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Showing posts with label California. Show all posts
Showing posts with label California. Show all posts
Sunday 30 June 2019
Unconditional Surrender
Location: San Diego, California, USA
Address:
Date: June 2019
Website: en.wikipedia.org
As you walk past the USS Midway Museum in San Diego and head into Tuna Harbor Park you come across a couple locked in an embrace. This is a sculpture by artist Seward Johnson and is based on a photograph taken in Times Square at the end of World War II. It is called Embracing Peace.
San Diego is a huge naval town and the USS Midway is an aircraft carrier with fighter jets parked on top.
Behind Embracing Peace out in the harbour are active naval ships that are ready for action as needed.
The 25 foot tall couple doesn't notice as passerby snap photos. They reminded us of the couples in an old commercial for Big Red chewing gum.
The original artwork was in Sarasota, Florida and then moved to San Diego. The artist then made several versions of the statue available. The original was foam filled and stayed in San Diego until 2012. It was originally called Unconditional Surrender.
About a year later a bronze replacement arrived in San Diego. This is the strongest version offered by the artist. As the couple continues to stand in the habour, that is one strong kiss as well.
Map of Our World
Unconditional Surrender
Post # 255
Monday 10 September 2018
Old Town San Diego
Address: Old Town
Date: February 2014
Website: www.parks.ca.gov
Old Town San Diego is said to be the birthplace of California. Juan Rodriquez Cabrillo discovered the area in 1542. In 1602 Sebastian Vizcaino named it San Deigo de Alcala. The area became a bustling hub, military post and religious mission.
In 1846 the first American flag was raised in Old Town's plaza. In 1968 Old Town became a State Historic Park. In 2014 we made a visit to take in the history, sights and food that Old Town had to offer. We entered the Old Town area through the market. We would come back here later for some souvenirs.
The first order of business was to get something to eat. We had some churros from one of the food vendors. After enjoying our deep fried treat we headed further into the town for some history.
San Diego's first courthouse was built in 1847. It is also the first brick building built by the Mormons after the war with Mexico. At one point it served as the mayor's office.
La Casa de Estudillo is an adobe mansion and was built in 1829. Adobe means it was made from earth and other organic materials. This building is located in the center of town and was the social and religious center during the Mexican Era. The Mexican Era ended in 1846 when the United States declared war on Mexico.
In the center of La Casa de Estudillo is a garden with many interesting plants and flowers growing.
Around Old Town there are also many plants, especially cactus. There are also some resident cats.
La Casa de Machado y Silvas was built in 1843 and used to be a restaurant. This building is also said to be where the Silvas family hid the Mexican flag during the war in 1846.
A covered wagon sits in the middle of the street. This was the primary means of transportation for anyone who came to Old Town.
Across from the covered wagon was the Cosmopolitan Hotel. Back in 1827 it used to be the home of Juan Bandini and later in 1869 a second floor was added and it opened as a hotel. The hotel has undergone some renovations but still maintains some original features such as the floorboards. We sat at a table over these floorboards as we enjoyed a meal in the hotel dining room. A highlight was the deep fried brussel sprouts.
After lunch we enjoyed a walk and some shade down by Fiesta de Reyes which housed some other vendors. It had a nice pineapple topped fountain out front.
In the garden was a metal mariachi band. Old Town plaza was a popular place for music, bullfights and other forms of entertainment.
The Colorado Hotel is much smaller than the Cosmopolitan. This is a reconstruction as we belive the original from 1851 was destroyed in a fire.
As we headed out of Old Town we passed a theatre. It wanted to be like The Swan theatre in England so it was named after a young swan. The Cygnet Theatre runs performances throughout the year.
We headed back to our car and passed the Immaculate Conception Church. This church was built in 1865 and was the first church in California built outside of the mission system. Just outside of Old Town we purchased some souvenirs from one of the many shops. There was so much on offer but we took a small vase as a memento. The mixture of food, fun and history had made for a great day.
Map of Our World
The Cosmopolitan Hotel (Old Town)
Old Town San Diego State Historic Park
Post # 226
Friday 15 September 2017
The Mask at Warner Bros. Studios
Location: Burbank, California, USA
Address: 3400 West Riverside Drive
Date: Feb 2014
Website: vipstudiotour.warnerbros.com
We have a copy of The Mask on DVD that we got for free inside a box of cereal. The movie was also a box office success and starred Jim Carrey as Stanley Ipkiss. When Stanley finds a special mask he puts it on and is transformed into... well, into Jim Carrey doing his stand-up routine.
When we visited Warner Bros. Studios, we were lucky to see some of the filming locations from this movie. The first location is found on Hennessy Street of the backlot. Stanley lives in the apartment pictured above. It is the building with Hardware written on it and fire-escapes on the front. When Stanley first puts on the mask he becomes a green faced cartoon-like character. He ends up bouncing down a hallway and out the window of this building. He is flattened when he hits the ground below. A car honks at him for being in the street. Stanley pulls out a tiny little horn which lets out one giant-sized windshield shattering " Bahooogahh!"
