Old Town

Yesterday, the winds blew, not only did they blow, they howled.  At one point, we pulled one of our slides in because of the noise and shaking.

Today, the winds were not quite as bad.  We decided to explore

This is where Albuquerque began in 1706.  We began with a trolley tour around the town.  This was one of the best tours we have ever taken.  We went through neighborhoods and learned so much about this city.  It lasted about 90 minutes and when it was finished, we knew so much more about what we wanted to do while we were here.

One of the things we learned is that Albuquerque takes 1% of city construction funds for public art.  There are many murals throughout the town painted by local artists.

We rode along Route 66 and passed the El Vado Motel, it's in the book, 100 Places to Visit Before You Die.  Apparently, it was scheduled to be demolished and the city bought it.  Our tour guide stated that the city does not tear down any buildings ever since a Harvey hotel was torn down in the 1970's.  The buildings are saved and eventually renovated.

We also saw the spaceship house belonging to Bart Prince, a well know architect who was a protege of Frank Lloyd Wright.  The house has been featured on HGTV.

After the trolley tour, we went to eat at the Church Street Cafe.  I spelled Albuquerque correctly on the tour and received a free meal, so we thought that would be as good a place as any to eat.

It looked like a little place, but when you went inside, there was a large dining area as well as a patio. We chose to eat outside on the patio.

One of the things we found out on the tour is that Albuquerque has a bustling movie industry.  Right now, Johnny Depp is here filming The Lone Ranger.  We haven't seen him yet, but there was someone sitting at the table next to us who our waiter recognized as being in the movies.  He told our waiter he was here working on The Lone Ranger.  I don't know yet what part he is playing.

After lunch, we explored some more of Old Town.

The church

and lots of shops nestled inside around the patios.

It was a fun day and we're looking forward to seeing more around the area!