Getty Villa Malibu

Last weekend was Memorial Weekend, which meant three whole days off in a row.  A much needed three days off!  On Saturday, we decided to drive up to Malibu to check out the Getty Villa.  The Villa is the original building, created by J.Paul Getty, to be a museum to house his collection of Greek and Roman antiquities.  Getty made his money in oil and loved the arts and history.  He started collecting and wanted to share his collection with the public. 

So he started construction of a museum.  But this wasn't just any building, he had blue prints to one of his favorite ancient Roman ruins of a villa and combined that with other known sites to create a truly authentic time period house.  He wanted people to experience his collection at the villa as if they had been transported back in time.  As he was an oil man, money wasn't too much of an issue and a lot of thought went in to making everything just right.

It was completed in the 1970s and Getty never saw the finished museum.  It underwent a massive renovation in 1997.  The museum is still free but a ticket must be reserved in advance, of course parking will cost you but for what you get to see, it's worth it.  The collection was amazing and the grounds really put everything into perspective.  Absolutely worth the trip.  Afterwards, we drove down to Santa Monica for some lunch and to walk around.  So much fun and a really beautiful day.  It was a great start to the holiday weekend.  We both were totally relaxed the whole weekend until Tuesday finally creeped up :(