I’m writing this update on the plane from Los Angeles to New York, we’re right over Denver at the moment going at 920km/h to try and make up time. Nice flight so far, but ill talk about it later. Im also just gonna paste random photos that i’ve taken.
Yesterday I did a tour of LA in the morning. Started off at Farmer’s Market and a drive down past Hollywood Blvd to the residential parts. Drove through the first ‘rich’ suburb, where houses go for a minimum of $6 million. Hard to kind of comprehend when the houses themselves arent anything special, pretty small in the scheme of things. All the lawns and gardens are all professionally kept and immaculate of course.
Then made our way down to Korea Town, which is apparently the second biggest Korean population outside of Korea itself. Went on to the Mexican part of town and stopped there for some photos, so I walked back down the street to the Court House, then back to the Mexican markets. Went on to China Town, and then back up to Hollywood Blvd, which id already walked up and down several times so it was a bit of a waste for me.
Got back on the bus and went down to Beverly Hills, Sunset Strip and Rodeo Drive. Very nice area, quite a bit different to Hollywood Blvd. Drove past quite a few famous clubs, ‘Privileged’ which was owned by Madonna, and ‘The Viper Room’ which is owned by Johnny Depp. Be good to see what these types of clubs are actually like on a Saturday night. Drove down the very famous Rodeo Drive, which would have to have more top fashion shops than any other street. Driving down there’s Ralph Lauren, Giorgio Armani, Hugo Boss, Chanel, and the list goes on. About half way down there’s the famous ‘shop with no name’, which is actually the Prada shop. Too cool for a name.
Then the fun afternoon began. There was going to be a Cirque du Soleil demonstration at 2pm (that’s what all the angels are for), and the tour finished back at Farmer’s Market at 12:30pm. So I thought id walk back to Hollywood Blvd where the demo was going to be. I didn’t have a map on me at all because who needs maps? But I knew if I walked all the way up Fairfax Av ill eventually hit Hollywood Blvd. Long story short I got massively lost, I thought I had missed the street, but it was just further away than I thought. So I walked around different blocks thinking I was going the right way, when I was going the complete wrong way. I found a Star Bucks and went in for some help, got directions to follow Fairfax Av still. I eventually got to Hollywood Blvd, the complete end of it, and walked all the way back to the main section. I got there at 2pm. So I had walked for 1.5hrs straight. And for no reason because I missed the demo in the end. Not cool. I just walked back to the hotel to grab some lunch.
I discovered a pretty cool little diner, and by discovered, I mean I walked 20m from my room door and realised it was there. They have the best service of any diner/restaurant I have ever been in. As soon as you sit down someone brings you a glass of water and a menu. They always check if everything is ok, and when your drink gets low they fill it up for you. Working for tips I assume. Had a freekin huge chicken sandwich, was good to have some real food and not fast food. Just chilled for the rest of the arvo, had a swim, went through my photos. Had dinner in the diner again later that night.
Went to bed pretty early because I had the airport shuttle picking me up at 5:30am. There was an LA local on the shuttle called Dave as well. He grew up in Austin, Texas, same as Lance Armstrong. He talked about how huge he is in Austin and how he made the whole city a cycling safe place. But by the end of the trip I realised he was 100% a complete stoner. He spoke of his 20 year goal to get life on Mars and partner with such companies as Apple. Was a good conversation though because there was an English dude as well who was an Electrical Engineer, so he’s pretty smart, and he basically shot down everything the stoner said with pure theory and logic. But the stoner didn’t believe him, probably because he was stoned.
I got to LAX at about 6:30am, and went to QANTAS check-in. From here on in there is a crazy amount of security. You show your boarding pass AND passport about 10 times. I had to take off my shoes, for no reason. You also aren’t allowed to lock your luggage or customs will just break it off. Finally got to the gate at 7:30am, boarded plane just before 9am, and took off at 9:30am, half an hour late.
I was lucky enough to get an aisle seat in the middle rows, and the two seats in the middle are both free as well. So I can stretch out over two seats which is awesome. Gonna land in about two hours and make my way through JFK and eventually to the hotel.
more shower pics plz
Comment by tommy — Sunday, 1 July, 2007 @ 14:22
How good is the wait staff hey! Totally worth the couple of bucks tips. I loved the refills and always checking that your ok & quick…kinda shames Australia’s service. And if they suck, just dont tip ’em.
Comment by Bec — Sunday, 1 July, 2007 @ 16:48