The Bakkes adventure: Exploring the Griffith Observatory with Mike,Licia and Connor

Mike and Licia are friends of ours from our days in London! We had known that they were planning a visit for a while now and so it was so good to catch up- even though it was for one evening! It was also good because Izak was forced to take a break in the midst of the intense schedule. We decided to go to Griffith Observatory since we had heard such wonderful things about it from friends and the admission is free!

It was such a fun trip (even the navigating our way there) since it reminded us of our London city walks. We were given a deck of London walk cards and it really made our London experience quite exceptional as it helped us to find landmarks that we otherwise would have missed. I remember us going by famous author's homes and fun hidden restaurants that well known people had gone to! We would definitely recommend getting a deck if you happen to be in one of the cities that they are made for... Here is the link: http://www.chroniclebooks.com/citywalks/) So, this time, we did an 'LA walk' with our car!

Driving towards Griffith Observatory, we were amazed to see how beautiful the area around Griffith Park is... so green and lush! We parked quite a way from the observatory in the end because it was very busy- even on a Thursday evening and so it did turn out to be a bit of a city walk after all!

Here is the beginning of our 'trek' up the hill to the observatory:

As you climb the hill leading up to the observatory, you begin to get a better and better view of the sprawling city from above:

Here we have made it up the hill and have our first view of the actual Griffith Observatory:

Here is another shot of LA from the front of the observatory:

A closer look at the entrance: (including the astronomers memorial in the entrance grounds and the details on the wall of the entrance door...)

And your South African's upon arrival: It was such a fun experience!

Then, on the inside of the Observatory... in the Central Rotunda:
Impressive Ballin ceiling and wall murals:

Then meet Mike and Licia:

And meeting little Connor for the first time:

Within the Rotunda, there is this Foucault Pendulum, which was developed by a French physicist called Leon Foucault and it demonstrates the rotation of the earth... Must say that seeing how it proves the earth to be rotating made me feel a little motion sick- fortunately it isn't something that I am continually aware of! Here are some pics of the pendulum and then a short clip:

Then, we got to see a Tesla Coil: (It was created by Nikola Tesla in +- 1891 and is a sort of resonant transformer- it was used to conduct experiments for things like electrical lighting...)

Here is a quick clip of the Tesla Coil:

Then, there are amazing views of LA from these observation terraces: (You can see the Hollywood sign in the second picture if you look carefully...)

Then, pictures from the different areas within the observatory: (There is a planetarium that is apparently very good that we will try and go to see next time.)