The journey continues

Me and my friend have travelled to the USA last year. This is the second part of our unexpected journey to the States.

The first two days were great and we were pumped to explore the city of LA further. You can find the first part of the series on the bottom of this post.

Day 3 - Los angeles

In the morning, we woke up and made a plan for the day. We wanted to further explore the city and see what it has to offer. We took a bus from our apartment to the city.

We got off the bus somewhere near a subway station, because we wanted to see what the underground network was like. However, we then decided not to take the train, since it would not take us to our next destination. I was quite surprised that the underground network is not better developed. It covers much less area than their counterparts in London or Paris for example.

LA is the home of University of California (UCLA) and since we are both college students, we wanted to see how different this place is from our universities. So, naturally, we took a bus trere.

We got off the bus close to the LA National cemetery, which was surprisingly nice. I have never seen such a simple, yet beautiful cemetery - in our country each grave is (over)decorated and has lots of candles next to it.

We continued our stroll towards the main campus. As we were getting closer, we spotted a fraternity house. It was the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. It was another new thing to me, since I have only seen fraternity houses in movies.

We soon arrived to the campus and WOW was it amazing! There were lots of students and visitors and the atmosphere was really relaxed. Everyone seemed to love helping others out and they were just having fun.

Then we arrived to the Wilson Plaza. This is where some impressive architecture began.

Such architecture fits well with my image of California. And I have thought it was something that you only find at Stanford!

The school of management. I began feeling like home, the atmosphere was really welcoming.

On the edge of the Wilson Plaza, there is a little wall with all the bigger contributors and alumni of the school.

They have a lot of stadiums. It looks like sports are really important at UCLA.

Up the stairs there is the Dickson court, surrounded by some amazing buildings.

As we continued our wandering, we found some more interesting architectural masterpieces and I soon began to realise that the university is huge. It feels like a city with everything you need for a comfortable life. I would not mind living there, really :).

!

This one was rather impressive: an infinite well.

17.jpg

Some students must have been studying really hard...

We passed by this research centre and soon walked out of the campus. The experience was great and it has planted a seed of wishing to go to such school one day.

We continued our day a bit out of LA, at the Getty center. The Centre is a tribute to one of the wealthiest men to ever life, J. Paul Getty, who has collected many invaluable historic treasures. The sight surely attracts a lot of tourists and is even free!

It is located at the top of a hill, where we were taken with a little train.

As soon as I stepped out of it, I realised that the place is indeed filled with many valuable pieces of art. The art was just everywhere.

The centre makes some powerful architectural statements even without the art, doesn't it?

Then, there a LOT of old artifacts, which are indeed invaluable. It feels like a museum and it is simply mindblowing that a single person was able to accumulate so many exponats.

!

27.jpg

The stunning architecture, captured from some more angles.

Outside of the centre, there are the gardens. They are very welcoming and people were enjoying themselves all around.

!

32.jpg

There is even a little waterfall!

And did I mention the views: they are just breathtaking! The weather was perfect and we could see all the way to LA and its skyline. And how green everything looked, even though we were so close to a big city.

The Getty center has definitely left a great impression on me and I would recommend anyone to visit it. After the visit, we slowly, but surely, got to our room and had a good night of sleep. It was a day well spent.

To be continued...

---

You can find the first part of the series here.

---

Did you enjoy the post? Follow @chem1cal for more!