la la LA

This is not a tour diary; I don’t think I can write a tour diary after a couple of unsuccessful attempts. Those were the days when I could write 5 page essays on a trip!

Back to the thanksgiving weekend with the two holidays and the fact that Binaisha was traveling to LA. LA is different, as is NY from Houston …. I can hear obviously! All unique and beautiful in their own way

We made it to the airport on time, well in time despite all the traffic snarls on the freeway. Traveling for the first time post the transatlantic air scare, and I had to dump a couple of containers in the thrash can, blame it on the manufacturing co. - travel size packs and exceeding 3 oz….huh!

Somehow Continental airlines always seem to land ahead of schedule and that meant a long wait at LAX for my pickup…. Catching up with Bin for the second time since I got here

The USC campus was our first stop followed by the thanksgiving dinner at Sandeep’s. What’s special about thanksgiving, leaving aside the traditional meaning, for us it meant shopping and what better than the Friday madness shopping, headed to Camarillo and partook in the madness, from midnight to about 10 AM… was truly maddening.

The rest of the Friday was for Hollywood , Rajesh drove all the way down from San Diego to meet us ;-) Hollywood here I come!
Hollywood Street is like any commercial street in the US , predominately of souvenir stores and eat out places with an occasional piece of ‘fame’, like the Kodak theater and the wax museum. Reminded me of the 6th street in Austin that’s full of pubs and tattoo stores! Ripley’s was our first stop and it lived upto expectations while I had to settle with Harrison Ford for a picture on the walk of fame star. We tried unsuccessfully to get below the Hollywood sign after a treacherous drive into the Hollywood hills! And that was the end of the day 2.

Universal Studios deserves a complete post but I’ll try my best here – simply amazing is all I can say. The Universal studio tour is a must-visit, well-organized and informative, we even saw the ‘desperate housewives’ set among others! Not a fan of those thrilling rides as they call it but these were something else. The ‘Mummy returns’ ride looked a lot similar to the setting in the movie ‘Final Destination 3’ but I didn’t let that jitter me. The rest of the rides and shows were all truly worthy of the time we spent waiting for our turn in winding queues. Water World truly deserves a mention here along with those photo ops with Zorro and Shrek :- )

The entertainment capital of LA totally appealed to me, with an excellent on the feedback form

Sunday was reserved for Mass, Promenade, Santa Monica Pier, Beverly Hills and a second unsuccessful attempt at getting to the Hollywood sign as the path leading to it from Griffith park was closed!.

Houston welcomes me back by with a huge downpour! Nice$@