Sorolla's Light

Song - By the Beautiful Sea by Irving Kaufman


Friday, my girlfriend Sydney and I headed down to San Diego for the day to see the Joaquin Sorolla exhibit at The San Diego Museum of Art.

Sorolla's Self-Portrait

We caught a 6 am flight (yipes - that meant I had to get up at 4am!) and spent the morning enjoying the exhibit and strolling around Balboa Park which is where the San Diego Museum of Art is located.

It is 1200 acres of land which was set aside in 1868.  In 1915 it hosted the Panama-California Exposition celebrating the opening of the Panama Canal.

Balboa Park was a delight but Sorolla's exhibit was amazing.

I have always liked his work but to see his work up close and in person allows you to see each bold brush stroke, the vibrant colors he used and his beautiful use of light.

I was blown away!

Photo's just do not do it justice...the show closes on August 26 so if you can get there, please do!

Next we headed to the Gaslamp District for lunch. It is a historic area in downtown San Diego noted for its restaurants, shopping and entertainment.  We settled into a restaurant "Searsucker" and we were delighted with our food, the atmosphere and service. The sous-chef was filleting several Yellowtail for sushi.  They had been caught just near San Diego at 3 am that day.  (So very glad I am not a fisherwoman! - yawn....snooze button!)

Can you see the fillet's on the stool near the head of the fish?

 After lunch we headed out to Hotel del Coronado for a walk on the beach.

First we needed some fortification.....

That would be one Manhattan & one Coronado Cosmo

It was so fun to sit in the open bar and people watch while we sipped our drinks and rested our tired feet.  Then, sans shoes, we took an invigorating walk along the shore, running in and out of the waves.

We returned home about 9:30pm - tired but happy!

It was a fun day.....thanks Syd!


 "I could not paint at all if I had to paint slowly. Every effect is so transient, it must be rapidly painted.” - Joaquin Sorolla

(that quote is for you Joanne!)

Thirty-five Years soon!

Song - Les Copains D'Abord by Georges Brassens

 
Next week will be Mr. B and my 35th wedding anniversary and we will be celebrating it this Autumn in France.

For several months now we have been reading all kinds of travel guides, plotting, discussing, reworking and mapping where we would like to visit in France and we finally have all of our hotels reserved and places to see worked out!

And for a special surprise I decided to give Mr. B a love lock while we are in Paris to put on the
Pont de l'Archevêché bridge or the Pont des Arts bridge crossing the Seine.  Last time I was there was with some girlfriends and there were only a few locks on the bridge.

The story is that if you inscribe your names on your lock, lock it onto the bridge and toss the key into the Seine you will have everlasting love.

Well, I looked online for a special heart shaped lock and the day after it arrived in the mail, an article appeared in the newspaper.......

The love locks in Paris are harming the bridges so they are encouraging people to refrain from placing them on the bridge.  They may even cut them down - the locks not the bridges!

So I guess after 35 years we will have to find some other way to show our everlasting love!!!

“There are two bridges in Paris with the locks, you must be very careful which bridge you put your lock on because Pont des Arts is for your committed love, while Pont de l'Archevêché is for your lover.” -- A Paris tour guide