The Getty
The Getty Museum was a real surprise to me. While I have always enjoyed art museums I didn't think we would spend as much time there as we did. They offer tours of the gardens, architecture tours and art talks. We arrived at 10 and didn't leave until 5. The buildings and grounds are absolutely magnificent. The best part is it's all free.
The buildings are all made of travertine marble, some rough cut and some polished. The museum collects and shows Greek and Roman Antiquities, European paintings and manuscripts. The gardens are very pretty and unique and provide a nice break from walking around the buildings.
There are 32 full time gardeners for the museum. This photo was taken in the morning when there was a fairly heavy fog.
This photo also was taken in the morning before the fog had burned off. When the fog lifted you could see downtown LA. The grounds were also fairly empty. By about 3 in the afternoon the place was getting pretty crowded though.
This is just an example of a painting on display. All the buildings had paintings on the upper floor. The roof of the buildings were all windows with louvers that moved to always allow natural light in but never direct on the paintings. This photo was taken using just natural light. That's how bright it was. When in LA the Getty is a recommended stop.