Days Fourteen to Sixteen

Days 14-16 were spent in Los Angeles, CA, one of the biggest cities in the world. We stopped there for a few days to stay with one of my closest buds Jordan and our friend (and his girlfriend) Kristina. They were outstanding hosts, taking us to all sorts of amazing spots. It was a completely new experience for both Grace and myself.

 One of the first sights outside the car window in Los Angeles our first morning... Yep, this is a unique place.

Jordan giving us a tour as we walk toward UCLA to meet up with Kristina. LA is full of plants and trees; it's very different looking than most major cities.

We arrived at UCLA and visited the Music Dept.

The building is named after Arnold Schoenberg, the revolutionary German composer who taught there in the 1940s.

UCLA is a beautiful campus

Kristina took us to an exhibit of traditional arts and crafts from around the world. Some of the pieces dated in the b.c. range! Krisitina is an expert on Meso-American culture and is studying ethno musicology at UCLA.

 Smog checks on the way to a tasty sushi restaurant for lunch.

Jordan took us to Amoeba Music, one of the best record stores in the world! At one point I had 7 or 8 cds in my hands, but I had to pair it down to two: Beethoven string quartets (op. 131 and 135) and Bill Frisell Trio: Live from the early 1990s.

The Scientology building

The famous Hollywood sign

The Chinese theatre (it was under construction)

Lassie's star on the Hollywood walk of fame

We needed some lounging time. We were getting a bit fatigued, and having a comfy place to just hang out has given us energy.

 J and K

 The next day we set out to go to the beach and do some swimming/boogie boarding. None of us realized that since it was the fourth of July, maybe it would be hard to find a parking spot... But we finally found a place to park.

J and K at the Venice Beach boardwalk

Venice Beach freakshow... the boardwalk is a weird place...

We concentrated on getting to the beach to go boogie boarding. It was outstanding! We had so much fun even though we got a bit burnt. We were out there for hours upon hours.

There were dolphins playing in the water just beyond us.  They stayed for hours also!

That night we had amazing Ethiopian food and later visited the tar pits. So far archaeologists have unearthed thousands of skeletons of prehistoric animals dating from 15,000 to 45,000 years old. So fascinating!

Crazy sculpture

Beautiful girl and lights

G being adorable again...

Jordan and Kristina

Lastly, we visited the mall where Jordan works, The Grove. This is a really high class outdoor mall place, and looks really cool at night. Here is Jordan outside the Apple store (he designed the displays on the front glass)

More of The Grove

Downtown Los Angeles from the top of the Grove building. We could see 360 degrees of fireworks until a security dude said we had to leave.

The next day we stopped by Jordan's band's practice space. It's a big warehouse where tons of different bands rent rooms for their rehearsals. It's got food, arcades, air hockey...

We got some taco truck food for lunch... soooo good!

Later we checked out the historic Spanish district and there were some authentic Aztec dancers performing

A Spanish house and courtyard built in 1781

Unfortunately our camera battery died, but that night  J and K took us to the Upright Citizens Brigade theater and saw some hilarious improv comedy. We had such a great time in LA, thank you so much Jordan and Kristina for being such amazing hosts and friends! We'll do it again!