Getty Center

I don't think I've been to a finer art gallery than the J. Paul Getty Museum, which I visited today.

To be more accurate, I was at the Getty Center, which is a campus that includes the museum and other Getty organisations. The Center's architecture, by Richard Meier, is stunning and the location is spectacular - looking out across Los Angeles from Brentwood in the west of the city.

If I had one criticism it is that the number of artworks in the museum's permanent collection and its special exhibitions is not huge. However, the quality is outstanding.

I went to the museum largely because it was showing two exhibitions of David Hockney's work - one featuring self-portraits through his career; the other displaying his famous photo montages and collages from the late 1970s and early 1980s. It was the first time I had seen these photos since shortly before I was married in 1985. They were hugely inspirational, firing my interest in photography.

It was great to see them again and discover their close connection to Picasso's works, and in particular cubism.

Hockney has lived in Los Angeles for over 40 years and has an office in Santa Monica Boulevard - a road I have used a fair bit during my brief stay because it is part of the old Route 66 (see the last two blips). I just wish I had bumped into him and invited him for a cup of Yorkshire tea!