Los Angeles, CA

We decided to kick off day two of family vacation by touring the Getty Center in LA. The center is named after Jean Paul Getty, an American industrialist, who made billions in the oil industry. He was also an avid art collector. He built a house in the Pacific Palisades to house his collection. When he died in 1975, over $661 million of his estate was left to the museum. The Getty Villa is still open and Jean Paul Getty is buried there. However, as the Getty collection grew, more space was needed. So a center was created. The center was designed by architect Richard Meier and opened in 1997. It is 110 acres and six buildings. It took 14 years and $1 billion dollars to create. It is beautiful and overwhelming. The center is free to enter, but $15 to park. And if you think you can find free parking, guess again. The center sits atop a mountain and over looks LA. You have to ride a tram up the mountain just to get to the center! The museum houses many famous pieces of art, including Van Gogh's Irises.
Anyone that has ever traveled with me knows I HATE to look like a tourists. I prefer to blend in with the locals. So, you can imagine my disgust when we got out of the car and I spotted this...

My dad placed his brochure on the museum in his shirt pocket....

"Let me get that for you dad....I'll just keep that for you in my purse!"

Here is one view of LA from the museum.

The center also contains a beautiful outdoor garden and sculpture park. We spent a lot of time outside admiring it all.

This picture features the architecture of one of the buildings.

Jordan was not as excited about the museum as the rest of us...

Jordan and I sat outside next to this sculpture for awhile. Everyone was posing next to it and getting their picture taken...I'm not sure why. But I did it too!

After the museum, we drove to my Uncle's condo in Little Tokyo. I loved his place! He took us on a tour of downtown LA and then to eat at Philippe's. Apparently it is a pre-Dodger game staple. Here is a picture of the crowd of people all waiting in line for a sandwich! Almost everyone was in their Dodger gear. There were a few, including my brother, sporting some Yankee pride.

Philippe's is a sandwich spot. They have five choices, Beef, Pork, Ham, Turkey, or Lamb. And all sandwiches are served in a halved french roll. They claim to have invented the French Dip sandwich in 1908. My uncle has been eating here for the last 50 years. He was amused when I told him it was listed as a place to see before you die in my book. I would love to go back when I have more time to really enjoy the place. But we were in a hurry, we had a Dodger game to get to after all!

The Dodgers were playing the Yankees. And out of all the games we've been to, we've never been to one quite like the one we experienced last night. The game was a sell out and about 40% of the stadium contained Yankee fans. This is rare for baseball. The stadium is usually full of home team fans with a handful of visiting fans. The atmosphere was more like a college football game, not baseball. It made for an emotionally charged game. We witnessed the ejection of many fans, fights, and a Dodger fan pouring a beer over the head of a Yankee. And people say Baseball is boring to watch...

The Yanks won. Here are Dad and Jordan sporting their team pride.

Next up: Hollywood Park for some horse racing and Pink's, the famous hot dog stand.

Quote of the day: "Everybody wants to be a star."--Lindsay, referring to all of the wanna be singers and comedians that seem to be everywhere we go!