Having had a fairly early breakfast - and the bagels were very good - we set off for a walk on the beach. This was just a couple of minutes walk away from our hotel. Our nearest point of access to it is at the local Muscle Beach which is set up for all manner of gymnastics and weightlifting. Deciding to give these options a miss this morning, instead we walked onto and along Santa Monica pier. At that time it was relatively quiet though it was thronging later in the day when we came past. It was a beautiful morning - not a cloud in the sky, the sea was flat calm and it was pleasantly warm! Not a great day for surfing so we had to resign ourselves to just walking but it felt great to need only t-shirts and shorts! Sorry to rub that in!

Muscle Beach, Santa Monica, LA

We returned to the hotel to organise ourselves for the main event of the day and then set off for the Getty Museum, about a 15 min drive away. Having parked we were able to take an electric tram up the hill to the museum. It is a stunning place and a great piece of architecture in its own right. We were keen to see the Impressionist works and did so right away. We loved the Monet's we saw and Van Gogh's Irises.

Getty Museum

We followed this up with a walk round the Winter Garden which was stunning! In fact I think that it was the best part of the day! We had a great lunch in the cafe and then viewed a cactus garden and finally some earlier works including 2 Brueghels. It is hard to do justice to the whole experience in a few words but we had a memorable time which has given us a great start to our holiday!

Winter Garden

Guess what?

We thought we would follow up the museum trip with a walk in the hills and had read that Will Rogers Historic State Park had some good trails with views across the city. It didn't look far from the Getty Museum and I'd read that it was off Sunset Boulevard. However it proved a little elusive and was further than we had thought but we did get there in the end! We had a lovely walk and found a few birds that we couldn't identify and one we definitely could - an Anna's hummingbird. It is a remarkable, tiny bird with the most amazing iridescent plumage which changes from greeny purple to bright orangey red as it turns its head!

Rather large beetle, Will Rogers State Park

Following our walk we returned to the hotel via the Pacific Coast Highway. Since then we have been out for a meal. There are hundreds of restaurants within reasonable walking distance but had heard of one particular one before we left home. However that was booked up so we set off for our second choice - which had a queue outside! We resorted to third choice and were able to get a table - outside! I know that seems bit unlikely in January but in LA that is fine! We had a very enjoyable Italian meal and its now 8.45 so nearly time for bed!!