city of angels

reluctantly i bid farewell to the white sandy beaches and bikini clad girls of san diego and we headed up the freeway a couple of hours to LA. as we entered the greater LA area it was just a maza of freeways and we found ourselves hopping from one to another. we would have been completely lost with out GPS navigation. it really is a life saver and is absolutely essential to have on a trip like this.

we checked into our hotel which was near LAX and then drove into town to see if there was anything good to see. as per usual my friend had done no research and was absolutely clueless as to where we might go. i thought at first it was just laziness on his part, not doing any reading or research about the cities we were visting, but actually it was just that he was simply not interested.

had i not known about pacific beach in san diego, he would have spent all his time staying in a hotel on a freeway. had i not known about beale street in memphis he would have just gone to graceland and thought there was nothing else in memphis. the same could be said for the old town in santa fe, williamsburg new york, georgetown washington, flagstaff arizona, and now we were in LA, i suspect he would have just stayed by the airport and thought that the city was lame.

anyways i told him to head towards melrose and we could see if there was anything interesting there and actually it turned out to be really good. lots of cool shops and restaurants and we got something to eat at a place called johnny rockets on melrose. the obesity epidemic you hear about in america is something not afflicting the cool cats in hollywood and it might be because the portions are normal sized and not the gargantuan portions we were served in texas and tenessee and which i had always failed to finish. i thought they served great food but my friend was distinctly unimpressed by the smaller portions and i also think that because we were on melrose surrounded by the beautiful young people of LA, he felt self conscious about ordering 2 meals like he had done in previous places and so i get the feeling he left the place hungry. i loved it and i also liked the outdoor seating where you can sit in the shade out of the sun and just watch the world go by. it was a lovely afternoon and it will be a memory of LA for me forever.







we then headed back to the car and did some touristy things like take pics of the hollywood sign and go to the hollywood walk of fame and we headed up to sunset boulevard past the viper room and a few other places. having been sunburnt to with in an inch of my life on the beach in san diego the previous day, i was quite glad when we headed back to the hotel in the evening and was looking forward to a soothing cold shower and an early night.

tomorrow was to be the last day of the trip for me.