A visit to the Griffith Observatory was not in our Los Angeles iterinary, we are sure glad we got to visit this amazing place.

Griffith Observatory is a free admission and operated by the government of Los Angeles. It opened in 1935 and has been one of the best informal education facility in the US and the most visited public observatory in the world.

The Observatory is the best place to see the famous Hollywood sign. LittleOnes were excited to see the sign that we just see in movies.

Place was packed with visitors and news media when we visited last July 14, 2015, we did not have any idea till we went inside and spoke to one friendly staff. We are about to see Pluto up close for the first time!  A historic and fascinating planetary event after 25 years because NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft is about to pass by Pluto and give us humans live images of Pluto. It was in 1989 when NASA showed images of Neptune. They revealed a beautiful image of pluto with a big heart.

We arrived just around 10:30 am, park down the hill and walked for 20 minutes to reach the observatory. Plan an early trip specially if you have kids and bring lots of water. A stroller will help but once you get inside the facility it can be challenging with all the visitors.

The Foucault Pendulum welcomes each visitor as you enter, it’s swaying is relaxing. I think we spent more than 20 minutes just staring at the pendulum and waiting for it to hit one of the pegs.

You will learn a lot inside the observatory – why eclipse happen, astronomical history, the galaxy, planets and see a Tesla Coil. People working in the observatory were more than happy to answer questions, Kuya V had a lot.

We also got to see and touch a real Meteorite! This got Vierte so excited that led him to ask if there’s a place we can visit to dig one up. He’s still into being a paleantologist when he grows up.

Make sure you visit the lower ground floor you will see an exhibit of the solar system and even find out how much you would weigh on each planet.

Vierte also met Einstein!

Daddy and Kuya V got to watch ‘Centered in the Universe’ while LittleMiss and I explored to find the telescope. Sadly though, the telescope room was close that day because everyone was busy with Pluto. A good excuse and a reason for us to go back.

The observatory is located on top of Mount Hollywood, Los Angeles. From the top you will see the whole of Downtown LA, we were trying to find the building were we stayed.

We got to see the Endeavor Space Shuttle and our day trip to Griffith Park fuelled more questions about the universe. Next on our bucket list is a visit to NASA.

Griffith Observatory is open six days a week. For more information about the timings and events, visit their website at www.griffithobservatory.org.