California Day 3

So today we went to The Getty, a free museum in LA. The only payment required is $15 for parking. It's per car, so seeing as we went as a foursome, that's not even $4 a person. It's a huge museum too.

Now, museums. A good idea before I get there, but once I'm there I kind of start to zone out. The paintings are amazing but after the first 5 or so my mind starts to drift.

However, the architecture was amazing. And! Photography is allowed, just no flash. It was nice to carry my camera around and not worry about someone telling me to put it away.

Here are the front steps. This is what we saw after riding the tram from the parking lot. Part of The Getty being a fantastic museum is its architecture and the fact that it's seated atop a huge hill that overlooks a bunch of cities. Therefore the parking lot is at the base of the hill and we have to ride a tram up the hill to the building. It was fun, but it surprised me.

The entrance building has a model of the layout of the museum so attendees can get an idea of where everything is. Here is Andrew pointing to where we'll be going and in what order.

There were two photography exhibits being shown on this particular day. One was by Frederick H. Evans, a pioneer of photography! It was amazing to look at all of his old photographs.

The detail in the photos from 100 years ago was astounding. It was the perfect thing for me to be a part of, seeing as I need to spend more time learning about the history of photography and researching early work.

The second photography exhibit going on was modern work. One artist in particular had urban panoramics that had amazingly vibrant colors. I really appreciated the color work done on the prints.

So once we finally got through the endless rooms of paintings, we were able to enjoy some really amazing old furniture and sculptures. There were marble busts that were carved so meticulously, I can hardly imagine how long one of those would take, or how heavy the original block of marble must have been.

Other than the photography, my favorite part was the furniture. It was just so old and ornate. Furniture nowadays looks nothing like it. It makes me feel so immersed in history just to be around the beds and couches and chairs.

That is a side table.

Bed/couch.

The very first room we visited was filled with old books and manuscripts. They were all in glass cases with spotlights on them. Each book was opened so we could view the pages. I believe they were all in latin. They were so intricate, all hand written. The illustrations were amazing. It was fun to think about people hand writing and hand drawing, hand binding all of the books. They were 200-400 years old. 

We spent a good portion of the day outside of the museum enjoying the sunshine. We brought sandwiches to eat at the tables so we didn't have to worry about buying lunch while there. Then we wandered the grounds and the gardens and I took a few more photos.

I decided to bring Colin along and he wanted to make sure we didn't miss anything important.

I quite like this photo of a line of trees. They were along the walkway down to the gardens. I wonder what they'll look like when they're in full bloom? I'll have to ask Andrew.

Jake and Andrew enjoying the view together.

Jake and me in front of the water garden. The flowers made a kind of hedge maze.

Some more fantastic architecture. It was an enjoyable experience for me, I wanted more practice with this anyway!

We went to the roof of the building about 15 minutes before the museum closed and enjoyed the view. The flower boxes were full of these amazing flowers. They look like birds of paradise! I don't know what they're called.

There were some rather pleasant climbing vines near the flowers as well.

A short break before leaving for the day. They decided to rest while I fluttered around and took more photos.

More beautiful architecture. The curves and straight lines really drew my eye in. I hope I was able to capture the structure well.

The beautiful blue sky made for a fantastic natural backdrop to the buildings.

So after a day of culture and art, we hopped back on the tram and to the car. The tram was fun, it curved through the forest and around the hill so it kind of felt like we were in Jurassic Park. OK, lots of photos to look at, I hardly posted any from the wealth of photos I took.

Day 3 is a very long one. After The Getty, we went out at night to Santa Monica Pier! We were supposed to go yesterday, but our escapades at Venice Beach went too long. I was tired from The Getty, but I knew the next few days were going to be far too busy to make time for Santa Monica. It was important to me to visit, apparently it's a famous place! It was pretty glamorous too, totally worth the visit.

I wish I had brought my tripod. I didn't think to, for some stupid reason, even though I packed it for occasions such as this one. I made do by putting my camera on a bench though. I quite like this photo.

I wish we had places like this here in Washington. Or if there are ones in Washington, it'd be nice if they were on the Kitsap Peninsula. I love ferris wheels and vendor booths!

I believe Andrew took this photo. I think it's fantastic! I was very pumped to be experiencing the pier and enjoying the view. It was hoppin' at night.

I spent a lot of the days experimenting with flash plus movement, it made for some really fun photos. This one looks like Andrew is spewing a fireball at Jake!

Jake was kind enough to take a photo of Andrew and me.

It was almost impossible for us to get this shot. Andrew took maybe ten. Things kept happening. We were laughing, or looking stupid, or random fishermen were hooting at us. This one I love though. It was worth the trouble.

Establishing/closing shot to prove that we were there.

To end this fantastic cultural day, we went to In-N-Out. Jake and I had never eaten there before and it was delicious! Wish we had them here in Washington!

-MJ