The Standard Grill

Just had a great dinner at The Standard Grill - the restaurant at The Standard NYC (the hotel at which we're staying). The bar and restaurant at The Standard are at present the hottest place in New York - packed every night with hot young New Yorkers and others. Monday night Quentin Tarantino had the afterparty here after the premiere of Inglorious Basterds, complete with Brad and Angelina, among many others. People who've been at the bar and restaurant so far include Lindsay Lohan, Renee Zellweger, Cameron Diaz, the entire fashion world (including Anna Wintour) and pretty much everyone else.

Had a fun day today hanging around and shopping in SoHo and NoLita - incredibly hot, but fun anyway.

The Standard, NYC

Staying at The Standard, NYC - it is pretty new and is built above the Highline (an abandoned above-ground train line being turned into an awesome public park) in the Meatpacking District, which has awesome shops and restaurants and great cobblestone streets.

We have a fairly tiny - but very cool - room, with a glass wall giving great views over NYC (the Highline, the Meatpacking District and the Hudson River).

Had a few drinks last night (Tuesday night) in the Beer Garden -the hot NYC bar at present. Amazing / bizarre drinks (my drink of choice for the evening comprised rye, a raw sugar cube, a lemon twist and absinthe bitters), a full-on summer electrical storm, a fun conversation with a songwriter and lifelong New Yorker with whom we shared a table.

Cruz Bay, Saint John - random and general

A few observations:
- chickens clucking around the main street
- multiple, conflicting caribbean and south american music playing everywhere - music blaring from bars, cars and pretty much everywhere
- the smells of barbeque permeating the streets
- poor driving, given everyone is drunk on rum pretty much all the time
- rastafarian-looking guys wandering past with huge dreadlocks and/or huge beanies full of dreads
- four-wheel drives slowly driving past, stopping frequently to chat to pedestrians

Virgin Islands so far

Had a fantastic day yesterday... got up early and drove around, checking out some beaches. Went for 2 short-ish hikes around the Cinnamon Bay area - one was through tropical rainforest and was beautiful (but very very sweaty) and the other was a steep climb up a hill - also beautiful and also very sweaty.

Then drove on to Waterlemon Bay... a great beach reachable only by hiking along a fairly good path. The little bay was great - although a little rocky - but with a white-sand beach with probably the best snorkelling I've ever done just close to the shore. The coral was unspectacular - the floor was mostly rocks and sand - but the fishlife was amazingly varied and plentiful. Plus followed a number of beautiful green sea turtles.

After that drove to Maho Bay for more snorkelling. A much larger and more popular beach - there may have been as many as 20-25 people there, along the long beach. We set up in the shade - incredibly relaxing - then snorkelled. Quickly found a HUGE green sea turtle and followed it for ages.

In the afternoon a walk around town and towards Salamons Beach - very humid.

Relaxing evening - cooked a bbq at the resort, and bunkered in.

Tropical Storm Ana (now downgraded to Tropical Depression Ana) hit overnight - lots of wind and rain.... Today is fairly grey - a relaxing day

Animals seen wandering around Saint John

Donkey
Goats
Deer
Mongeese
Lots of lizards
Spiders

Ess-A-Bagel

In New York the other day M and I decided to grab breakfast at Ess-A-Bagel, around the corner from our hotel. I have very weird memories of Ess-A-Bagel from last time I was in NYC: I remember inconceivably rude service, but surely that was simply the product of unfamiliarity with their system and the New York way of doing things.

No - they are actually inconceivably rude and disinterested in their customers.

M went first - the Eastern European guy behind the counter asked what she wanted, then turned away and started talking to other staff and/or doing something else. Repeatedly. He would ask what she wanted and then not listen to her response and then tell her he hadn't been listening and could she tell him again. Just totally f***king with her.

He then decided M was Irish, and proceeded to tell us (mostly me) a story about how his first wife was Irish, and they had divorced after about 5 years. He assured us he was not a violent man, but that despite that his first wife had made him so angry he had wanted to smash her head repeatedly against the floor. He paused to ensure we understood and sympathised with how unreasonable her behaviour had been to make him so angry. Once reassured, he continued that before they divorced they went to a nice hotel for a "special night"at which they'd had a really good time, then had agreed they should separate.

