Santa Fe

After a cool night in which to sleep, about 8:30 we headed for Old Santa Fe.  We discovered very quickly that Santa Fe is (as Carol would say) a "squirrelly" place in which to drive.  One thing that makes it so is the fact that a street may start out being one name and that change two or three times while you are on that street.  It make map reading frustrating.  Anyway, after an hour or so we found what we were looking for and parked.  The rest of the day was spent on food.  Santa Fe contains the oldest church structure and house in the U.S.A.  There are several beautiful churches here.  As the sign says, this church was built around 1610.  It was not open so I was only able to take outside shots.

San Miguel Church

This picture and the next two are of the oldest house in the U.S.A. built about the same time as the church.

This church is famous for its"Miraculous Stairway."    Soon after the chapel was completed, it was discovered there was no way to access the choir loft 22 feet above.  Carpenters concluded that the only way was to use a ladder because a staircase would interfere with the interior space of the small chapel.   One fay a man appeared the Chapel with a donkey and a toolbox looking for work.  Months later, the elegant circular staircase as completed, and the carpenter disappeared.

The Choir Loft.

The staircase has two 360 degee turns and no visible means of support.  It was built without nails, only wooden pegs.  There are three mysteries that surround the spiral staircase:  the identity of its builder, the type of wood used, and the physics of its construction.  It is very beautiful.

This is the Palace of the Governors.  Here the local Indian craftsmen display and sell their jewelry.  They simply lay out a cloth, blanket, etc and lay their jewelry for sale.  All of it is so beautiful...and expensive.  This blog has already stated that I am a tightwad so I did not buy any jewelry.

Some beautifully painted support along the street.

Another beautiful cathedral.

The inside lock on the heavy front doors.

This is where we ate our authentic New Mexican lunch.  It was delicious.  The waitress said the sauces were very spices and did we want our burritos and taco to be "lightly" sauces.  We said yes and were so glad we did that because the "light" was very spicy.  Also with the lunch came postole which we had never eaten before.  It is like hominy and spices and bits of pork  It was very good as well.  The tacos and burritos were made with blue corn flour.

The central plaza had a variety of performers.  This guy and his lady friend were singing and the man was a one-man band.

This fellow was an "instant poet."  He had an old manual typewriter and would write a poem for a price.

You could tour the city in the back of this fellow's bicycle

The seal of the state of New Mexico.  I could not get a picture of the capitol building because it is shaped like the state symbol on their flag.  It is the Zia Pueblo symbol  of a sun.

We got back to camp around 3:30 and relaxed the rest of the afternoon and day.  The people who are in the site beside us are very friendly.  They are Scott and Jane from Des Moines, Iowa.  Every evening they join us on our patio and we visit  share our day.  Tomorrow we plan to visit some places out of Santa Fe.