Los Angeles
I have been to LA before to go to Brian and Catherine's wedding. The wedding was great and Santa Monica was a pleasant area, but I didn't have a lot of time for the rest of the city. The city is a huge sprawl and it didn't seem to have a centre.
On this trip, I have had more time to appreciate the city and have decided it's not that bad after all. It's still a big sprawl, and still doesn't really have a centre (there is a downtown area, but it doesn't seem to be that central to the city), but there are good parts to it.
Brian and I spent a fun morning hiking in the hills near his house. From there we could see some great views over the city. The city is famous for its beaches, and we could see some great beaches from the hills.
I really enjoyed the museum district of the city - I visited the La Brea Tar Pits. These are areas where tar seeps up from under the ground, and has done so for thousands of years. Lots of animals have wandered into this in the past and then the tar has hardened so they can't get out. I went round the museum, looking at the skeletons of woolly mammoths, sabre-tooth cats, American lions, dire wolves, vultures, and many more. Immediately next door was the LA County Modern Art museum, which looked great from the outside.
Then there was the Farmers' Market - which used to be a standard fruit, veg, fish and meat market, but now has some more interesting stalls. The French deli had some great produce, and there was a stall selling only hot chilli sauces from every feasible location. I even managed to buy some Scottish ales to remind Brian and me of our days in Edinburgh.
The Getty Center was another impressive location - on top of another hill in the city. I saw a fantastic sunset over the city from there. The center also had a great exhibition, about Byzantine Art from Mount Sinai.
On this trip, I have had more time to appreciate the city and have decided it's not that bad after all. It's still a big sprawl, and still doesn't really have a centre (there is a downtown area, but it doesn't seem to be that central to the city), but there are good parts to it.
Brian and I spent a fun morning hiking in the hills near his house. From there we could see some great views over the city. The city is famous for its beaches, and we could see some great beaches from the hills.
I really enjoyed the museum district of the city - I visited the La Brea Tar Pits. These are areas where tar seeps up from under the ground, and has done so for thousands of years. Lots of animals have wandered into this in the past and then the tar has hardened so they can't get out. I went round the museum, looking at the skeletons of woolly mammoths, sabre-tooth cats, American lions, dire wolves, vultures, and many more. Immediately next door was the LA County Modern Art museum, which looked great from the outside.
Then there was the Farmers' Market - which used to be a standard fruit, veg, fish and meat market, but now has some more interesting stalls. The French deli had some great produce, and there was a stall selling only hot chilli sauces from every feasible location. I even managed to buy some Scottish ales to remind Brian and me of our days in Edinburgh.
The Getty Center was another impressive location - on top of another hill in the city. I saw a fantastic sunset over the city from there. The center also had a great exhibition, about Byzantine Art from Mount Sinai.
posted by Gaz man at 3:48 am
2 Comments:
Don't worry Gaz, the offending picture has now been censored! ;-) Like the Oz NZ comparison blog. Amazingly, I didn't get any sandfly bites. Though plenty of mozzie bites. And in terms of dangerous Oz creatures, we actually ate the crocodile first! Talk about pre-emptive!
Good NZ and Oz comparison, especially the bloody road rules here, madness. I decided against the full Zorb look becuase frankly it wasn't my colour. \
Black water rafting tomorrow. Crazy place
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