Los Angeles here I come…

One thing that only can happen to me is to run into people I know all over the world. Once I ran into my aunt and uncle at the Bergen fish market in Norway, the other time was meeting one of my classmates on the canary islands (Spain). The third ‘Run into’ was my base guitar teacher at the Lisbon airport, the fourth were the 2 german girls Marina and Magali from the pub crawl at the San Francisco harbour, yes this city is little etc.. to be continued…

So  next time, waiting for my bus down to L.A. I ran into the two German girls, yes again. They coincidentally booked the same bus company! really weird thing. So finally exchanging numbers and our contact addresses.

Arriving LA Chinatown (yes again Chinatown) I was picked up by Jim, Rose’ husband. They live at Hermosa (beauty) beach, best place to stay, I would say, if you wanna go surfing and hang out at nice surf pubs. Felt so good having my own room, a clean bathroom and a super doper widescreen tellie, accompanied by little Cacadu Birdy who woke me up early every morning. What else can you ask for, I’m such a lucky girl.

 

Southern California’s dessert country is not just sand and occasional palm oases; it is a land of diversity and drama. Mountain peaks thousands of feet high look down on valleys that lie below sea level. So Jim introduced me to L.A. by a walking along the famous Ocean walk in Venice Beach and Santa Monica, a drive through Beverly Hills, the desert resort city of Palm Springs (a good place for some rest and relaxation or shopping before setting out on the next leg of the journey), Bell Air and Hollywood, also driving up to the Hollywood sign (Hollywood actually started as a religion-oriented agricultural community), making a stopover at the Kodak theatre, walking the walk of fame, taking pictures at the Chinese theatre and it’s footprints (When visiting the newly constructed Chinese Theatre in 1927, silent film star Norma Talmadge stepped into a sidewalk of wet cement, thus beginning the tradition of immortalizing the prints of legendry Hollywood stars).What else he showed me were the campus of  UCLA and USC, the Basketball Staples Centre and the expensive shops at the Rodeo Drive.

Vollständiges Album anzeigen

Staying at one of LA’s nicest beaches, you would think you’d have the best time with having warm sunny weather, good waves to surf or watch the other surfers, chat with life guards and eat good food. I only could enjoy the last two things. The two weeks in LA offered me a misty and foggy weather.. the sun didn’t want to show up and the waves were hiding! Staying with Jim and Rose, they were so lovely welcoming me to their home and offering me all that good food (think I all in all ate 8 californian avocados and two cups of honey mustard in the few days I stayed in Hermosa, loved it – so yummiie!!!) and also using their surf boards (their daughter left 4 boards in their garage..next to their old VW bug). Well, lucky as I am, I didn’t get the chance to use them on the super californian waves…

 

One day I borrowed their cool green beach cruiser and cycled from Hermosa up Manhattan Beach, where I saw a few surfers waiting for the waves to show up..; the Ocean front walk along Venice Beach, watching some guys doing their work out at ‘muscle beach’, being offered Marihuana therapy and Botox treats ; cruising along Fishermans village of Marina del Rey (north americas largest man made yacht harbor) and finally arriving at Santa Monica to wander along the pier and watch the kiddies at the little rollercoaster rides and game machines. After a quick window shopping walk along Santa Monica Main street I biked back home to Hermosa. All in all it took me more than 4 hours (!), driving about 28 miles. That night I had a deep princess sleep, but at least no sore muscles.

 

 

 

Los Angeles is a fantasy world to be sure, but there’s so much more to this sprawling metropolis than its gaudy reputation as the capital of the entertainment industry. Hiding behind the glamorous facade is a real city by illusion, a town built on the successes and failures of the many hopefuls who made the pilgrimage over the years to fulfil a dream. The much –mythologized City of Angeles has come a long way, baby, in a short span of time. Since California joined the US in 1850 , L.A. has grown like a desert tumbleweed into a colossus, the nation’s second biggest city, with a population of more than 4 million. ‘From Valley girls to valet parkers, nothing is as important to Los Angeles as change. Today is passé. Tomorrow is in.’

A place where all your fantasies can come true, where there are no rules, you can eat all the candy you want , the sun shines all day and it’s nothing but fun? So why didn’t I go to Disneyland, Walt Disney Concert Hall… or Universal Studios? Not only that you have to be prepared for lengthy lines at the newer attractions with wait times exceeding an hour or more, you also spent a lot of money, not good for a low budget traveller ;-) Having not that much time in LA each trip would last the whole day, emptying my batteries as well. The other thing was that Keely who wanted to take me to Universals’ got ill.. so that didn’t work out as planned.