After breakfast at the Long Beach Cafe, we drove up to the Getty Center in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles. The drive took less than an hour right up the freeway and it was very easy to find.
On arrival at the Getty Center, you catch a 'tram' (really a driverless monorail) up the hill to the main complex. It is gorgeous. Designed by Richard Meier, it's been open for about 10 years and was gifted to the city by J Paul Getty so it's free! Janet and I took an architecture tour to start off with and the guide pointed out different features and themes of the complex. The whole complex is covered with travertine stone from Tivoli in Italy, so the whole place seems like an old Roman palace. But the lines and layout are very modern.
We spent most of the day at the Center, wandering around and visiting the gardens and some of the galleries. There is a massive selection of art, apparently the Getty has an almost unlimited amount of money for purchasing art and can outbid anybody. But I was more impressed with the views and the design of the buildings.
We drove back to Long Beach via Santa Monica and the South Beaches (Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach). Lovely sunny afternoon and nice to see the beaches being used and how they were built up.
We ate at Parker's Lighthouse that evening which was J&P's actual 35th anniversary. Peter and I shared an Alaskan King crab - yummo!
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