My bagel was awesome - an onion bagel with eggs, onion and lox.

M was rejected for a tip again

Having previously been rejected in LA trying to tip the security guy at the hotel who found her watch, M was rejected today trying to tip busking musicians in the Virgin Islands who had been playing Jazz she was enjoying from our hotel room patio.

It emerged that:
- they were not buskers, and did not appear to know what 'buskers' were;
- they were warming up for their upcoming gig at a beachside bar; and
- they were not at all interested in taking $2 on being accosted by a weird Australian.

Saint John, US Virgin Islands

Me, a pretzel and the Statue of Liberty

Today

Slept in and had a badly-needed quiet morning.

Hired a Jeep Patriot this afternoon and drove around the island, visiting a number of amazing beaches and Coral Bay, the town at the other end of the island. Snorkelled at Trunk Bay, the biggest (and most populate) beach on the island - but still only a few people there.

Dinner tonight at Uncle Joe's Barbeque - amazing chicken and ribs. A tiny shack without any signage whatsoever somewhere in the centre of town (near the post office) it has a miniscule menu and minimal amenities. A waitress and a cook. While we were there, the cook was busy washing dishes and the barbeque caught fire. The waitress rushed over and put it out with a glass of water. Everyone continued what they were doing. A fantastic meal - but you'd hate to be in a hurry.

A few random notes:roads on Saint John, USVI

1. Roads here do not have names and there are no street numbers.
2. In the US Virgin Islands, cars are driven on the left-hand side of the road (like Australia, but unlike the USA).
   
3. In the US Virgin Islands, cars are left-hand drive (like the USA, but unlike Australia).
   
4. The combination ensures poor visibility around the many corners on the wind-y roads.
   
5. Roads are very narrow and are shared between pedestrians, cars and random wild animals.
6. Driving around the island this afternoon we encountered various donkeys, and a number of goats.
7. Many of the drivers are tourists from the USA who have previously driven only on the right side of the road. They are now expected to drive on the left - but with a left-hand drive car (as at home). This contributes to the generally poor quality of driving seen on the roads.
8. The remaining drivers are primarily Virgin Islanders. As far as I can tell, the principal pastime on the USVI is drinking rum.
9. It is legal to drive while drinking.
10. Seatbelts are compulsory, unless a passenger in a taxi or riding in the back of a pick-up truck (aka ute).
    

A great American pasttime

Ordering too much food, then taking the extra food home in a styrofoam container in multiple plastic bags. Destroying the environment, one meal at a time.

Saint John - Friday

A very early start - up at 4am, subway to JFK and a plane to Saint Thomas in the US Virgin Islands - about a 4 hour flight. A share-taxi across the island and then a ferry to Saint John.

Saint John is an island about the same size as Manhattan (approx 20 miles) but with a population of just over 4,000 (compared to Manhattan with about 1.6 million). It is a US dependancy - it uses US dollars and no passport is needed for Americans to travel to it - but residents cannot vote for President and elect a non-voting member to Congress. It is in the middle of the Caribbean - past Cuba, past the Dominican Republic and next to the British Virgin Islands. Very beautiful, with warm water, lots of great beaches and about 2/3 of it is National Park.

Staying at Gallows Point in a suite right on the beach. Because it is hurricane season (a minor detail easily ignored) prices are reasonable. Furnishings are a bit dated, but the location is incredible and it is very very comfortable.

We have been supertouristing for a couple of weeks now - so a few days of rest and relaxation is very welcome. This afternoon swam in the (very) warm ocean and read in a hammock.

NYC - Thursday

A great morning - we got up early, caught the train to the top of Central Park, then jogged / walked back to the hotel, including (most of) a lap around the Reservoir in the middle of the park. Central Park is so beautiful and such a fantastic resource for New Yorkers and visitors to the city. It would have been shorter if we hadn't got lost, but nevertheless an awesome morning out.

Then M went off to the Sex And The City Tour - I couldn't have been any less interested. I took the subway to The Cloisters - a branch of The Met above 190th Street at the very top end of Manhattan. It is in a weird castle-kind-of-building - full of amazing artworks and artifacts from Medieval Europe. After that, headed down to The Met and the European paintings and Islamic art collections. Particularly loved a Zurbaran painting of Jesus on the cross - possibly the most amazing painting I've ever seen.