Later in the film Stanley is once again wearing the mask. This time he finds himself face to face with a street filled with police. The building above played the neon lit Warwick Hotel.
When faced with this predicament, The Mask breaks into song and the police are surprised to find themselves losing control and dancing along. The song he sings is Cuban Pete. This song was previously made famous by Desi Arnaz of I Love Lucy fame. All of the action takes place just beyond the dumpster you see in the middle of the road above.
At one point The Mask leaps into the air and slides down a light pole beside this theatre (right hand side of the photo above). The dance sequence continues and finishes with a conga line before The Mask sneaks off once again. Our golf cart also snuck off once again as we continued our tour of the studio.
See more locations from the Warner Bros. Studio Backlot.
Map of Our World
New York Street , Stanley Ipkiss Apartment
Post # 191
Saturday 15 April 2017
Bunny Rabbit Hare
- Lop-Eared Rabbit
- Bugs Bunny
- Flemish Giant Rabbit
- Arctic Hare
- Lionhead Rabbit
- Rabbit Balloon
- Tortoise & Hare
- Cute Bunnies
- Chocolate Bunnies
- Eastern Cottontail
1 ) Lop-Eared Rabbit
A friend of ours used to care for a very cute lop-eared bunny. A lop-eared bunny is a bunny whose long ears hang (we guess you could say lop) down. You will notice all of the other bunnies in this blog post have ears that stand straight up or sit back on top of their heads.
One of the all-time favourite bunnies is Bugs Bunny from the Looney Tunes cartoons. He is among a short list of animated characters to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The outline drawing of Bugs Bunny (above) was in the Warner Brothers Studio's Museum.
3) Flemish Giant Rabbit
From Bugs Bunny we go to Big Bunny. A Flemish giant rabbit can weigh up to 10 kg and grow to about 30 inches long. It is one of the largest domesticated rabbits. The bunny above was at the Toronto Zoo for a short time and shared an enclosure with the wombats and wallabies. Perhaps it had outgrown its previous living space.
4) Arctic Hare
While we were in Churchill, Manitoba we spotted this hare just across the road from our lodge. While it may not be the smartest thing to do in polar bear territory at night, we headed outside to try and get a closer look. Luckily, he stood still long enough for us to get the picture above. It took us some time to determine if this was an arctic hare or a snowshoe hare as both inhabit Churchill. We read about one having bigger feet or ears than the other. Some reports said that one has bigger eyes or fluffier fur. We made our determination by the black on the ears. As far as we can tell arctic hares (like this one) have black just on the top tip of their ears while snowshoe hares have a black edge that may cover the tip, but runs further along the ear as well.
5) Lionhead Rabbit
A lionhead rabbit is bred to have a mane around its face like a lion. They end up looking like little balls of fur with ears. We wondered how they can even see where they are hopping. When taking pictures, the bunny below did flash us a look from beneath all that fur just to let us know he was in there. The lionhead above is from Prickly Ball Farm and the lionhead below is from Far Enough Farm.
Artist Jeff Koons had a piece of his art appear in Toronto's Nuit Blanche 2009. It was simply named Rabbit Balloon. It featured a giant shiny silver bunny that was floating inside the Eaton Centre. This bunny also once floated in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2007.
7) Tortoise & Hare
In Boston's Copley Square is a sculpture of a tortoise and a hare. It was installed as a tribute to runner's of the famous Boston Marathon. It is based on the popular fable of The Tortoise & the Hare. The fable tells the story of a rabbit who was so confident in his ability to outrun the tortoise that during a race he ran ahead and took a nap. While he napped the tortoise passed by heading for the finish line. The hare finally awoke and tried to catch up, but it was too late.
8) Cute Bunnies
We think that all rabbits are cute. There is something special about a tiny bunny that you can pick up and hold in your hands while it sits quietly twitching its little nose. These cuties are from the Toronto Zoo kid's section and from Jungle Cat World.
9) Chocolate Bunnies
Chocolate shaped like eggs is good. Chocolate shaped like bunnies is good. This bunny above is a box from Teuscher Chocolates and hides a chocolate truffle in its belly. We like chocolate.
10) Eastern Cottontail
Map of Our World
Toronto Zoo (Australasia Pavilion) , Toronto Zoo (Kids Zoo) , Jungle Cat World Wildlife Park , Prickly Ball Farm , Lazy Bear Lodge , Far Enough Farm
Teuscher Toronto
Tortoise & Hare , Eaton Centre
Hollywood Walk of Fame
Post # 171
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Places to Eat,
Toronto,
Toronto Zoo,
USA,
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