Getty Museum

 One of our must-dos on the Hollywood Weekend was the Getty Museum. We lived for many years in San Diego before we heard people talk about it, but we seem to hear about it quite a bit lately. So we decided to go.

 The Getty Museum sits high atop a hill on the edge of the 405 freeway. The museum is free (what a bargain!) and guests must take a tram up the hill to reach it. Upon exiting the tram, these are the steps to the museum itself.

 The museum is quite impressive and I loved virtually everything the architect did. The angles, the views, the textures, all excellent. The architect obviously designed it very well and had the museum guests in mind. The only demerit I would hand out is that it does not look that impressive from afar...if you are in LA proper looking up at the museum, it does not delight the eye.

 Here is Nikki as we prepare to enter the first building.

 German beakers from the 1500s.

 Some rooms had the typical museum feel, such as this one, but many did not.

 "The Sermon on the Mount", a Flemish painting from 1598 by Jan Brueghel the Elder. This painting had a very 3D look, as comes across in this photograph.

 "A Banquet Piece", a Dutch painting from the 1630s. Very good use of light and reflections.

 Dutch and German horses from the early 1600s.

 "Portrait of Camillo Rospigliosi", an Italian mosaic from the early 1600s.

 Note how depth is added to the mosaic not only through colors, but through size and shape of the tiles. Look at how the tiles get smaller in the corners of the eye, giving the illusion of depth. A similar thing is done on the cheeks.

 Exquisite use of color.

 Tapestries made in the era of Louis XIV in France.

 A Parisian desk from about 1750.

 A French bed from about 1750.

 "Gabriel Bernard de Rieux", French from 1739-1741. This is the largest pastel in existence.

 "The Model Resting" from 1889, France.

 Portraits of Alice Gray and Sophie Gray.

 Houses near Orleans, France in the 1830s.

 "Ideal Female Head", from 1769 in France. This piece is made from terracotta.

 The transition from one building to another.

 Italian drawing studies from about 1540.

And finally, a few more shots of the views and architecture of the museum itself. Beautiful!

 This is the cafe where we had lunch.

and back out to the trams. The entire tour took about 3 hours - we would estimate most people do it in 2 to 4 hours. Again, it is free except for parking ($15).