Roman Opulence in Malibu

Today we headed north up the Pacific Coast Highway. We had hoped to stop somewhere for coffee, but for some reason, all the power was out north of Malibu, so nothing was open.
However we decided to go back to the 'J Getty Villa' just south of Malibu and were absolutely blown away.
J Paul Getty, the oil billionaire, built a complete replica of a Roman Villa with gardens, pools - the whole shooting match and its stunning.
It's a replica of the Villa Dei Papiri from Herculaneum near Pompeii. It was started in the 1970s and just shows what enough money can help you to build. You can read more at www.getty.edu 
I'll let the following pictures tell the rest of the story.













Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Niagara ...

Image
Niagara Falls 4th September, 2018 Niagara Falls is one of those places you have on your bucket list. Today we well and truly ticked that one off.   We travelled down from Toronto with 10 other people and Nathan, our driver and guide.  When you arrive at the Falls, you can’t believe they are actually real.  The thundering noise and the spray all add to the sight of 168,000 cubic meters of water pouring over the edge every minute.  Water that flows over the Falls at Niagara ultimately ends up in Lake Ontario - from there, it drains by way of the St. Lawrence River into the Atlantic Ocean. Canada has got the edge over the US on the Falls. Whilst the border runs down the middle of the river, the Americans can never see the Falls front on - only from the side.   The Canadians can see both Falls, the American and the Canadian Horseshoe Falls from square on and each side. They say that the Canadian side is the best side to see them and we agree. We rode on the Maid
Read more

Getty one day, Getty the next ...

Image
Venice Beach August 14th, 2018 Today we had two places to visit. The Getty Museum and the Griffith Observatory and Park. We got to the Getty just after 10am and realised that it was going to take us all day to see the Museum, so we've left Griffith Observatory and Park for next time. The Getty Museum is an architectural masterpiece. Its built across a ridge line in the mountains overlooking Los Angeles. The architect, Richard Meier - known for his use of white walls and a minimalist style, has done a superb job. Everything is based on a 30 inch square or multiple thereof. From the size of the paving stones through to the doorways, open spaces and windows, they are all 30 inch multiples. Why 30 inches? Well, that's known as the human distance. In other words, that's how far apart we stand when we talk to each other. It's an arm's length. Meier also used the angle of the ridge line and the 405 freeway, which is 22.5 degrees, as the basis for some of the p
Read more

Jasper, Rocky Mountains. More smoke than sky.

Image
Today we headed off to see Jasper and surrounds. Once again the sky was impacted by smoke from the bush fires further west. First stop was the Jasper Skytram, which rises 1,000 metres in 7 minutes. It takes you almost to the summit of one of the magnificent peaks around the city. Peaks that were almost invisible today. We set off up the mountain at the back of the top station and climbed another 300 metres or so. If there had been a view at the top, we would had the incentive to keep climbing, but sadly there wasn't much point. After we came down we picked up lunch and headed out to Maligne Gorge and Lake, passing Medicine Lake on the way. The gorge wasn't affected by the smoke as we were looking down, but the lakes were. We could just make out the peaks around the lakes and they looked magnificent and so high. We know they would have looked amazing if we could have seen them. We came across some local inhabitants on the road on the way back. Tomorrow we hea
Read more