On an early Saturday, the 7th of March, several of the Twinks made their way to the
Getty. No, not Ghetto--Getty. It's a beautiful place and a must see when in Los Angeles.
We got a late start, arriving somewhere around 1:30 PM. I'm used to the Getty closing around 5:00 PM, so imagine my surprise at the long lines and 9:00 PM closing time. It has extended hours every Saturday--who knew? Anyhow, cars aren't allowed to the hilltop museum. To get to the main grounds, our twinkish group had to take a tram. Now, we don't mind public transit, but we don't like crowds without some sort of drink, so we walked.
The main buildings are a sight to behold. They're beautifully constructed with square-cut travertine blocks as a facade. The five major halls (North, East, South, West, and Exhibition) surround two pools. Each hall contains a vast collection with about 25% of the overall exibits changed regularly (excluding, of course, the Exhibition Hall).
To the west is the main garden. That's where we started. Well, after grabbing a snack at the downstairs Cafe. The garden is suppose to be as much a work of art as the exibits. It starts in a tavertine-stone fountain with a single trickle of water. The trickle drops down into the garden below (through a named shape SinnerBoi will have to recall for me). As the garden progresses south, the single trickle becomes a larger and larger stream that drops down into a central pool via waterfall. I have some video someplace. I'll try to post it if I remember.
Anyhow, I could spend several more paragraphs talking about the gardens, but I won't. The exibits where important too. There were paintings. There were photographs. There were sculptures and statues and furnature and altars and books and lots of other equally important things, each worth talking about. But instead, I'll talk about the restaurant!
At 5:00 PM we met for dinner. I had never been to the restaurant at the Getty and had always heard wonderful things. My expectations were met both in food quality and price! I chose the artic char with asparigus. SinnerBoi got the steak. Kid got port. All of it was amazing. For dessert we ended with coffee and port. Well, I had port, everyone else had coffee. Go figure. The price must have been worth it because we walked out almost three hours later.
More touring of the museum commenced. We saw works by Van Gogh and Monet and Cezanne and ... well, enough of that.
In any case, the Getty is a wonderful place to spend a day. The parking is only $10 and entrance is free. What can be done in Los Angeles for that cheap? Nothing Twinkish, that's for sure.
- Play
