Tour Time Through January 2 2012

I entered this Jan 10th Tuesday 

Friday Dec 30^th as I noticed on my camera it is Dec 31 12 hours off. We are heading to the float decorating barns.

Sunny Southern Cal

A little further inland and we break the fog. 

We now see the devastation of the Santa Anna winds of a month ago. People working hard on removing the debris from the yards.

We meet two more New Ulum-ites, or as I say Ulm-ites and more to come. When we arrive a white coat meets us and thanks us for coming and gives us a little instructions.

Now on the grounds are gaggles of people trying to get into the area, but where is it? Well follow the people, get sidetracked and finally get there. The floats at this stage have their colors applied to the float designating what colors go where and the base seeds have been applied. There are now only two professional float makers left. They have page after page of detail for the volunteers to follow. We see the float we were hoping to see, the 100^th anniversary of Roy Rogers birth.

Happy Trails 

                                              It will be lead by 100 palominos.

To demonstrate the effect the first pic is the whole wing then just a small part, looks like real feathers!

Trader Joe float and others.

From there to the area where the Cal Poly float is being built. They have a money raising project: they sell 2$ postcards that ride on the float and you address them to people and they mail after the parade, the two granddaughters get theirs. The young man who sold us them is from San Louis Obispo, where the granddaughters have and Uncle and Aunt – neat.

Now the fun stuff

We see the vehicles that will carry the dignitaries of the parade. Neat.

A LaFrance fire truck, nothing done on it yet.

Next to it a 1933 Cadillac V-16 Phaeton you can see where the sponges on the fenders and bumper, are ready for decoration.  

Next a 1932 Packard 903 Deluxe 8 Sport Phaeton. I notice the displacement is 385 CID, where the Vette is 350. Again getting the sponges on.

                    The Pierce Arrow, like the word with an arrow slicing through it.

                                             A rare Hartford is next

The next car will drive the Mayor, I missed the name of the car but just look at the flowers.

As the time to the parade come closer, many flowers will be cut and placed in a vial of water for preservation.

Pieces of leaves are glued to foundations of the element being done. One young adult is slicing oranges an eighth thick, he sits blowing it to dry and dry enough so he can paste it to a base of marigold pedals.

Down the line are families cutting the blossom off the stem of a bougainvillea and place in a container for later application. Another the blossoms of marigolds.

We had some time to kill and the rose Bowl is just across the way. So our morning walk is coming up.

At least here you can get a coke!

As we were walking back to the bus. I spot this T-shirt.

I stopped them and ask if I could get a shot of the shirt, as I had been on submarines a long time ago, Tecumseh SSBN 628. it turned out he was the XO (Executive Officer), second in command. The lady with him could not be more appreciative of my service time – 7 years. He can wear this proudly, when I got out you were ashamed to have been in, as people disliked the war and blames all those in the military. Different times.

We grabbed a place to eat at the soup and salad shop. Large salad bar, five soups, some pizza and of course ice cream. If I find the slip before I post this is will post.

Street signs as we drove to the next event.






Off to the J. Paul Getty museum, a different one than last year, again it is free but parking a car is 15$. The buildings are made of a Kasota stone like stone.

Some art pieces follow:
  to look at individual pictures, click on the picture and you will see it full screen.

We headed for the art museum that had many great pieces of art.

 Shirleens favorite.

Irises - VanGogh

Gauguin - The Royal End

Pissarro - Houses at Autumn

Renoir - La Promenade

Cezanne - Still Life with Apples

Monet - Still Life with Flowers and Fruit

Monet - Wheatstacks, Snow Effect, Morning

Monet - The Portals of Rouen Cathedral in Morning Light

City view of my prize

 The next exhibit is an outdoor garden, not at peak but splendid.

Metal trees with bougainvillea.

A hedge garden in a shallow pool.

Here is a wall covered with the remnants of a vine, there were a couple places with this effect.

Both his museums are a good place to visit. We would go back to this again when back.


View as we go back down with the tram to the parking area.

We ate the evening meal at the Fish Company, Shirleen's macadamian crusted halibut was tasty, with a baked potato. I eight of the best lightly breaded oysters I have ever eaten. So good I can't remember what else I ate.

Saturday Dec 31, 2011

Off to Catalina Island, we have been there before but this time with a guide. It is overcast but the fog should blow off by 9am. Well it took us a half hour longer but we made it cutting through the fog.

The tour took an hour but little could be seen and she was not very easy to understand.

Shirleen liked this ZIP line, a somewhat new attraction on the Island.

I have nothing to prove!

Lunch was at a neat little restaurant. Shirleen had her hot chochlate and hamburger and I a Vienna sausage sandwich with fries.

The main attractions are the Catalina glazed clay products, highly collectable and made in 1927 – 37. the clay is from the island and the pieces are vibrant in color.

And the casino, in Italian meaning, place to gather, not a money grabbing establishment.

A plant that only grows on this Island is the St. Catherine's lace.

As one would expect, time for an ice cream cone. Look at the deep Minnesota winters coat she is wearing but ice cream in hand.

