los angeles: part 2

tam and i spent a day walking around downtown LA - starting with el pueblo which is the oldest part of la, where the original spanish settlement of the city was.



on julianne's recommendation we visited the biltmore hotel - or should i say the 'millenium' biltmore hotel!



we had high tea - needless to day it was expensive, but gorgeous. we were certainly on our best behaviour.



went to union station, built in 1939 - it was a beautiful mix of deco and spanish architecture styles, a relaly lovely space to be in



this is the walt disney concert hall, designed by architect frank gehry. really is one of the most breathtaking buildings you'll ever see





downtown also has some amazingly tall buildings - its so strange how they're spaced out, compared to NY where the skyscrapers are all packed together. it makes them look even taller somehow.



later went to the farmer's market - not really like what i imagine a farmer's market to be. it was more like a collection of great foodstalls. tam and i had some lebanese food, v yummy, although i was pretty tempted by this...



this couple were sitting at the next table over. they were like the perfect classic american jewish couple, love it!



was about to leave and tam spotted this little beauty - its a fudge brownie monster - a chocolate brownie, with icecream, fudge sauce, cream and nuts. my god, so good.



later at night we took a drive on mulholland drive - famous from the david lynch film (although it only features a tiny bit in the film), but lots of stars apparently have houses there. its a really windy, dark and inredibly spooky place - amazing views of the city. cheers mat for driving, it was no mean feat!





tbc...

los angeles: part 1

los angeles was the last city on my trip, so i was determined to enjoy every last minute of it.

i stayed in santa monica, a chilled out part of LA - my hostel was only a few blocks away from where my friends tam and mat were living - they had very recently moved to LA from adelaide and i was their first visitor! (their flat was above a raw food restaurant, of course) they had been so busy setting up their new life that they'd really had no time to do any sightseeing, so it was great to be able to explore some of the city together.

the cliches of the LA landscape are actually pretty spot on!





this is venice beach - a little way south from santa monica..



the santa monica pier. this guy wasn't all that busy... (although i'm kicking myself now for not getting one)



it was only a few days before halloween when i arrived, so pumpkin stuff was everywhere. tam and i couldn't resist this pumpkin pie...



we even stumbled across an (american) football game, complete with cheerleaders.



apple pan is a classic american burger joint - it hasn't changed a bit since 1947 when it opened. mat told me how its exactly like the original mcdonalds burger restaurant, mcdonalds was turned into a chain, but apple pan has stayed exactly the same.



the burgers were so good, fries served on a wierd paper plate with another one for a small pond on ketchup that the guy squirts out for you, and the coke is served in a waxed paper cone, sitting in this metal holder, cool! the people working there look like they just stepped out of the 50, white aprons, complete with little white hats. they eemed like that'd been working since 1947 too - pretty grumpy, but in a kinda charming way. when he gives you your burger, he whacks it down on the counter on one end - the burger makes this sloppy thwack sound!



never got here but mat tells me that the sandwiches are as good as their sign



gotta love this numberplate. ("adelaide ladi" just doens't have quite the same ring to it though)



the hollywood walk of fame



this is grauman's chinese theatre, hollywood icon of the hand and footprints in the concrete fame



here's mat's proving that he can measure up to the big samuel j.



tbc...

mexico, ny

i caught a good ole greyhound bus north from new york city to visit my mum's cousins Hank and Ida (i think that makes them my second cousins?). They live in a place called Mexico, in the middle of New York State right near Lake Ontario and the Canadian border, took about 5 hours on the bus from NYC.



this guy was on the bus too - his tracksuit was priceless, looked like a giant cream-coloured amoeba or something



hank and ida live in a gorgeous log cabin in the middle of the woods, its so lovely and serene, couldn't get much more removed from the city!





here's hank and ida! (sorry guys its a bit blurry)



and the loungeroom





almost all the leaves had dropped from the trees, the landscape was really quite beautiful. hank and ida said it was a lot better in spring, but i thought it was still pretty great.





it had been raining pretty solidly. the ground was soggy and waterproof boots were a must to walk around (luckily ida had some spares that i could borrow)

this is a 360 view standing out near the big shed, which doubles as an aircraft hangar - yes i do mean aircraft hanger - hank and ida have a little 2-seater plane that they fly around in, so cool! unfortunately the weather wasn't good enough to go for a ride when i visited, save that for next time!



ida baked us the yummiest apple pie ever! we had it for lunch with cream and icecream, soooo good



not a bad backyard for a cat...





this is hank and ida's workshop - where they run their business making electrical circuit boards, mainly for theatre applications. they did a huge board for a casino in las vegas, it controls the movement of a platform for dancing girls!



just can't get enough of that photo stitch program - here's a vertical one - ooo clever...



and it even snowed - albeit a tiny bit - on the last day of my visit



was so lovely to visit hank and ida and see where they live, have to say a huge thanks to them for putting me up, driving me around and feeding me!! they were most generous to me and it was lovely to meet them again... hope to go and stay another time for a bit longer.

x

new york: part 3

i've always wanted to see the Guggenheim museum, seen lots of pictures and its such an amazing building. so i was pretty - shall we say - unhappy when i arrived and it looked like this:



excellent. i know it needs to be restored but did they have to do it right when i wanted to visit?! still, the interior is also amazing. they had an exhibition on by zaha hadid, which was ok, but i'd rather see the building with nothing in it.



alison told me about this place that andy warhol used to love called serendipity 3, he had his own table there and used to pay his bill with drawings. they're famous for their frozen hot chocolate - strange concept, but i assure you its really really really yummy. like really.



also went to trump tower, just to say hi to the 'ole don.



unfortunately he wasn't in that day. but he left a couple of pictures of him and the wife around just in case they had visitors.



later went on a sunset cruise of the harbour



this is john, our cruise tour guide. he's a native new yorker, studied to be an actor and ended up running cruises. he was lovely, but seemed a little bored.



also went past some lady holding a torch



and last but not least, went up to the viewing deck the empire state building. not a bad view of the city...



so there you go, i feel like i only just touched the surface of new york. saw great stuff, ate great things, met nice people - what more can you ask for!

x