Exploring Los Angeles - Day 2

Today we were up a little bit earlier, bags packed and ready to hit the highway!

First stop today was La Brea Tar Pits and the associated Page Museum.  Pita went there by herself, as we had been there on our last visit.  We had thoroughly enjoyed it, and mum had been told by friends that it was worth a visit, and I believe she rates it positively.  Eric, Karl, Robin & I walked around the streets near the tar pits, and just soaked up the atmosphere.  The tar pits are on La Brea Boulevard, a busy 3-4 lane each way road, with offices and museums all along that stretch.  We walked one block over - residential apartments and single storey houses.  We did explore a sculpture garden associated with the LA County Museum and also looked inside the foyer of the Automotive Museum, before meeting back up with mum and walking through the tar pits to the car.  Still smells of asphalt, same as our last visit, but not as much coming up around the grounds, probably as it is colder now than when we were last here.  We talked to a lady who was sorting through findings from a tar pit, and she said she had found a metatarsal from a bird, a small beetle and some twigs that morning.

Eric with Rodin's statue, Eve

From there, we headed to another mission, via a lookout of the house that was used in the Ironman movie where Tony Stark lived.

Mansion which was used in Iron Man film

Mission San Fernando, Rey De Espana, named in honour of King Ferdinand III of Spain in 1797, is also home to the Bib Hope Memorial Garden.  He died in 2003, and he and his 2nd wife are now buried there, in a lovely quiet garden area.  As for the Mission itself, the convento is the largest freestanding Adobe in California, and was originally a hospital for travellers.  It has 21 Roman arches  along its exterior corridor, and 4 foot adobe walls.  The old mission church has even thicker walls - 7 feet at the base and tapering to 5 feet at the top!  It was quite cool in LA today, but with such thick walls, the buildings were quite warm.

Library inside the convento

Karl & Robin by statue of Fray Fermin Francisco De Lasuen
who established Mission San Fernando

Then it was on to see a historic site near our accommodation - a Cold War Nike Missile launch site.  Unfortunately, there was not a lot of it to see - in fact, we saw nothing.

After dinner, it was back to the apartment for sandwich making, washing, relaxing and bed.