What a day! Candace scored tickets to the preview day of the renovated Getty Villa, which isn't due to open (at last) until the end of the month, and she was kind enough to invite a bunch of scruffy Classicists to go with her. If the allure of quasi-legal ancient artifacts and faux Roman architecture isn't enough to make you green with envy, we also discovered that there is such a thing as a free lunch. With alcohol. And coffee. I swear, free food is like grad student crack.

I've not been on this side of the world long enough to have seen the original Villa, but they seem to have done a lot of things right with the renovation. It feels very open, very Mediterranean, and yet very Californian. There is a relaxed air of culture, aided as much by the gentle noise of all the water features as the occasional strains of live music.

The interactive portions (primarily aimed at children, but when has that ever stopped us?) are really very cool, including red-figure vase painting and wreath-making workshops. My hands still smell like flowers.

I tried taking a picture of myself in a wreath, but it turns out I'm crap at self-portraits. So here is Kristina's finished product. I'd neglected to bring a camera for this magical excursion, but luckily my sexy new RAZR was on hand to document the day. Yay cell phone!

I see no ships. The Villa's balconies command some lovely views of the Malubian coastline.

In other news, on Wednesday Beau and I dragged Kristina across campus for her first ever Taco Bell. She agreed that "it's not terrible". Let the word go forth: from now on January 11th will be Reluctant Quesadilla Day.