History and Culture Museums

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Each day we seem to be sleeping in a bit longer. Tarragon will not allow us to sleep in much beyond 7 because he has a very strict feeding schedule. He typically jumps up on the bed the first sign of movement, which can be as early as 5:30, he doesn’t start be insistent until about 7.

We both did the continental breakfast this morning, yogurt, pastry, coffee fruit. Then it was off to our first museum.

The New Mexico Museum of History is done in three parts. The first part is the history up to the time it became a state. The second part is from 1912 to the present and the final part is the palace of the governors. The palace is the where the both the Spanish and US Territorial governors lived. It is currently being restored so there was not much to see but a few rooms in the interior.

The first part of the museum is where we spent most of our time. It is a very good presentation on the history from the native people to the Spanish colonial occupation, to the period it was part of Mexico and finally the time as a US Territory. We did not go to the second part, as we had other things to do and a lunch reservation. You could certainly spend more than the 2 hours that we spent, but then that is about our per museum limit.

Next, we sent back to the hotel to get the car and drove up to museum hill. There are several museums here, we were only visiting one. First was lunch at the Museum Hill Café. We had a great window table with a wonderful view of the mountains. Lunch was very good; Jerry had a chicken enchilada and I had a poblano stuffed with green chiles and shrimp.

After lunch was the Indian Art & Cultural Museum. This was pretty much a bust as most of the permanent exhibits were closed as they were being updated. We spent about 15 minutes in the main museum. The most interest exhibit was in the archeological lab that contained a very interesting exhibit on birds and the cultural significance to the native people.

Just to go back to the history museum for a bit. The one thing they did a fairly poor job on was really telling the story of how badly the native people were treated by the Spanish and the US. They did glance over it but didn’t really give you the real since of the atrocities of both The Spanish and US treatment of the native peoples.

We ended the museum portion a bit earlier than we planned so we did a bit of window shopping and a place called Seret & Sons. It was across the street from our hotel and we were hoping for some pottery, but it was almost 100% rugs and some furniture.

At the moment we are in a laundromat doing laundry, as we are just about at the half way mark of the trip. There is foot reflexology place across the parking lot from the laundromat and I am very tempted to head over and get a nice foot massage.

Laundry done we are now back in the room for wine-thirty. Kitty got a bit of fresh air with a walk outside of our room. It was windy today which made it feel colder than it was, but it was very sunny. Snow does not seem to be in the forecast for the rest of our time here. It was pretty much a low-key Sunday, which was a nice change of pace. Unfortunately, I will have to check work e-mails in a couple of days and that should drive up my stress level.

Not much more to report at the moment, until after dinner.

Tonight’s dinner was a La Casa Sena, just off the cathedral squire. Dinner was good, but serious Covid impact here. The staff was simply not well trained, which is solely the fault of management. When you have a 20 something manager more concerned with how he is dressed than the enjoyment of the customer, you have a problem. The other significant issue with this place (and I am not sure if it is because the streets here roll up basically at 9 or if they just to care) was they kind of rushed us out the door. We were have way through our entrée when they asked if we would be wanting dessert because it was last call. Since when does a restaurant have last call when you still have a customer sitting at the table? It isn’t a bar.

Other than that dinner was enjoyable. We started with an Antipasto platter, otherwise known as a charcuterie board. A very nicely plated presentation, the cheese just needed to be room temp. next we both had Caesar salads, again a very nice presentation served in a parmesan crisp bowl.

There was not much Southwestern about this meal especially the entrées. Jerry at Duck wrapped in bacon stuffed with apple chestnut, served over a celery root puree and a calvados sauce. It was again presented nicely but the duck was overdone. I had a grilled beef tenderloin, cooked a nice medium rare with potato pave (thinly sliced and baked) covered in a morel cognac sauce. There allegedly was truffle oil somewhere but it did not come through, which means they forgot it, because truffle oil is very overpowering and really should not be used to cook with.

We passed on dessert, because they really wanted us out. We were again the last table and it was only 9:15 at the latest.

We had a nice stroll home, the temperature as really dropped. Before dinner we did have a glass of wine in front of the roaring fire at the pool, it was nice and relaxing. Now back in the room finishing up the blog and getting ready for bed.

Tomorrow is another full day in town.

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Photos

Shrimp Stuffed Poblano
Dish of the Day