This was as close as I could get to taking a picture of the seal. Shirleen got the pelican, it was so still with all the people taking a picture you would have thought it was plastic.

Seal

Big party this eve, five course meal of salad and a delicious mustard vinaigrette, roast beef and chicken breast nestled on collard greens, young carrots with their tops on, some ate them others not, fingerling yellow and purple potatoes.  Neat looking desert

Red and white wine abounds, followed by a sweet dessert.

At 9pm, midnight at times Square, we watched the ball drop and toasted the old year out and the new year in with champagne a pleasant brut. Dancing and drinking followed. The southern MN group held out the longest, one of the other ladies corralled the partial bottles and we then had more.

Sunday Jan 1, 2012, on the bus for more, we picked up a tour guide for the city at the Old City – El Pueblo Historic Monument.

The first Oscar's were given out in this hotel.

Up to Grumans theater to go to the Kodak theater to tour the area where the stars are over pampered for what they do, on Oscar night. 

This is the staircase all movie stars ascend. 

This is my star!

We had a really informative gal that lead us thru the area where the Oscar's are held. 

 No that is not the real red carpet, just one used the night before for a special engagement.

The stars go through this door as we did.

No pictures are to be taken in the Kodak theater.

A couple favorites, mine, Donald Duck.

Shirleen's favorite is:

Across the street are a couple of neat signs: El Capitan theater  and Disney's Soda Fountain. 

Should have bought this for Kitty, but they were not open. 

We saw much of the area, except Beverly Hills, off limits to buses. Neat Jaguar!

 We then head to the La Brea (tar pits) in downtown Los Angeles. Many prehistoric animals have been found in these ruins. In the water oil skims the surface and bubbles up. Who would have thunk it? Nice side trip.

For noon we stop at the Farmers Market for lunch and shopping.

                                          Shirleen spots a piece of  pepperoni pizza

 and follows it with an ice cream cone.

Magee's sandwich shop is on my radar, a corn beef on caraway rye bread with mustard and a sharp horseradish with cooked cabbage. I would have bought a bottle but afraid I would forget it in the trunk and have it break in the cold of the Midwest.

Horseradish roots and purple and white sauce

The cutter does this as each sandwich is ordered this is the corn beef, then he could cut a ham, roast beef or turkey sandwich. This guy works hard.

Now we walk around the market, some nice looking merchandise. It is open 7 days a week, packed with people especially now at noon time.

  Fruits  Meats  Desserts 

Many people shopping This is another of those to see again when there is more time.





Where else can you find chicken feet?

Off to Walt Disney Concert Hall

The reason for the stop is the garden and fountain around the facility. As we walk around it your reflection can be captured by camera, Shirleen's picture was the best one. Either didn't make us look thinner.

This tree reminds us of a local bush but was a south American tree.

The foutain was built for the Disney heir who donated 50million$ for the project. She like blue pottery from Amsterdam; therefore the architect bought pieces from there and had a break the pottery party. Then the pieces where made into this beautiful fountain. This reminds us of the benches and sculptures we saw in Barcelona Spain, broken pieces were of pottery were used by Antonio Gaudi to make them.

Off to The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels replaces the Cathedral destroyed in the 1994 earth quake, this is how it looked.
A somewhat plain looking building with this small entrance.










but it is a Catholic place of worship. I say that because the Cardinal of LA has said that if any other church has problems and cannot have worship services at their location they can use this one.

The Jewish community donated a fountain to show the closeness of both religions, one sprung from the other. 

The court yard is made to withstand an earth quake and be fitted as a triage center for 3,000 people in the open area. It is massive and besides the Cardinals chair, woods from six continents cost one million dollars and I am sitting in it as anyone can.

Looking over my flock of Chickens

 The altar is marble looked 12 inches thick, eight by ten feet rectangular,

set on a center single stand. Pictures on the wall were done in Europe and are woven rug, the format was sent via computer to Europe and woven there. Of the many hanging in the main church I took this one. The fourth person from the right with the staff is St. Nicholas.

   I mention this because we were in the St. Nicholas chapel in St. Peters Basilica in Rome, I noticed his icon in Corfu Greece and in Arizona at St. Anthony's Greek Orthodox Monestary; why do I mention this because of the many Nicholas's in my forefathers names.  The windows are made of alabaster giving a soft lighting to the altar area.

   
    Hanging high above the alter are two Cardinals hats, only closely seen by a telephoto lense, these men have died here while serving the parish.

   On the way to the mausoleum is an art gallery with some neat pictures.

        In the lower level is a mausoleum, for commoners, members, Gregory Peck and some religious.

 It is a complex system of branching walk ways with the crypts from floor to ceiling.

Tonight we have a dinner with a couple look-a-likes to sing for us. Marilyn Monroe greeted us at the reception. A superb dinner was served, salad of spinach, filet, mashed potatoes and this nice looking dessert of chocolate layers.

The entertainment was fun, as Marilyn sang three songs and Barbara Streisand came to sing to us also.

Off to bed.