I don't want to work

I want to bang on the drum all day. And that's what I did. Well, for one day at least, when I used one of my alloted summer days and took Thursday off.

My cousin was in town and we headed to the popular museum, The Getty, which I've been trying to go to since I've moved to Los Angeles, almost two years ago (wow! that went quickly). Entrance to the museum is free but parking is $8. Considering I was there on a week day the place was pretty packed and I ended up way down on the 6th floor of the underground parking structure and it was barely Noon. Once parked, you then ride a tram up the mountain to The Getty center up on the hilltop peak. The architecture (designed by Richard Meier) is amazing and the views probably would have been equally impressive if it wasn't so hazy out. The building's design is half modern, all sleek and minimalist, and half an elegant Roman stone fortress. I just couldn't stop staring at the different angles of the building and also loved walking around the manicured grounds and gardens filled with beautiful flowers. Overall, the place was so peaceful, healing almost, in it's Zen environment of flowing water and natural light.

Inside meanwhile, the different art pavilions include European drawings, paintings, manuscripts, sculpture, and decorative arts (furniture) and American and European photographs from the 19th century to the present. I visited the paintings room, where I enjoyed reading the descriptions of each photograph and seeing Van Gogh's Irises, and works by Renoir and Monet. Here's a photo that I stealthily took of both Monet's The bridge over the water lily pond and Renoir's Albert Cahen d'Anvers paintings: