A day in Los Angeles
The South West flight from Chicago to Los Angeles was a four hour one but my first experience with South West was very very good. The announcer had an awesome sense of humour and actually made me listen to his announcements by cracking a joke with even the most mundane security ones. The entire boarding process is very streamlined unlike our low cost aircrafts where a Mumbai local traveler has an advantage on any given day.
Anyway, LA looked stunningly dazzlingly beautiful before landing, far more than New York, Paris or Mumbai. My friend who received me and whose place at Irvine I stayed in took me for dinner to an Ethiopian restaurant and then for a drive around LA. I did all the standard tours of Beverly Hills, Sunset Boulevard, Rodeo Drive but I couldn’t resist getting off at the Walk of Fame. Apart from the names on the pavement, there seemed to be so much happening around, from nightclubs to gentlemen’s clubs; from classy ladies in their cars to the hookers on the street. I am coming back here for sure.
The next day was spent at Universal Studios. Now here you find rides like amusement parks; I took the Jurassic Park one. There are different shows, and I watched Water World, the show with Hollywood animals and a very enjoyable 3 D show of Shrek. The atmosphere is like a carnival with people dressed up (ala Venice carnival), performing tricks etc. You just enjoy walking about the place and interacting with people. The best part is obviously the studio tour, where they take you all around the studio and you see sets from Spiderman to Desperate Housewives, are shown how Jaws was shot and even pieces of history like the office of Alfred Hitchcock.
Once we had had enough of Universal my friend took me one really amazing drive on the Pacific Coast Highway from Malibu via Santa Monica and dropped me at the airport. This was my first sight of the Pacific and it was rather serene in this stretch. The surrounding was however almost picture post card material with small hills, sea rolling by and cars zipping by in the area where Baywatch was shot!
Just like London in this trip of mine, this day ended with a promise to return.
Anyway, LA looked stunningly dazzlingly beautiful before landing, far more than New York, Paris or Mumbai. My friend who received me and whose place at Irvine I stayed in took me for dinner to an Ethiopian restaurant and then for a drive around LA. I did all the standard tours of Beverly Hills, Sunset Boulevard, Rodeo Drive but I couldn’t resist getting off at the Walk of Fame. Apart from the names on the pavement, there seemed to be so much happening around, from nightclubs to gentlemen’s clubs; from classy ladies in their cars to the hookers on the street. I am coming back here for sure.
The next day was spent at Universal Studios. Now here you find rides like amusement parks; I took the Jurassic Park one. There are different shows, and I watched Water World, the show with Hollywood animals and a very enjoyable 3 D show of Shrek. The atmosphere is like a carnival with people dressed up (ala Venice carnival), performing tricks etc. You just enjoy walking about the place and interacting with people. The best part is obviously the studio tour, where they take you all around the studio and you see sets from Spiderman to Desperate Housewives, are shown how Jaws was shot and even pieces of history like the office of Alfred Hitchcock.
Once we had had enough of Universal my friend took me one really amazing drive on the Pacific Coast Highway from Malibu via Santa Monica and dropped me at the airport. This was my first sight of the Pacific and it was rather serene in this stretch. The surrounding was however almost picture post card material with small hills, sea rolling by and cars zipping by in the area where Baywatch was shot!
Just like London in this trip of mine, this day ended with a promise to return.
posted by Abilin Mukherjee at 3:41 AM
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