The Getty Villa

I know these great girls from high school. They are never ones to shy away from spontaneous adventures - we once piled in a car after deciding on the spot that we wanted to go to Venice Beach (we always kept a spare bikini and towel in our cars in case of such occasions). I have the fondest after-school memories of consuming copious amounts of tacos and açaí bowls and "doing homework" at the beach with them.

Throwback photo.



We spread out to different universities, but all being home for the summer, it was high time for another adventure - erm, misadventure. The original plan (decided the morning of) was to go to the Getty Center. Upon arrival, however, we discovered the Center is closed on Mondays. Of course.

With spontaneity comes these kind of issues, so without much pause we turned the car around and sat through PCH traffic to get to the other Getty, the Getty Villa. We'd been planning to hit it up sometime anyway.



The Getty Villa was built in the '70s by oil tycoon J. Paul Getty as a museum dedicated to housing Greek, Roman, and Etruscan antiquities. Nothing stuffy or musty about it though, it is Southern California after all - you can browse mummies and icons set atop a hill overlooking the ocean in Pacific Palisades.

Let's get a close up of that view.



Reopened from renovation in 2006, the Villa is a replica of an ancient Roman country home. Which you can tell from its stately columns and sweeping courtyards.



But I'm getting ahead of myself.

We ate first.



Cheeky mid-talking photo.



The money shot:



It was a portobello mushroom caprese sandwich on foccacia bread, by the way.





Then we set out to explore the grounds.







Look at that detail!



We popped in and out of exhibits, unfortunately, photos weren't allowed. There was plenty of beauty to snap away at outside, though.



My serious photographer face not included.













Grapes!























Fell in love with this beautiful, slightly strange fountain.



He looks friendly.



We made a wish. I don't know if mine counted though, because I missed the fountain. Yeah…











Soon enough, it was time to head home.





We had one last look at the view...





Found the car (with some difficulty), and set off again to battle LA traffic into the evening, with Ed Sheeran's newest album playing in the background.





** I'm in the process of working out some changes to the blog… stay tuned!