Last week in Southern California - visiting the Getty Villa and a little extra

I believe I've mentioned before that when I was growing up, we didn't really take vacations.  My dad was in construction and couldn't really be away from work for very long periods of time.  Our vacations mainly consisted of day trips to amusement parks, though we did take longer trips to Disney and Nags Head when we were adults.  Anyway, I think because I didn't really see much of the world as a child, I'm desperate to see as much as I can now.  And when we're going to a new location for work, I do lots of research on places I want to visit.  Unfortunately, we were much too busy while in San Diego to get to see any of that city.  Hopefully, next time.  But I did want to go somewhere on the last day of our trip since we were taking the red-eye home again.  I asked a co-worker chum if he'd mind driving and visiting the Getty Villa with me.  I was so happy when he said yes.

I'd heard about the Getty Museum and the Getty Villa for years, but had never visited.  After seeing the Villa on tv recently, I decided that's where I'd rather go.  And when I saw it was easy to get to, it was a no-brainer.  You have to reserve timed tickets before you go, so I went ahead and picked a 11am timeslot for last Sunday.

I have to admit I was feeling a little under the weather when we set off for the Getty Villa, but I was determined to see and enjoy everything.  Plus, the weather (as it had been all week) was SPECTACULAR, so it was easy to enjoy myself.  Traffic was a little heavier than we expected, so I called the Getty Villa to ask what happens if you're late for your timed ticket - the operator told me it was fine, there was an hour grace period.  Whew.  So we relaxed as we were driving and didn't worry about being right on time.

Driving along Ocean Drive puts you in the mood for a beautiful location.  Just seeing the ocean on one side and the beautiful mountains on the other got us in the right frame of mind.  Then, just driving into the gorgeous estate was an experience - they check your tickets as you pull in, then you pay for parking (the villa itself has free admission).  Easy peasy. 

The Getty Villa is breathtaking.  It's a recreation of an ancient Roman country house, with gardens and fountains and so much art/artifacts (approximately 44,000 pieces!), you can barely take it all in.  Many of the statues were replicas of statues that were at Herculaneum in Italy (we didn't go there when we visited the area in 2007).  You start in a bucolic entry pavilion, which is so beautiful, it almost made me cry.  I definitely felt like I was back in Italy. 

Each of the buildings held different rooms with different eras or types of art.  I think the oldest piece of art I saw was from 5000 B.C.  Incredible.  There was a room devoted to Gods and Goddesses, a Basilica, a room about Dionysus and the Theater, along with Wine in Antiquity (a favorite, of course), Coins/Gems/Jewelry, and tons more.  There was just so much to see and enjoy!  I took hundreds of photos - it's hard to choose what to post and what to leave behind.  Oh well.

After wandering around a couple of hours, we took an iced tea break in the serene cafe, then wandered through the gardens for a while.  All in all, we were probably there for over three hours, then we started to get tired from being in the strong sun most of the day.  We were going to go directly to a movie, but got caught in traffic heading back towards Santa Monica.  Instead, we went back to the 3rd Street Pavilion in Santa Monica, just wandering around and choosing to have a little lunch at Le Pain Quotidien.  It was quite yummy and I forgot to get a picture of my tartine.  Oops. 

After lunch, we decided to again try to make it to a movie.  And we did!  We caught a showing of Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me.  I had thought we would be the only two people in the theater, since it was a lovely Sunday afternoon, but I was pleasantly surprised to see the theater was pretty full.  And we all had the grandest of grand times.  What a fun film.  Elaine Stritch is iconic and like no one else.  It was so interesting to see how hard and implacable she can be, but yet also see her kindness, generosity and her vulnerability.  I think the documentary was put together very well to see all sides of the lady.  At 80 minutes, it's the perfect length, doesn't wear out its welcome and puts you in the mood to listen to some cast albums featuring Elaine Stritch.  Not a bad way to spend an afternoon.

After the movie, it was time to head back into Hollywood, pick up our other work chum and go to the airport.  We were most unhappy to be leaving the beautiful weather in California for the crappy weather in New York, but I have to admit I'm grateful we missed the earthquake that happened not long after we left.  I don't need to experience all of California's features in one trip...