Peristyle promenade

A couple of weeks ago a group from Solomon's Porch packed lunch and carpooled to the Getty Villa in Malibu for a lovely Sabbath afternoon excursion. While most of the group explored the exhibits in the museum, Peter and Emmy and I remained out of doors - mainly in the outer peristyle, with its formal gardens punctuated by grape arbors, trees, hedges and numerous statues, dominated by an enormous reflecting pool running down the center. Emmy loved the gravel "paths" bordered by short ornamental hedges running down both sides of the peristyle - those areas seemed scaled just for her. She also loved splashing her hands and arms in the water and playing with the umbrellas freely available at the entrance doors (although it was a gorgeous day, there were thunderheads that drizzled half-heartedly during our drive - but thankfully they kept the rain to themselves the remainder of the afternoon!).

After taking in the museum, we sat in hideous traffic for well over an hour before arriving at The Grove, where we had a wonderful (if rather late) Italian dinner at Maggiano's. Here are a few more pictures of our outing - click on an image to see a larger version.