My California Vacation: Los Angeles

After spending 2 days of fun and riding almost all of the rides at universal, we had a tour of LA and what it had to offer. My cousin, having lived there for more than 10 years already was our tour guide and provided our transportation. He picked us up together with his family and we were on our way for an entire day of family bonding. Our first stop is one of the most famous streets in the world, Rodeo Drive. There were a lot of people, mostly tourist like us. The cars in the area are nice, BMW’s and Benz’s were normal. There was a Bugatti and a Ferrari car parked in front of one of the shops and many people were taking pictures with it. The shops are high end (what do you expect) and I would have wanted to shop there, if I had lots of money, why not. We also went to the Beverly Wilshire hotel, to see what’s like inside a really luxurious hotel (that’s the same hotel in the movie Pretty Woman).

After taking some pictures, we headed out to Santa Monica Pier to check out the beach. This one of the things I look forward to in my trip in LA since you equate the city with the sun, sand and beach. On route to the beach, we passed by Hollywood and Sunset boulevard so I was able to do some sight seeing inside the car. Before taking a dip, we headed out to the pier first to get some lunch. The pier is a combination of people and quaint little shops selling souvenirs and beach gear. At the end of the park was Pacific park which is a small theme park and a choice of different dining options. We opted out for a quick fast food fix so while the kids enjoyed pizza and the parents had burgers, I got some Tacos. I was disappointed that I wasn’t able to bring my swim shorts, good thing there were shops in the pier where I got my beach gear, swim shorts and a tank top which was a little pricey but thanks to my generous cousin, he paid for everything. We were at the beach for the rest of the afternoon, just talking, catching some sun and wading in the water. The water was cold, and I didn’t really bring a towel, so I just opted to just wet up to my knees and do some people watching. The kids was just supposed to just wet their feet as well but ofcourse, having seen their cousins for the 1^st time, and it’s the beach, their bound to get themselves wet! My cousin had to go back to their house to get some fresh towels and clothes. It was a fun afternoon and it made my day but we still had some sightseeing to do.

From the beach we headed back to downtown LA to see the Staples Center and what downtown has to offer. We took pictures at the center and the surrounding area, Nokia Theater and LA Live. Our tummy’s were grumbling so it was a sign for us to get some dinner already. We went to Koreatown to eat at an all you can eat Korean Barbecue for $9.99 that my cousin was fond of. In fairness, there was a waiting list and we waited for atleast 30 minutes that added to our hunger. Once we got seated, we ordered away and started to eat our starters while our main dishes were sizzling. I ordered for our table and I said to the waitress, 1 to 6, meaning I got 6 selections of meat. When it was served, at first I didn’t notice it but we were thinking that it was too little for 6 selections of meat. We didn’t mind since we were so hungry and that we had a fun time talking. I ordered the same thing again, 1 to 6 and we were served again with the same quantity of food that made me and my sister think. It was at the end that we realized that the waitress maybe understood 1, 2 and 6 instead of 1 to 6. We didn’t mind already since we were so full and we still had some sight seeing to do.

The last stop of the day was to see Hollywood boulevard and see the Kodak and Mann’s Chinese Theater and the walk of fame. It was already 11 at night but there were still a lot of people, my cousin said that it was really the best time to go there. We took some pictures outside the Kodak Theater and took pictures at the façade of Mann’s Chinese theater and checked out the famous floor with the hand marks and foot prints of the celebrities. There were a lot of people and some shops were still open selling souvenirs, there was also a street performer. I also checked out the stars on the walk of fame to see if I knew someone and try to get a picture of the star. To my dismay, I wasn’t able to take a picture since there were a lot of people, meaning a lot of feet in the sidewalk. It was all good, I had a lot of pictures, it was late at night already, it was cold and physically I am exhausted so we called it a night and got home. We still needed to wake up early to pick our rental car at LAX and have our road trip going to SF.