This isn’t exactly a blog about cruising, but it is about a “shore excursion” that you could take when in Los Angeles, as we did this week.
The Grammy Museum.
Okay, first you have to be interested in music, of course. Right now, it also helps if you’re interested in The Beatles…or at least in George Harrison. Since we qualify on all counts, 
going to the Grammy Museum was a no-brainer. Going now was important because there is a “major new exhibition” about the life of George Harrison, who was special to one of us since he was a teenager.
The exhibit was “new” but “major” could be a stretch. We left thinking there should have been more, yet we couldn’t identify what “more” was missing. Harrison’s career was broken into three segments — Beatles, solo, Traveling Wilburys — and brevity was the description that fit all three.
Having said that, there is a limited amount of available space in the Grammy Museum. It costs $13 and if you can be out by five, parking two blocks away is an amazing $5.
From the cruise ship terminal, you probably need to rent a car, or accept a big hit for a taxi there and back. The museum is right next to the Staples Center in what seems to be becoming the heart of L.A.
Whatever the cost, the Grammy Museum is fascinating and worth the time and expense of a visit. For us, an added bonus was another exhibit, about the great tenor, Andrea Bocelli. Both exhibits include many contributions from the respective families, which makes it unique and more interesting, but the three floors of the museum are filled with fascinating facts and artifacts from the music industry.
And just to show the breadth of its content, the museum also has an enlightening, extensive section on the Godfather of Soul, James Brown.
It’s too bad the cruise lines don’t make the Grammy Museum, and venues like it, part of a shore excursion in Los Angeles.
DAILY DEAL:
Royal Caribbean Rhapsody of the Seas
7 nights
May 11, 2012
Vancouver, Juneau, Skagway, Tracy Arm, Ketchikan, Seattle
Inside $579
www.royalcaribbean.com