The Mission at Bonaventura

Third stop on year end trip.. which happened on day 2 morning was the Mission at Bonaventura. It is the number one tourist destination in Ventura. 

We also like to go see the Missions. Someday I will finish Photobloging all the Missions. We were talking about how 200 plus years ago Juniperro Serra managed to walk along the coast and set up a mission practically every 75 miles or so.. and he set up 20+ Missions along the coast.  

Then I reminded my kids of Adi Sankara.. who was born in Kaladi (they have been there) and went all the way to Kashmir by foot, establishing a Mission wherever he went,  around 1300 years ago!

A persons conviction and calling can make them do wonderful things! If you have never been to these missions, you should try to go see them. There is a lot of history in them, but more importantly, they are simple and elegant as places of worship. Not much of gold and dazzle.. mostly wood but there is a peace and serenity in these places that seeps in when you sit there and close your eyes. 

This mission is beautiful. 

 They have a little gift shop and there is a nominal fee to enter like all the other missions.

There is a museum with some of Juniperro Serra's artifacts. 

The wooden bells were intersting!

These beads reminded me of the Rudraksham, which is interesting. Most other rosaries I have seen are just smooth wood beads. This one was different.

There is a matching fountain inside the compound as well as three trees that were planted when the mission was started. They are still flourishing. 

Next year when we revisit San Diego, we will to go the one in Oceanside.. 

There are a lot of boards that explain how life was in this mission and the aquaduct that brought stable agriculture to this region starting from this mission. It was very interesting.

There was a baptism going on inside. We did not know if the bagpipe was part of that function or not, but we enjoyed it all the same!

He played for a good 10 minutes to entertain the crowd in the courtyard! 

The main sanctum was quiet. We sat there quietly for a good 20 minutes and I got a chance to meditate.

The priest showed the kids that one of the important relics in this Church was a piece of the Cross of Jesus. The little one was confused as the wood was not obviously visible but inside the metal. Think priests everywhere have a tough challenge when it comes to explaining things to kids! 

This is how it looks inside. The inside was dark, so placed the camera on the floor and did a 15 second exposure. Jr. was very impressed with my "skills" after seeing this photograph!

If you have a few hours to spare and happen to go by Ventura, strongly recommend the Bonaventura Mission. 

Mission at Santa Ynez

Continuing on the series of photo blogs on the Solvang trip...

Santa Ynez is right outside Solvang (you exit Solvang, enter Santa Ynez). The highlight of course is a Mission that is 200 years old! (not a big deal by Indian standards where old means 1000+ years!), but definitely historic considering how young the US of A is!

This mission has a museum of sorts which show earliest pictures (from 1800's and early 1900's), the clothes worn by the early clergy and a beautiful garden, not to mention the actual church itself or the 200+ year old paintings..

The corridor reminded me of Rameshwaram (a place I am yet to visit! and have seen only in pictures..) Extremely peaceful place..

There were actually two shrines, the big one where everyone worships and this little one which had only two chairs in front of it (maybe this was the original shrine?). Did not get a chance to ask anyone because they were closing pretty soon (we were there Christmas eve!). I am not a big church goer (maybe this is like having a Moolavar and Utsavar type thing in Indian temples ?)


Here is the main shrine. I actually had plans to sit there for a few minutes on the seats and soak in the atmosphere.. but they were vacuuming the carpet and that plan went nowhere..I could still visualize the place and the awe it would create when it was silent!


Now for the paintings, which are on an average 200 years old.. Flash photography was not allowed inside, so please bear with the quality of the images (this is the best I could get with 15 second exposures with F8.0)


Another large painting


There were lots of smaller paintings which were equally amazing, but you have go see them on the walls for yourself..


Then we visited the garden and courtyard, which apparently was the site of the very first educational instituion in California!!


The garden reminded me of Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicheri.. Very quiet in spite of lots of people milling around. For me, a person who is noisy by nature, More people always means more noise. The only deviations from this linearity are,

1. few people making too much noise (which does not surprise me anymore after seeing my two kids)
2. lots of people making no noise (that always puts me ill at ease at first and then suddenly slows my internal clock down. It is as though I start to move in slow motion). I experienced that in this garden..


On the whole a Christmas eve well spent!

That leaves Morro bay and Limekiln State park.. Considering I am going to be very very busy at work starting tonight, I will at least have those photo blogs ready before tonight and post them over the next week..