Thu 7 Feb - Santa Fe, NM

Today is a museum and cultural day, but given that the museums all seem to open at 10am, we have a slowish start. We had our breakfast and then did some bookings for Austin, TX in early March before we set out in the car to check out the Santa Fe National Cemetery.

We passed it on our way in to Santa Fe from Kayente and decided then that it may be worth a look.

It does look a lot like a smaller version of Arlington Cemetery outside Washington DC. Most of the graves we saw were of servicemen who seem to have lived a long life after competing their duties, but some were clearly killed during active duty in the various wars that the Americans have participated in over the last century or so. It does get a bit too much after a while.

We then drove into downtown to find parking behind the Scottish Rite Masonic Center, where we saw full day parking advertised for $5 the other day. Now, their payment apparatus was a new experience for us.

• First you take down the number of the parking space that you use,
• Then you go to the "payment station" below and put in $5 in any denominations in "your" parking slot.
• Then you use the "Bill stuffer" to ensure that your parking contribution has fallen down into its pigeon hole and can not be fished up again.

Just love that somebody came up with the term "Bill stuffer"...

We decided to go for a cuppa before entering the world of formal culture. On the way, more art... We liked this guy...

Santa Fe seems to have a predominance of sculpture artists and many pieces are very good and we imagine would sit well in Vineet's backyard. No V, sorry, we can't afford to buy them for you...

This shop sold porcelain chilis among other things. We checked them out and went back later to buy a small string. Need to send back to Sydney before we next fly...

We stopped for coffee at Burro Alley Cafe.

And we supplemented the coffees with a small cookie called a Biscochito (the state cookie - yep... New Mexico has a designated state cookie!). It is small and very light, similar to a short bread with less fat, and mixed in ground nuts, anise and cinnamon. Delicious.

Hans enjoying both coffee and cookie. Reasonably good espresso actually...

Around 11am we head into the New Mexico Museum of Art. The museum is set in a fantastic old adobe building with wings added. The museum grabs your attention early with the age of the building and also some fabulous murals around the main courtyard.

The exhibition we focused on was called "14,000 years of New Mexico art", but in reality most of the items on display were from the last 400 years. The board below provided an informative yet concise summary of the changes in art and style, up to modern day.

Below was a very modern piece with a car door used as a projection screen of the artist driving through cartoon streets in modern day - sometimes drunk, sometimes bored. We laughed. Very well done.

We liked the perspective the museum explained of how some items become art after first being functional. For example this is a Geiger counter. It reminded Hans of an old Kraftwerk song called... Geiger counter.

Some photos from the exhibition below.

Upstairs was modern art, including these interesting pieces...

Hans in particular liked the following pieces...

When we felt we were up to date with New Mexico art, we left for lunch in the plaza before tackling museum number 2. Our favourite fajitas stall had returned so lunch was an easy choice.

We sat in the sun and watched the world go by. The plaza is one of those places were a very diverse range of people and characters congregate.

We also tolerated a shockingly bad busker before he hustled off and was replaced with this good harpist.

Our next stop was THE museum - New Mexico History Museum, which included entry to the Palace of the Governors.

The native Indians once again set up shop outside the Palace of the Governors to sell their jewelry, weaving and art with better success today.

The New Mexico History Museum is excellent and seems to us kinder to the Spanish/Mexican government than the Americans from the north and east. Unfortunately the Americans forced native Indians off land and killed many and generated a lot of rebellion with Apache leaders like Geronimo. The Spanish/Mexicans were in general far more conciliatory in their dealings with the natives.

The History Museum is attached to the Palace of the Governors through this courtyard.

The Palace of the Governors is 400 years old and inside they expose some walls and holes to show the archeological history.

This stage coach held the driver, 1 passenger next to him, 2 on the roof and 9 inside of mud/dirt road journeys through the territory. That did not sound very inspiring.

An example of a room that was adapted to suit a later American governor.

And the printing room.

A short break for an afternoon cuppa at the Plaza Cafe before our next stop.

We chuckle about pedestrian rights in USA. Santa Fe is good compared to many other places, with sidewalks and traffic signals but we still get called Peds.

Our next stop was a private tour by appointment at the Scottish Rite Masonic Centre, a building that fascinated us 2 days ago. Tours are free but by appointment only. So we arranged a private tour with Connie, who is handling PR and marketing for the centre.

The Masons built this incredible building 100 years ago and opened it 2 months before New Mexico became a state and Santa Fe the official capital. The architects were asked to ensure the building proportions were in line with the Fibernaci Sequence and also modeled on Alhambra in Spain.

We learned a lot about the Masons, their code and structure, study of philosophies and the attaining of up to 33 degrees in 4 levels. A Scottish rite is the higher lodge and generally there is only 1 in each major region or state.

These windows show the symbols for the 4 levels and are original, shipped from the east coast of US.

This theatre is the heart of the building which is still used today for Mason reunions twice a year and also for some opera, chamber music and community events.

The sets are original, 100 years old by a famous set designer, Robert Moses, and are heritage listed. They can show 29 different scenes and are suspended above the stage. We were led down to the stage, into the back stage and costume room and even into the ballroom and kitchen. Here are some photos.

Below is the Hall of Honor, or the Ballroom as Connie called it.

The chandeliers are rumored to be Tiffany original and Tiffany himself was a Mason and stayed in Santa Fe at the time of the buildings decoration.

The building looks pink ... and the story goes that a Mason brother in the 1930s took on the job of repainting as the original paint was starting to look dirty and tired. He was in the painting business but despite this got the colour wrong. It was supposed to be more terra cotta brown and as it dried it got pinker and pinker. He then died before he could fix it. The Masons were short of cash during the depression and WWII and when they finally had the money the building was heritage listed and the colour was not allowed to change! Hence, it is still pink to this date and in stark contrast to its surrounding buildings.

From a wall...

We finished the private tour with Connie around 5pm. Whew, 6 hours and 3 museums fry your brain somewhat but we could not have skipped any of it - all fantastic.

Back to the motel with a later takeaway (or "to go" as they call it here) dinner of salad, soup and bread.

Posted with Blogsy