My car didn't freeze, so that started my day out as a plus! I ate breakfast at a teeny tiny restaurant, was four minutes past my parking expiration time and the Meter Maid must have been hoovering around my car because I got a ticket. Ugg! My $2, one hour parking spot turned into a $37, one hour parking spot. That sucked. Oh well. Part of the typical city driving/parking situation. I hate it when I get tickets and I have no one to blame, but myself!
So I found a chocolate house and ate my frustration. LOL. Just my luck though...as I pulled up so did a small bus full of seniors. About 12 poured out of the bus and filled up the teeny tiny little store. I think it's nice they go on outings and excursions. When I'm old and living in a care home I'll make sure they have day trips to chocolate stores...I'll have to put that in my will for my future children. ;)
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| This was a little 3oz hot chocolate and a couple truffles. Did you ever see the movie "Chocolat"? Well, this place reminded me of that little chocolate store in the movie. You could see the craftmanship in the product. |
Okay - Let's try this parking thing again...I drove around for like fifteen minutes to avoid high parking costs. Went down a couple One Way streets I didn't realize were one way. LOL. But got here. Loretto Church and its infamous staircase.
Here's the story of the staircase in a nutshell...
- The tiny church is built with a choir area in the rafters. The nuns climb a ladder to get there on Sundays.
- The nuns decide they don't want to do this anymore because it's so risky. They need a staircase.
- The church is poor and there isn't much room so they start praying for an answer.
- One day a traveling carpenter shows up and says he will give them a staircase, but doesn't want any money for it.
- He works for 6 months, alone, with only a hammer, saw, and some wood bending tool.
- One day his just vanishes and leaves behind this freestanding spiral staircase.
- The staircase is a marvel to the nuns and engineers for centuries because they cannot understand how this staircase was built and how it could be built without supports.
- It's still a marvel today.
- Some time later though, the nuns didn't like walking up the spiral staircase without a railing so they brought someone in to add railings.
- No one ever knew what happened to the carpenter or how he managed to build this mystery.
I was tired people...so I came back to the Airbnb to take a nap and meditate...OMG...I have to tell you about my host.
SIDE NOTE - Let's call him J. J is so friendly, but he's the kind of guy that gets right up next your face (in the most non threatening way), but just hangs out in your personal space for long conversations. And he never, ever stops talking. He is so smart and knowledgeable about so many things, but man...that man can talk. Not a conversation, just him talking and me listening and nodding. A jolly, organic-looking, chatterbox with the best of intentions. J is 73 and grows his own food at home. Actually, he told me he bikes everywhere and tries not to use his truck so he hasn't been into downtown Santa Fe in months! He's only 12 minutes away via car. Anyway, he had hair coming out of every hole on his head and was odd, and very kind.
Anyway, this was the neighborhood where he lived. Believe it or not, there are actually a lot of homes here! If you zoomed in you'd see a lot. They were all over, but you can't really see them. They all just blend in with the environment.
After I took this pic, I went back for my nap, but ended up FaceTiming with my parents and Morgan for half an hour. They asked, "So what is Santa Fe like?" Here was my answer..."Ummm, well, Santa Fe is like a town that's, ummmm, trying not to exist. It's trying to hide so no one knows it's really there. Hahaha. Really! This entire area is mostly one-story homes all painted various shades of Sand Dune Tan. Even in the downtown area! I saw ONE building that had the audacity to paint their shutters blue. I'm not kidding. Those shutters stuck out amongst the sameness of the city.
I woke up from my meditation/nap/coma in a flurry! I just popped up and realized the day was over and the sun was already setting. I ran outside to the back yard and took a quick pic of the gorgeous sunset.
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| View from the backyard. Every house in Santa Fe gets to enjoy these sunsets because it's flat and no one builds two-story homes that would obstruct the gorgeous scenery. |
I headed out to downtown for some nightlife. I drove around a bit and then decided the only thing I really had energy for was a movie since the live theatre scene was a little dead. So...I went to the show. At least I was out with people. It was a great theatre. A lot like Sierra Grill Cinemas. It was really, really cold outside. From what I hear the climate can be brutal in New Mexico and now I understand why. I can't imagine what the cowboys were experiencing! Freezing! Did they cuddle with their horses? Honestly, how in the heck could they be warm at night here?
Well, I have another day in Santa Fe tomorrow so I'm going to rest up now. This Airbnb said it had a hot tub on the listing...….ummm…….nope, no hot tub. That would have been a nice way to end the night though. However, with the state of this house, I'm not sure it'd be a clean hot tub anyway.
Buenos Noches!
Kelly
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