In the afternoon, shopped at Bergdorf Goodman - incredibly upmarket.

That night, saw Hair. Well-performed, but just couldn't get into it. 60s hippies were so apppallingly self-indulgent and self-righteous.

More NYC

Last night had a drink at the bar at the W Hotel, a few doors down from our hotel. A pretty cool bar, and fun watching businessmen having middling-to-good success in picking up attractive young girls in town for a night out.

Today visited Liberty Island and Ellis Island. Ellis Island was America's main point of arrival for immigrants for many years (until the 1950s) - it has a great museum and has been restored to its condition in the 1920s. Quite an emotional experience.

After that, more shopping.

Yesterday visited the Morgan Library - the home of J P Morgan, now turned into a museum. His private library, in original condition, was apparently known as 'The Most Beautiful Room in America' and it is easy to believe - amazing. The collection includes 3 (of less than 50 in existence) Gutenberg bibles. Seeing one was inspiring and very special. The collection of old and rare books and illuminated manuscripts was incredible. An absolute must-see.

The Frick Museum was somehow disappointing, although the collection was pretty incredible. Vermeer and much much more. An early 20th century mansion on Central Park in the Upper East Side, in its original condition. Jammed full of New Yorkers - they appeared to be mostly east-siders - older men in white pants pulled up high and older women with substantial quantities of make-up and jewellery.

Broadway so far

Last night - Mary Stuart and tonight In The Heights. Very different but both great.

Mary Stuart was incredibly enjoyable, despite being a 2 hour 50 minute period piece about Mary Queen of Scots and Queen Elizabeth. The acting was fantastic and the set design and costumes were great. It absolutely held the audience's attention and I highly recommend it.

In The Heights is a new(ish) musical set in Washington Heights - a hispanic neighbourhood in Manhattan. It has won numerous Tony awards, including best musical. Sort of a mix of hiphop and Latin-American music. A great (and attractive) cast, great songs and a good story. Also highly recommended

Pretzel time

Having never tried a New York pretzel, I had the urge today while on the ferry from Battery Park to the Statute of Liberty... M has an awesome photo of me living the American Dream: eating a pretzel while the Statue of Liberty draws near... it was salty and doughy and I can see why people eat them while drinking beer.

Photos #?

Manhattan from Brooklyn


M with the Liberty Bell

Me in Brooklyn

Hi to N+K from T and S

NYC - a very hot Tuesday

Had a non-museum day today (at M's insistence).... a small sleep-in then the subway to Brooklyn. It was extremely hot (and humid), making it difficult to accomplish too much - but we pressed on regardless.

Couldn't help but think of Do The Right Thing - a Spike Lee Joint, and one of my favourite films of my teenage years. Set in Bed-Stuy, a part of Brooklyn a few subway stops from where we started our exploration, it was about tensions rising in a mixed neighbourhood on the hottest day of summer, culminating in a race riot.

Anyway, the parts of Brooklyn we saw (basically, some of the nice parts) had amazing old buildings and good cafes with good coffee. No race war going on anywhere near us. Wandered around near the water, looking back over at Manhattan and wandered around some beautiful, leafy residential streets. Eventually found our way to the Dumbo neighbourhood, had a great lunch at a fantastic cafe and then walked back to Manhattan over the Brooklyn Bridge. A great walk, with amazing views, shared with many many other people.

Walked by the World Trade Centre area - a huge, empty zone.

Found Century 21 and amazing discount shopping. I will have to go back as I didn't finish today, but managed to find some fantastic bargains (and relative bargains). Very excited about my new Alexander Mcqueen jacket.

Dinner tonight at a Vietnamese restaurant in Chinatown - fairly similar to the Victoria St, Abbotsford experience.

Loving the subway. Hot, humid, great people watching and an awesome way to get around the island.

Momofuku Noodle Bar - NYC

Amazing dinner last night at Momofuku Noodle Bar in the East Village.

It is, basically, a casual - but very cool and fairly tiny - noodle bar. I had the most amazingly delicious chicken steamed buns, then chicken ramen. M had their fixed menu, which inluded various items on the Tyson-forbidden list, but which she insisted was also amazing. We shared a couple of soju slushies - one was (alarmingly) ginger-flavoured, the other watermelon-flavoured.

