From East to West - A day in LA - Day 4

Our alarm clock went off early this morning: we had a long day ahead of us. We jumped into our white Pontiac and took Highway 110 along downtown LA. I had so much fun using the carpool lane for the first time. In LA, as an effort to unclog the road, the highways have designated car pool lanes for cars that have two or more people in them. Unfortunately, a lot of people in LA still drive a big car to work, and they use it just for them selves. They drive big trucks, Vans, or Hummers. Silly isn't it? The carpool lane is usually almost completely empty.. and so we could avoid all the traffic jams on our way to Griffith Park.

It was still kinda hazy up there. We could see Downtown LA sprouting in the distance. And I managed to point out the road that we would be taking that day.

Our next stop was Hollywood Boulevard. The day before yesterday, the intersection of Hollywood and Vine was closed off due to a fire that burned down a night club. Luckily, it was all cleared again and we soon arrived in downtown Hollywood. Not much to see there except for the stars in the pavement, Mann's Chinese Theater and the Kodak Theater. Also the mall of Hollywood and Highland is nicely built, with giant elephants and a real 'Arc de Triumph". Enniewho, I won't write much more about Hollywood, look for a previous blog here.

We continued our "road of discovery" on Sunset, making our way to the Sunset strip. From there, Doheny takes us right into Beverly Hills. Ton and Mom were amazed at the beauty and richness of Rodeo Drive. To me, it's still beautiful but it's kinda sad to realize that you get used even to this kind of thing.

We stopped in the Beverly Center, the celebrity mall in Beverly Hills, for a quick bite. I had a big plate of greasy Chinese food : fried orange chicken, grilled chicken and a lot of noodles with veggies. Bring on the carbs !

From here, we drove back to Sunset and passed the Bel Air estates, crossed the 405 and ended up in Lake Shrine, the spiritual temple of Yogananda.

I realized today that this would be my last day driving through LA with the feeling that this is where I live. It feels so cool to know your way around here. We were sitting in a bar in Santa Monica today and a woman came up to me asking me if I knew where the nearest mobile shop on Wilshire blvd in Santa Monica was. I was proud to be able to direct here in the right way and to recommend a taxi since it was still about 10 blocks away.

Yet, from now on, I'm a tourist again, just like every other European visiting LA.

Still, having a Californian driver's license has many advantages. People know that you know. Airlines don't bother you with strict passport checks. And renting cars is so much easier.

Speaking of renting cars; we headed out tonight to pick up our new car for the big tour. It was a lot less pricey than the other reservation.. and Mom was able to use here regular credit card again. Yay !

Oh, I did put some pictures up from their flight yesterday, so you might want to scroll down to the previous blog and look for the slide show. You can also click on it to go to the album and see the pictures in a large format.

Here are the pictures of today:



Now that I have company, I finally show up in a picture every once a while. Well, maybe that is not such a good thing after all. :-)

Tomorrow : a visit to Santa Barbara and Malibu.