Mission San Juan Capistrano

Mission San Juan Capistrano A walking tour

On May 22, 2017 the fourth-graders at Harold J. Ambuehl took a field trip to visit the Mission San Juan Capistrano. The Mission is less than two miles from the school, so we all hoofed it over there in about 40 minutes.

On the walk over everyone got a kick out of this guy... He had a hole in the wall big enough for his head, but luckily for us, not big enough for his body!

As with many missions, the buildings are laid out as a combination of a church, a fort, and a community.

We all met our docents in the main area and split up into smaller tours of the grounds.

We learned about the life of the friars, the soldiers, and the Juaneño people.

Their beds didn't look particularly comfy

There were two parts of the tour that I liked most. The first was a tour of the Serra chapel

The Serra chapel is similar to the Mission San Diego de Alcala (my church as a child) but on a smaller scale.

For example, in San Diego, the entire Mission Choir fits into the balcony along with the organ.

Our docent (Judy) told us it took 18 months to assemble this facade once it was shipped from Europe.

That's our docent, Judy, in the lower left corner.

Of course, no trip through San Juan Capistrano is complete without a few swallows...and we saw a few!

We saw lots of nests

If you look really close, you can see his beak poking out.

But when they get tired of you watching, they dive-bomb you! He's in this photo, but I had to duck while taking the picture.

This one was friendlier, and hung out while we walked through.

Walking around what remains of The Great Stone Church was another highlight

The Great Stone Church was nearly leveled during an earthquake in 1812

It's amazing that anything was left at all, considering the materials used to build the church.

Still in good spirits, even after the entire tour!

We finished up with lunch in the central area of the complex, and enjoyed the lawn and the Koi pond.

Appreciate

Credits:

Created with images by cm195902 - "Mission"