We were seated at the counter, watching over (and virtually part of) the kitchen. The chefs were working incredibly hard putting the intricate dishes together.

Highly recommended,

Philadelphia + NYC Day 1

An incredibly long day yesterday - arrived at Union Station (beautiful, huge) - stress-free 2 hour train ride to Philadelphia, arrived at 30th Street Station (very beautiful, huge). Met up with N's cousin Shannon, who had agreed to show us around town.
Shannon is an incredibly nice guy, and very fond of his niece N.
He took us first to the Mutter Museum (note: I can't find an umlaut, but Mutter should have an umlaut). It is a museum of medical oddities, and incredibly strange. We saw the preserved bodies of Chang and Eng, many preserved examples of deformed foetuses and people and lots more extremely difficult-to-look at stuff. It was all fairly repugnant but fascinating. I couldn't come at the extensive exhibits of infected and damaged eyes, but otherwise was ok to look at everything. The place attracted a fairly strange crowd.
We next wandered around the Rittenhouse district, had a coffee and an icecream then went to the beautiful Philadelphia Academy of the Fine Arts - a famous and impressive school for artists, located in an absolutely amazing old building (and also in a new building next door) and with a great art museum.
Shannon was great - having never met us, he gave up a huge chunk of his Saturday to showing us around Philadelphia. He was friendly, interesting, a big personality and incredibly knowledgeable about film (including Australian film).
We said goodbye to him mid-afternoon, then headed to the historical district. We shared a Philly Cheese Steak, then felt sick. We napped on the ground near the liberty bell, then wandered around. Viewed the liberty bell - much less impressive I think for foreigners who dont'have the deep reverence for it as a symbol and just see an old, cracked bell.
An early dinner at Lolita - an awesome modern mexican place in Rittenhouse - it was BYOT, so we bought a bottle of tequila and enjoyed their fresh (and fantastic) margerita mix and food, then caught our train to NYC.
Arrived about 10pm and stress-free logistics to the hotel. Doubletree Metropolitan. Adequate. Went for a late-night wander to Times Square and around.

Today we wandered the streets - the east side at midtown is beautiful... there was a street festival in Lexington right outside our hotel, with lots of stalls. Spent most of the day at the Met - I'll write about it another time, but it was incredible (of course) - and we'll be making another visit. A walk around Central Park, including a great nap, and now off to dinner.

DC: Final Day

Was a supertourist today - visited more museums and monuments than seemed possible.

Yesterday had an early start for the Pentagon tour organised by a friend of D+A who works at the Australian embassy... lots of security obvious after arriving at the Pentagon metro station. Passed through security and made it to reception, where a very serious young marine in a white dress uniform took our details then we sat and watched military types mill around for a while.

There were about 20 people on our tour - all American other than us, as far as I could tell. We were guided at the front and the back by soldiers in full uniform who were actually pretty friendly. The solider at the front conducted the tour while walking backwards at the front of the tour group. It was incredibly impressive. They would yell out the tour commentary while walking backwards at full pace, knowing exactly where to stop and where all the doors and escalators were. The Pentagon is a very-dated-looking building made of reinforced concrete (notwithstanding that a major renovation is almost completed). We saw a new entrance hall completed only in the past couple of weeks. It is absolutely huge and seems very well-organised. We stopped at 'ground zero'where the plane hit on 911 and saw a moving memorial to people lost on 911. Considering that the tour fundamentally involved walking around an office building while being closely observed, it was pretty good. The workers at the Pentagon include many fit people with short, neat hair.

Yesterday afternoon spent about 3 hours at the National Gallery of Art. It was amazing - even better than I remember it from 8 years ago. A great collection of Christian religious art, with a very strong collection from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. A number of Vermeers. A Da Vinci. Many impressionists. Many Rembrandts. etc. So much stuff! Unsurprisingly, a strong collection of US artists. The West building (the older building containing the older art) is absolutely beautiful, with perfect lighting and is a great space to show off art. The East building is very modern, and also a great space - although it seems fairly inefficient (ie. it is big, but has far less space to display art).

