RTW Day 14 - Los Angeles

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Our last day in the USA. I get up and buy breakfast; ‘everything’ bagels and strawberry cream cheese. It’s a weird combination. I hadn’t realised ‘everything’ includes onion and garlic. Strawberries and garlic, not a pairing I’d recommend, although Heston Bluemthal probably has an ice cream that flavour.

We start the day at the brilliant Getty Museum - an example of what you can create when money really is no object. If J P Getty had been born a century later and not struck oil, he would probably have ended up on one of those TV programmes about hoarders. But instead, he became the world’s richest man and amassed a formidable collection of art. Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Turner, Monet, Manet, Degas. It’s all here. The highlight of the collection; Van Gough’s Irises. There’s also sculpture, furniture, stained glass, it goes on and on. From the funicular railway which transports you from you car to the museum, so you don’t have bother with troublesome walking, to spectacular gardens endowed with sculptures to JPG’s huge art collection, it really is a spectacle.

A last jaunt to the ocean before a long night on a plane. To Santa Monica for a picnic on the beach and a wander along the boulevard, past Muscle Beach with a disappointing lack of muscle on display and a along the pier before departing for the airport.

Our 2 week US jaunt is over. From California to LA, we have covered a total of 2040 miles. We check in for our flight. It’s packed and we appear to be the only ones without surfboards. I feel like I’ve gatecrashed a party. No surfing for us, next stop Fiji and a sun lounger by the pool.

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