Getty Me Back to L.A. — Hope For Mondays

Lifestyle: Approximate time reading this post: 7 minutes

If you clicked on this post out of sheer curiosity for its bizarre title then I apologize in advance for my terrible puns (not really, because they won’t stop). While these excruciating summer days drag on in the 100’s, I wanted to talk about one of my favorite ways to escape the heat: museums!

At the end of May I vacationed to Los Angeles with my mom, Claire, and our wonderful friends Kia and Jason. We completed a long list of fun touristy things but one of the most memorable was visiting the Getty Museum of Art and its sidekick, the Getty Villa. I really can’t get enough of these two museums. It was my second time visiting the Getty Museum and my first seeing the Getty Villa.

Brief background: The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center in L.A. “houses European paintings, drawings, sculpture, illuminated manuscripts, decorative arts, and photography from its beginnings to the present, gathered internationally.” The Getty Villa in Malibu “houses approximately 44,000 works of art from the Museum's extensive collection of Greek, Roman, and Etruscan antiquities, of which over 1,200 are on view.” The Getty Museum in L.A. is made up of 1.2 million square feet of spectacularly bright but calming Travertine stone which makes the gardens and outdoor sculptures stand out.

But these museums are really something you need to see to believe. To tide you over before your own visit to the Getty, here are my top favorite parts of this museum from the architecture, framed artwork, to sharing it with someone else.

Architecture and indoor artwork

Your view once you step off the Getty Tram, a futuristic looking train that you ride up the mountains of Los Angeles.

These four were the absolute best company while exploring this travertine covered building and throughout L.A.

I encourage you to look all around while at the Getty and spend an entire day there to take in every incredible detail.

We spent so much time outside of the museum and in the gardens that I almost forgot there was art inside too.

My favorite painting in the museum by John William Godward, "Mischief and Repose."

The Getty Museum of Art is designed to show off the angles of the city. Surrounded by sky and buildings down below, there is no such thing as a bad view here.

Getty Gardens

The weather was just chilly enough for pants and a light jacket. (But you know me, always trying to make a statement in oversized clothing.) We spent most of our time in the Getty Garden circling the maze, sniffing flowers, and taking photos because we just couldn’t stop smiling.

Not pictured in the Getty garden is a little duck who swims throughout the maze.

We were all obsessing over the color combinations throughout the garden- especially Kia!

One of my mom's favorite scents and plants is lavender, so she immediately stopped to smell this huge display.

The Getty gardens contain numerous flowers, other plants, fountains, and quotes engraved on some stepping stones.

Kia snapped a photo of Jason, my mom, Claire and I soaking up the garden.

We could only look and not touch a beautiful but possibly deadly cacti garden while looking out into the city of Los Angeles.

It seemed like there was more free admission into the California museums compared to those in Arizona. A huge bonus to both Getty Museums is that admission is FREE, you just pay $10-15 for parking depending on the time of day. The admission at AZ museums might make them seem less desirable, even in the summer, but they usually have free admission days at least once a month and other discounts- for students especially. Maricopa Community College students can bring their ID's to the Phoenix Art Museum for free admission and the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art is free on Thursdays.

My little slideshows just include our trip to the Getty Museum of Art and not the Getty Villa because there is just so much to explore at both! Go find out for yourself what the rest of these beautiful buildings hold and let me know what you think :) But if you have been to the Getty's, tell me about your favorite part of the museums in the comments below. Enjoy the rest of your summer vacations and your Monday with a few trips to your favorite (air conditioned) museum.

Outfit details: Zipper body suit, high waisted skinny jeans, and mini pink backpack (Forever 21). --Consistency is a good thing right?