We arrived in LA well before the wedding activities so that we would have plenty of time to explore on our own. Our third day (Friday) was all about the Getty! We visited both the Getty Center and the Getty Villa. The Getty Center, which opened 20 years ago while I was taking museum studies classes, has been on my to-visit list ever since. I was so excited to visit and it did not disappoint.
The architecture is amazing!
And of course, the art is incredible too! One of the guards saw our boys in a gallery and told them to come with him. He led them over to an alcove and told them to look up -- and we saw this incredible ceiling painting, A Musical Group on a Balcony by Gerrit von Honthorst.
It was a smoggy day, but on a clear day, the view from the Getty would be incredible!
Cactus Garden
Fountains everywhere
The Getty is also well known for its beautiful gardens.
Calder sculpture
After lunch, we decided to add a visit to the Getty Villa. Both the museum and villa are free, but parking is $15. If you visit both on the same day, you only have to pay the parking fee once!
The villa was inspired by the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum, and because Gene had just finished a novel set at that villa, we knew we had to fit in a visit to the Getty Villa. The villa displays Greek, Roman and Etruscan antiquities, and it is incredible!
Grape vines
Fruit trees
Daily beach time
On Saturday, we decided to drive to Griffith Park, home to the Hollywood sign and Griffith Observatory. We arrived before the observatory opened, but the park was packed and the parking lot was full. We ended up parking about a mile away and hiked up to the observatory. Can you see it in the middle of the photo below?
The highlight of the observatory visit was seeing a Tesla coil!
Hollywood sign in the distance
After seeing all the crowds in the park, we decided to call it a day and head back to Venice for an afternoon at the beach. Then we met up with Nana, Pop, and Uncle Mikey, who were all in town for the wedding, at a local pizza joint. Will brought along his new book, The Book of General Ignorance, and spent half of dinner questioning Pop!
LA's museums are definitely worth exploring, and we're so glad we had a few extra days at the start of our trip to visit a few.
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