Day 220

220/365, originally uploaded by Aaron LaRue.

I had to spend my morning in traffic court today, which was just as pleasant as it sounds. The only nice thing was that I got to visit Santa Barbara's courthouse, which is actually a huge tourist attraction.  

And for good reason, too. It's absolutely beautiful. The picture above is the main entry way, I love the silhouettes of the two people and the light fixtures. I got a nice mix of warm light from above and cool light from the window, and the reflection down the hallway from the front door looks awesome on the stone. I pretty much got lucky on a couple of different levels here. 


The architecture is awesome, but the real reason why people visit the courthouse is the view. There is a huge clock tower that lets you see all of SB and it's amazing. Here's the view towards the ocean:

On the way down, you can take a peek at the room behind the clock, which I thought was pretty cool. The mechanism that runs the clock was surprisingly simple:




I was really digging the bells too, there's something really romantic about them:





Leading up to the clock tower, there's a huge spiral staircase that I liked too:



If you have a chance, you should see the courthouse for yourself, the pictures don't do it justice. It's not a bad way to spend an hour or two and it definitely helps put a positive spin on an otherwise crappy morning.