Friday, December 24, 2010

GETTY MUSEUM





We decided on a mass transit vacation: we stashed the car in the hotel parking lot ($15 per night) and took the bus to the Getty Museum. It was very easy. We stopped in at the Big Blue Bus Transit Store and got the directions and info about transfers. We took the Santa Monica Number 1 all the way down Santa Monica Avenue then transferred to the Metro 761 line at Westwood Village. We snaked through some pretty interesting neighborhoods and were greatly amused by local transit culture.
It was beautiful at the Getty. Big blue skies and temperatures around 60°F - it was hard to go into the galleries when nature provided a stunning art show on the outside. But we did venture inside to explore the photos of Felice Beato who we had first seen at the Lucknow exhibit. In the same gallery there was an exhibit of photos from the New China, some of which were a little disturbing. The New China looks a whole lot like the Old China and the Very Old China.
My favorite, though was an exhibit entitled Obsidian Mirror-Travels Explores Myths and Truths about Ancient Mexico that tried to show how Mexico has been portrayed since the European incursion.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

SANTA MONICA CHRISTMAS


Our hotel: the OceanView

We arrived here late on Thursday. We had stayed one night at RVR's house in Highland Park/Eagle Rock but decided we needed a less cramped experience for the rest of the vacation (I think he appreciated having his home to himself for the holidays).
We did spend a wonderful day getting reacquainted with LACMA. We saw two visually powerful shows there: Olmec: Colossal Masterworks of Ancient Mexico and India's Fabled City: The Art of Courtly Lucknow. What a joy to be immersed in art for a few hours.