Los Angeles!

So I have been super unproductive today with my mind completely refusing to co-operate with my to-do list. So as a compromise, I decide to finally journal my trip to LA.

LA can be a disappointment at first glance. Especially coming from San Francisco, it was for me. At the beginning. But then you need to get out of the SF hangover to truly enjoy what LA has to offer. I got lucky enough to have a friend offering to host me in Santa Monica. A few blocks from the beach!! I'll be breaking LA into memorable areas or places of interest that I explored since I don't remember it on a day-wise basis.

1) Santa Monica- Santa Monica is the perfect neighborhood to just relax and enjoy being in good weather. I DIED for the amazing pizza.. I have always imagined that pizza would taste better without the tomato sauce and finally atleast two pizzerias in SM agreed with me! I don't know how common it is around town, but the spinach and feta cheese pizzas were to die for!! I miss that the most about Santa Monica. Another awesome part of Santa Monica was the 3rd St. promenade. I don't know if the place was packed cos it was the holiday season but the energy of the place was electrifying. I met with Scott to this Mexican bar that had happy hour drinks and I drowned in delicious chocotinis. The place had karaoke and it was packed on a Thursday night. Another fun place was the Santa Monica Pier which I believe is the official end of Route 66. It was nice enough with lights and people and typical overpriced crappy food that you would expect from such a tourist attraction.

2) Venice Beach: This was my favorite part of LA. Where else in the US can you get into the water in December!! You had lots of people surfing which really made me wish I had some athletic bone in my body. And the views. OMG. You can see all the way till Malibu (I think) and it is just simply breathtaking. Venice beach also has this part called Muscle Beach where you can see bulky guys trying to impress girls by lifting seriously intimidating dumbbells on an outdoor beach. What I had no clue about before I came to Venice beach was the fact that it's called Venice for a reason! There is a whole neighborhood where there are canals running through each house. It looks like a tiny english village connected by canals. I was positively in awe of how gorgeous it was. Apparently, each of those house go for several million bucks. The most magical secret about Venice beach is called the Inland Walkways. It is soooo hard to describe. It is a series of narrow pathways winding through the most unique and whimsical gardens you'll ever see. Never seen anything like this in the US. This is what I imagined tiny cottages in the Enid Blyton books would look like. Oh yeah. BIGGEST tip about the area. Don't go alone. Don't go at night. I somehow managed to do both. The place turns SUPER SHADY the minute it gets dark. I had a Mexican dude who seriously looked like a gang member walk up to me and say "you go home with me". I was like.."umm.. sir.. no thank you". I ran to a cop who also was hitting on me!! I finally found this other white tourist girl who also looked as terrified as me and we ran to the bus stop. Phew!

3) Hollywood: So I did the whole Hollywood tour because you're supposed to do it. But I don't think it is really the best part of LA. For someone who is a lot into the history of Hollywood, it would probably be exciting to stand in the dressing room where Marilyn Monroe or Audrey Hepburn once got dressed. But somehow the presence of the million swarming tourists made the place feel very fake. Like everything was not the real deal. The Grauman's Chinese Theatre with the hand prints felt the same way. This congested crowd with a zillion tour guides mde it very difficult to sit back and imagine the history the place. I mean everybody should definitely do it once, but like I said, not my favorite part of LA.

Rest of my LA trip was just scattered around Downtown, Glendale (which has an observatory with the coolest views of LA), Beverly Hills (the supposed poshest area of the world really just looked like Jubilee Hills). Also, the worst way to see LA is using the public transport which is what I had to do. So all the people who tell you that you need a car to enjoy LA are probably right. It was still manageable but took hourrsss to get anywhere. And unlike SF, you could see that most of the general public in LA doesn't use the public buses. For a reason I guess. Oh I forgot to mention, in Glendale, right outside Scott's apartment, I found this amazinnnggg Indian food place. I ate sooo much. I ate dosa and idly and vada and dahi puri. WOW. This is what I miss about big cities.