(Mostly Art) in San Diego!

March 19-20, 2022

Road trip! Kind of.

A while back, Marco got invited to a friend's wedding and wasn't extended a plus-one. No worries, no problem at all, I don't know the couple myself and wasn't offended in the least! (I'm being genuine.)

So we decided to plan ourselves weekend trip to San Diego!

Day 1, Saturday, we drove down in record time and set about running around the local mall. Marco needed a new suit for the occasion and I am always down to go shopping! I don't have any photos, but we had a lot of fun and popped in for a midday movie (Uncharted!) while we were at it.

Dinner was its own occasion. LOOK at that pasta!

We had reservations at Monello in Little Italy and they're famous for stirring their pastas in a giant wheel of cheese. Marco got the specialty, and I picked a butternut squash gnocchi. It was incredibly rich and equally delicious. We ended up having to take our desserts to go, chocolate cake and 2 cannolis, and ate those for breakfast the next morning.

Mmmm.

Sunday was the real fun-day. I was super excited to visit the San Diego Museum of Art because I'd heard they were holding a brand new French impressionist exhibit, and that's my favorite kind of art.

So I wasn't aware of this, but Balboa Park in San Diego seems to house most, if not all, of the city's major museums. It reminded me a bit of the Smithsonian, where they're all close by one another.

When we showed up, there was a live organist playing to the whole park on an outdoor organ. It was lovely and you could hear it almost everywhere you went!

There were all kinds of vendors set up outside the museums in the central square. It looked a bit like a flea market, and I'm sure it's there regularly.

First things first, Marco didn't have to be at the wedding until mid-afternoon, so he came with me to the regular part of the museum and we got a snack outside in the courtyard before going in.

(Marco with the Art Museum behind him. Isn't it beautiful?)

We picked the bun tent.

So, full of snacks and ready to go, we hopped in line for the Art Museum.

The Monet to Matisse exhibit (March 19-Aug 7, 2022) displays works collected by Georges Bemberg (1915-2011) and the art usually lives permanently in the Hôtel d'Assézat in Toulouse, France. This is the first time it's ever come to California!! I feel so lucky I caught it on opening weekend. (I borrowed these facts from the museum's website, sdmart.org)

We spent the first hour or two going through the regular exhibits together, being utterly ridiculous.

Marco loves monkeys and sent this snap to the boys.

This lady appears to have dropped her apples, though she may have also been dancing. Perhaps both?

And I saw this Bourdelle, on whom I did a report in college when I studied French Art History, and I was very excited to see a familiar "face".

And some of my favorite pieces that I felt like sharing here as well.

And my favorite of the whole day: I love how the sail on the sailboat is wavy.

Unfortunately Marco had to leave for the wedding before I went into the special exhibit, so I got to enjoy it by myself! And I took my dear sweet time, and walked through it three times before heading back out.

I went and sat by the now-quiet organ and read a book for almost an hour.

Being in an unfamiliar city by myself, Marco and I had made a plan so we'd both know where the other was. When I packed up my book and left the park, I kept him updated as I walked over the bridge, out of the park, and towards the main road to catch an Uber.

Look how quiet and peaceful (and green) it was!

This was the ride that picked me up.

And they dropped me off at a little coffee shop down the road from Marco's location, so I could read my book until he was done! Then he picked me up and we drove back to LA, promising ourselves we'd have to come back and explore some more.