sweet of her, despite the fact that she had limited leave days left. She suggested that we go to a place called Solvang, located in Santa Barbara county, in the Santa Ynez valley. The town is basically a mini Denmark, founded in 1911 by a group of Danes who travelled west to establish a Danish colony. It's a quaint town, with bakeries, gift shops, restaurants, cafes. Its facades and architecture are built in the traditional Danish style. There's even a windmill (or two) but they're there purely as decoration. It has rows and rows of shops, but isn't a big place. We had breakfast with Claud in a nice eatery, Solvang restaurant, then walked around for about two hours before heading for another place Claud told us about, the old Santa Barbara mission. It was less than an hour's drive from Solvang and we thought we'd drop by before heading on to Corrinne's place. The mission today serves the community as a parish church. It also contains a gift shop, a museum, a Franciscan Friary and a retreat house. The place is a tourist attraction and is owned by the Franciscan Province of Santa Barbara. We spent about an hour there then decided we could squeeze in an hour of quick shopping at the Camarillo premium outlet. We intended to arrive at Corrinne's by late afternoon but got there at dinner time instead, where the Foo-Hoos had dinner waiting for us. That was basically the day for us...sightseeing and shopping, activities a holiday should be filled with!
Claudine's home, a very nice and new house with a humongous garden behind.
Emma's new best friend, Maya, Claudine's dog. She was intimidated at first, but they warmed up to each other soon after.
Solvang Restaurant. The place has a quaint, 'old-time' feel to it.
MJ's breakfast.
Aebleskiver, which are Danish pancake balls sprinkled with icing sugar and served with jam. They didn't taste particularly good but it's a Danish dessert so just try la!
All that excitement wore her out...
...but not for long. The decorative windmill in the background.
Clowning around while taking a rest.
The old Santa Barbara Mission. A ray of sunlight shone in our path, with this pinkish strip visible at some angles. Such a beautiful sight...
The mission was built in 1786 and there are visible signs of its age. I think they've purposely kept it this way to preserve its simple and 'unpretentious'.
A pretty courtyard basked in evening light.
The old, historic walkway leading to the chapel.
A dramatic scene of the Crucifixion.
A cemetary within the church, with a lovely fig tree in the middle.
Beautiful architecture amidst magical evening light.
The mission is worth a visit, especially if you are a Catholic, but do some reading up before you arrive to make the most out of your visit.
Even the plants look sculptural.
Simplicity.
Always make time for prayer. The chapel is still in use. There are daily morning masses celebrated there.
The view of the chapel towards the rear.
The exit of the chapel is adorned with trimmings.
This mission is open to tourists. Entrance fee is US$6 for adults, US$5 for seniors and US$1 for youths.
Emma posing along the beautiful, rustic walkway, outside the gift shop.
The tourist entrance to the mission, where one purchases the tickets.
God is everywhere...
Small head, big body.
After visiting the mission, we headed toward Winnetka, just outside of downtown LA to Corrinne and Kavin's place. We were due to stay for the night, before heading to Disneyland the following day. We had some time to spare and decided to swing by Camarillo Premium Outlets to do some quick shopping before heading to Corrinne's place for dinner.
Goodbye Santa Barbra! Back on the road towards Los Angeles.
We smiled when we saw this. Pity about the state of the sign though!
Dusk was falling quite quickly and the highway was a little congested but we pressed on. Shopping beckoned!
