Sleep-in

Beaut sleep at the Crowne Plaza LAX. 

I slept through breakfast so it's an early lunch before I catch the shuttle to Macys. The bread was awful so I threw it away and ate the filling.

The Final Snap

15 May 2013

On the last day of our magnificent journey we had a 6:00 pm checkout (for a fee - not free) from our airport hotel. We allowed ourselves a big sleepin to try to coax our personal timeclocks towards an Australian timezone so we missed the free hotel breakfast.

What should we so on our last day?  I did not want to travel too far lest our rental car break down and we miss our plane. I realised that I hadn't spent any time in a bookstore during the whole eight weeks of my holiday and I love the big bookshops in the US. Since the demise of Borders the only chain I know is Barnes and Noble.  I also realised that we hadn't visited one of the many Ross stores in Los Angeles - the well stocked one near Farmers Market; how convenient - I remembered that there is a Barnes and Noble store in the Grove Shopping Centre next to Farmers Market.

The Final Holiday Snap - a happy shopper at The Grove

I was quite restrained in my shopping at these venues because our six suitcases back at the hotel were bulging although underweight and the thought of having to squish more treasures into them wasn't too palatable. What I couldn't resist were a couple of DK Travel Guides for my next adventure at the end of June with my daughter.

At the end of a wonderful trip it is always good to have another journey to plan.

Auto Service

14 May 2013 - Los Angeles

If the rental car lets us down I won't be taking it here for service.

Getting to Getty

14 May 2013

Although Google Maps told us it would only take a little over 30 minutes to get to the Getty Villa from our airport hotel we left ourselves an hour and fifteen minutes to make the journey. Roadworks along the road caused us a great deal of consternation and we arrived at the Villa with only a minute to spare for our entry time of 11:30am.

In about 1993 Mr Geniaus had visited the Villa and was most impressed by this "little" site; he has always wanted me to see it. It has been on our list of places to visit in Los Angeles for quite some time and we finally made it today. I had thought that it was just a house in which Getty had resided; in fact he never even got to visit the Villa. It turned out to be not just a very impressive building but a museum full of antiquities housed in beautiful surroundings.

The Villa was not quite as Mr Geniaus had remembered as it had undergone a major overhaul and expansion in the intervening years. If I would have realised how much there was to see I would not have made bookings and paid for a tour of Warner Brothers later in the day. We managed to have a  look around and take the "Architecture Tour" which was fascinating and informative. I will definitely be revisiting this site on a future visit to Los Angeles, I want to take the "Garden Tour" and have time to chill in the awesome atmosphere of the Villa.

Some happy snaps follow.

First thing I spied were the elegant drinking fountains

and then this pool

The Central Peristyle (inner courtyard)

There was beauty everywhere - on floors

and on ceilings

That's all marble

Exquisite detail 

A bit over the top but still stunning

Blooms a plenty

Every villa needs a herb garden

The new ampitheatre

Definitely not a shag on a rock

Peristyle from above

A peaceful haven

Retail therapy

Stock levels in Macys, Marshalls and Ross Stores have been seriously depleted during our last two days in Los Angeles. Some of our grandchildren will be well shod. 

It's touristing tomorrow with both the Getty Villa and Warner Brothers Tours.

The Painters' Party

 

Standing on the corner....

  ...watching all the cars go by.

Hemmed in

Under the Hood

Getty Gardener