October 10-11: Albuquerque

We explored Old Town.  It was tourist oriented but a nice day to be out walking.  It was a school holiday, so there were lots of families also out walking.  We picked up a couple of souvenirs - angels at St Phillip Neri and a CD of flute music.

The St Phillip Neri church is old, built in 1793 and we walked through and looked at all the statuary.  The church felt like it had good acoustics, but there were lots of visitors, so I did not sing to check that out.  The stations of the cross were beautiful, individual paintings.  Of course we also took a picture of the musicians room with all the microphones and music stands.

 

 Outside the church we came across this painted Mary carved into a big old cottonwood tree.

 

Later that day we ordered online tickets to the Sandia Peak tram.  We had a loading time of 5 pm to 8 pm and we arrived right at 5:00.  We waited in a LONG line for about 90 minutes.  Then we saw the tram coming in for a landing.  It was time for us to board - about 45 people!

 

The view from the tram was immense, staggeringly beautiful.  The trip to the top took about 15 minutes. We arrived just in time for sunset.  We took some pictures and then went back to the loading dock.  The temperature at the top of the mountain was freezing!  Even though I brought a jacket and a down vest, I was cold.  On the ride back down we were able to see the city spread out before us and glowing with lights.

The next day we drove out to the Center for Action and Contemplation.  It was founded by Fr. Richard Rohr and offers books, classes and a lovely meditation center in the yard.  It was peaceful.  We sat quietly meditating for awhile and took a few pictures.  The meditation area is built around a 150 year old cottonwood tree that Fr Richard calls the Trinity Tree.  We loved the experience.

 

On the way back in town we drove to the Pueblo Cultural Center.  This museum/gathering space is filled with indigenous art and history of the pueblo people.  There were many thought provoking displays and many hands-on areas designed to appeal to children and adults. We were happy to learn more about the pueblo culture and hear the native languages and music.  One of my favorite displays was the Story Teller.  There were sculptures of storytellers from different pueblos that you could highlight.  Then you would hear the story.