Monday August 16, 2010
Glendale, California
Sunburn- 20 degrees hotter here than Malibu
Posting on a Monday cuz my work laptop has a virus! Tech support is working on it so having a chai latte and writing this post while waiting for it to be fixed.
Last Saturday I took my cousin and his family on a tour of LA. I left Malibu at 8am and did not get back to 840pm! Long day and lots of driving. My first outing in LA as a tour guide. But it was fun. Didn't bring my Sony Alpha camera, instead brought my IXY Canon point and click. Took OK photos, but next time, got to bring the DSLR.
First stop: LA LIVE. Amazed what they did to the place. So new, nice and chi chi. Ritz Carlton and a JW Marriott with lots of restaurants. Unfortunately could not go into Staples Center because of a WWE thingy going on. But the main purpose was to…
visit the Grammy Museum which was highly recommended. Luv'ed it but no photos allowed. Luv'ed that you could experiment with instruments, learn about the history of American music and see the handwritten lyrics of geniuses like Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan, etc. Michael Jackson corner was amazing. One cannot argue about his musical talents. Only disappointment was that they did not footage of the 3 most memorable Grammy performances in my opinion: No.3-Ricky Martin doing La Vida Loca, No.2 Eminem and Elton John, and No. 1 Aretha Franklin substituting for Luciano Pavarotti and gave an incredible, goosebumping performance of Nessum Dorma.
Second Stop: Hollywood! Took them to Kodak Theater at Hollywood and Highland where one can get a perfect photo of the Hollywood sign. After the obligatory photo, went to the Daily Grill for lunch where we stuffed ourselves. Then we went to the Duty Free shop, Louis Vuitton shop and Sanrio for the obligatory shopping.
Hollywood and Highland reminds me of Vegas – hate!
Then it was time for touristy stuff which we did with 1000s of other tourists.
Chinese Mann Theater
Third Stop: Rodeo Drive. Yes, for more shopping. Stopped at Louis Vuitton, Miu Miu, Coach, Juicy Couture, Barney's, Sephora, Saks Fifth Avenue to name a few.
To me, the most interesting store was the Prada store. Not for shopping but for looking.
Fourth Stop: Santa Monica Place. Because Mi-chan (my cousin's daughter) could not find the Juicy Couture bag on Rodeo we went to Santa Monica Place to look for the perfect Juicy bag. She found it at Bloomingdales! And since we were there, we had a light dinner of new age dim sum and garlicy noodles.
And that was supposed to be it, but we also stopped at Whole Foods so that they can get a bottle of Arbequina Olive Oil and 6 bottles of California wine to take home.
And then it was time to say goodbye. Although their stay was short, I hope they enjoyed it. It will be fun to see then again either in Tokyo or back in the States.
Oh, and I'm available for hire if anyone wants a tour of LA…….just kidding.