LOS ANGELES

It never rains in Southern California..................hah!

It poured and poured all day...snowed in the mountains...some roads closed. Terrible driving, but we set off for Pasadena. We stopped first at Paul and Amy's favorite local place for breakfast - Lily's. Lily herself welcomed us to her warm and friendly restaurant. We then went to the Huntington Art Gallery in Pasadena. We had reservations for tea in the Rose Garden Tea Room. What a treat! The tearoom was beautifully decorated for Christmas and a steaming pot of fragrant Christmas blend awaited us...very welcome since we were cold and wet. We had all sorts of sandwiches, salads, pastries, fruit and scones....with clotted cream, of course. Scrumptious




Despite the rain, we visited the Japanese gardens and the new Garden of Flowing Fragrance, Liu Fang Yuan.







We spent the rest of the afternoon in the art gallery which is located in the Huntington family's San Marino villa....more like the Gardiner and the Frick than a regular museum. The collection of British portraits of the 18th and 19th centuries is one of the finest outside London. So many wonderful Gainsboroughs, Reynolds and Lawrences......I gasped when we walked into this room.



Here is Gainsborough's "Blue Boy", Lawrence's "Pinkie", Reynolds' "Sarah Siddons as the Tragic Muse"....and so many other familiar portraits from Art 11.





Priceless French furniture and furnshings from the 17th and 18 century filled room after room, but what I admired most were the exquisite Beauvais tapestries designed by Francois Boucher.

Because of the rain, we had the museum to ourselves....rather like a private viewing. So, we never got over to the other gallery or to the library....we stayed all afternoon in the villa looking at Wedgwood, Sevres, Royal Worcester, silver, miniatures, musical instruments and much more.

We were finally obliged to leave when the gallery closed. We had intended to spend some time at the Norton Simon, but we scratched that idea early on. We set off for the Parkway Grill, an institution in Pasadena, passing the bleachers already set up along the Rose Bowl parade route. We had drinks in the bar, then a delicious meal and another wonderful California wine - a Mantra Cabernet from Sonoma. By the time we left for home, the rain had stopped, but the temperature dropped considerably. It was cold! Here are Amy and Paul at the Parkway Grill.