Museum day! Getting a little culture...and a little rock n' roll

After a week on the road, my trusty Outback needed a bath.  So, I started my day today by taking the car for a much needed wash.  They do a good job at the Glendale Car Wash...I've been there before.  Afterward, I got breakfast at a nearby shopping center.  Filipino food at Jollibee...tocino, garlic rice and egg!  Yummy!

Next, I drove to the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena.  Even though I don't know much about old paintings, I wanted to visit this art museum for their special exhibit.  Called Tête-à-tête: Three Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay, it was a great opportunity to see these  paintings without actually traveling to France.

I was most eager to see the one titled Arrangement In Grey And Black No. 1 by James Abbott McNeill Whistler. Also known as Portrait Of The Artist's Mother, it's most famously called Whistler's Mother.

Pretty cool, huh?  The other two masterpieces were a portrait of French writer Émile Zola by Édouard Manet, and Card Players by Paul Cézanne.  I was impressed by those paintings, too.

There were other very nice paintings by artists that I know...Monet, Renoir, Degas, Gauguin, Matisse, Picasso..and yes, even a couple of Van Gogh's.  This one is called The Mulberry Tree by the great Vincent Van Gogh.

In addition to European art, the museum also features an extensive collection of Asian art.  Much of it consists of stone and bronze sculptures from India. I particularly liked Haruman, the monkey king, and the horrific Hindu goddess, Chamunda.

In the afternoon, I made a return visit to the Grammy Museum at L.A. Live in downtown Los Angeles.  I have to admit I wasn't much interested in the Taylor Swift Experience exhibition, but I liked the famous sitarist Ravi Shankar: A Life In Music.  Here's a pic of his favorite sitar and one of his outfits.

Even though I don't consider myself a fan of rap music, I found the exhibit on the writings of Tupac Shakur was very interesting.  Sometimes, it's not hard to appreciate the songwriter, even though you might not care for their style of music.  Tomorrow, I'll be heading over to the beach...but not to lay in the sand.  Not into that sun tanning thing.