Travelling Worm

This is the blog of a 25-year-old bookmark. I proudly boast my own Hallmark serial number, 95 HBM 80-1. You’ll probably want to read all about me and my Travelling Companion (the TC) .

Today’s travel notes

Me and the TC were in California a couple of weeks ago. The wild wild west and all that. We drove a Mustang down Highway 1 from San Francisco to Los Angeles. As you do. I wrote about it.

Santa Barbara was one of our overnight stops. That city is so pretty, the TC didn’t know where to point her camera next. To be more precise, she didn’t know where not to point her camera next. As a result, we have gigabytes of images. This worm does concede that they’re pretty and so, with my superior discerning eye, I’ve picked a few for this blog post.

My impressions? Time standing still. In a good way.

Can anyone take so much eye candy? You’ll soon find out. Dude, let me know if you make it to the end of this post.

Travel tip

Go there.

Recommended accommodation

Villa Rosa, an inn at 15 Chapala Street, Santa Barbara. As the brochure proudly states: “Henri Matisse, Carmen Miranda, Ernest Hemingway and Errol Flynn never slept here.” But me and the TC did. It’s charming. There’s a picture somewhere below.

The book I’m in

The Last Apache Girl, by Jim Fergus. I’m between pages 98 and 99 at the moment. From the dizzy rate at which the TC is moving me through this book, I can tell that she’s enjoying it.

The photos

Me catching the breeze in front of the Court House clock tower in Santa Barbara:

The Villa Rosa inn, where we stayed for the night:

The architectural styles are clean and pleasing to the eye:

This building has fresco work under the top eaves and in the archways:

From the outside, the Court House is merely quaint:

But inside, the Court House is magnificent:

It feels a trifle weird to walk around such a serene space, knowing that some of the people you pass are attending court cases and probably not having the most stress-free time of their life:

The Court House was completed in 1929. Its architecture is Spanish-Moorish:

From the top of the Court House clock tower there’s a lovely view of the hills and the town. Here’s just one direction:

The Mural Room in the Court House quite takes your breath away:

The Mural Room was originally built for the sittings of the County Board of Supervisors. Now you can get married there. Here’s a closer look at one of the walls:

Sumptuous stair cases abound. For some reason, this one was adorned with urns. Keats would have done his nut:

Ahem, that’s me dangling on the vase. Ode on a Travelling Worm, anyone? 😉 Actually, Peg is in this photograph too. She’s dangling on the inside of the vase, acting as a loyal counterweight. Dear Peg.

There is so much more of the Court House to see. And the TC, bless her travel-worn cotton socks, photographed most of it. But this worm will move on.

Me with Brother Juniper at the Franciscan mission in Santa Barbara :

Brother Juniper is one cool dude. The mission itself is pretty cool too:

Step inside the mission building. Step into serenity:

There’s a roped-off walk that you can do, so that you don’t disturb the residents and the people attending a retreat:

A view across the courtyard inside the mission:

Still inside the mission, see the skulls and crossbones around this doorway that passes from the graveyard into the church. The TC was surprised to see such decoration in a Catholic mission. This worm has since done some research. Wikipedia says that skull and crossbones have long been used to mark entrances to Spanish cemeteries:

This little alcove is inside the church:

Here’s the doorway leading from the church into another part of the mission building:

The mission museum has some lovely relics. Here’s a large old songbook from their collection:

That’s all for today dudes.