You’ll be strolling through museums and gardens and just generally enjoying
the picturesque surroundings. One of the few buildings not in the Spanish motif
is the Timken Gallery of Fine Art, with its collection of rare artworks. Other
museums include the Museum of Man,
and the Natural History
Museum, They house a variety of
exhibits from ancient archeological finds to the history of chocolate, and they
change periodically. Then there is the Reuben
H. Fleet Aeronautical
Museum which features a domed IMAX
theater will allows you to be immersed in astronomical sights and sounds. And,
the San Diego Aerospace
Museum has an actual SR 71
Blackbird warplane in the foreground. The Blackbird holds the record for being
the fastest and highest-flying plane in history.
Trees And Gardens Galore
The park itself has some 15,000 trees covering 400 species, including a good
deal of Eucalyptus trees which are prevalent in Southern California.
The gardens include the 11.5 acre Japanese
Friendship Garden,
which offers a serene, quiet environment. The nearby Alcazar
Gardens feature 7000 annuals so
there is always something new to see. And the FDR Grove, dedicated to President
Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1982, honors trees planted by the historic Civilian
Conservation Corps, which he formed. Perhaps the most stunning is the huge
reflection pool, covered with all varieties of water lilies, backed by the
imposing Botanical Gardens collection at the rear of the pond. The reflecting
pool was the setting for NBC’s Today Show in 1967 when Hugh Downs and Barbara
Walters hosted the show in San Diego
for a week. Ever since people have made a pilgrimage to this beautiful spot.
The Old Globe
Perhaps one of the more unusual structures is the Old Globe Theater, which
is a replica of the original Shakespeare theater in England.
Tragically the theater burned down in 1978 but was rebuilt in 1982. Today it
offers a wide variety of productions, including of course several Shakespeare
plays.