Late night headed down to Georgetown. A very nice and upmarket area - lots of great shops - then dinner at Zed's, a really good Ethiopian restaurant.

Today, started off at the Air & Space Museum. Fascinating and an amazing collection. The original Wright Bros plane, the Apollo spacecraft that landed on the moon (plus lots of artefacts from the Apollo missions), many planes through the history of aviation plus lots more. And all fantastically-well displayed. A really really good museum.

Next a very quick run-through at the Natural History Museum. Looked great, but we only really lingered at a special exhibition looking at the lives of ants. Totally fascinating and great photography. We appeared to be the only adults there without children.

We then spent some time at the Museum of American History. A section on the Presidents was really good. A pretty good section on different aspects of society, focusing on Jewish immigrants and African-American slavery. Marni was surprisingly underwhelmed by a section on the history of electricity. A section on Black America was really interesting.

A wander in the sun and we arrived at the Holocaust Museum. There were no passes left to the permanent exhibition, but an exhibition of a jewish child's life in Germany through the 1930s and into the 1940s was very affecting. And an exhibition of Nazi propaganda was fascinating.

Four museums down and we went for a walk in the sun (on our aching feet)... the Jefferson monument, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt monument (particularly good) and the Lincoln monument (absolutely crammed full of people - Americans are absolutely crazy about Abraham Lincoln). A great view from the Lincoln Memorial all the way down the National Mall to the Capitol Building.

A quick taxi ride to the National Portrait Museum & Museum of American Art. Another great museum, but unfortunately we only had slightly over an hour as it was getting towards closing time. It was in the most amazingly impressive building; the original US patent office and the location of Lincoln's second inauguration ball. An incredible colletion of portraits of each of the Presidents, plus a fantastic collection of portraits. Plus a spectactular collection of American art, which we had far too little time to review.

A low-key dinner, then a night in - badly needed after being out every night for a week.

Tomorrow Philadelphia.

Postscript to LAX experience + night of DC Day #1

I've now had a chance to look through the bag the LAX security staff were so interested in. Its contents incuded a pair of scissors, a disposable razor and a beard trimmer / electric shaver with a blade. What the **** were they looking at when they sent it through the scanning machine 4 times, then let it through????

This evening walked to Dupont Circle. Accosted on the way by a 6 foot 8+ drug addict who emphatically ensisted I should be holding M's hand and that we were meant for each other and insisted on chatting to us most of the way from the hotel to the Circle. Amazingly, he didn't rob us or ask for money. Dinner at an Eastern Mediterranean restaurant in Dupont Circle, then dropped by Kramerbooks (thanks Nina).

Photos #3

Great sculpture at the Getty
Statue of Huey P Long
T with Mustang parked on Santa Monica pier
T pretty happy - soon to enter the Senate
M and T at La Jolla

Photos #2

M with the groom and S at the wedding

Plenty of short dresses and tattoos

USA photos #1

M and I in a Stretch Hummer on the way to the wedding

The Broad at LACMA

DC Day #1

We're staying at Donovan House on 14th St NW a few blocks from the McPherson Square metro station - so about 5-7 minutes walk from the White House. And not far from Dupont Circle. ie. a really good location.

This morning got up and took the Metro a few stations to Capital South, then grabbed breakfast at Jimmy T's - a fairly run-down and unassuming diner a couple of of blocks from the Capitol (thanks for the tip Lonely Planet). The area near the Capitol is residential and consists of narrow, old 2 or 3 storey houses on wide streets with lots of greenery - very cute.

Then our Capitol tour. A fantastic tour. It starts with a video which is surprisingly good, except it leaves one with the impression that America originated democracy and/or that it is the only democracy on earth. Then the central rotunda, with an amazing huge fresco on the inside of the dome, many statues and some pretty amazing paintings of American history. We headed into the room which was formerly the House - it was hard to believe it had ever been big enough. Saw a statue of my favourite American historical figure, Huey P Long, and excitedly took many photos. Plus various other sights. Seriously it was a really good tour.

After the tour ended I was very keen to get tickets to see the Senate in session but had thought they weren't all that easy to obtain. We found the right desk in the Capitol to obtain tickets as international visitors (a little tricky as it was unlabelled). The staff member at the desk was on the phone, and after watching us watching her for a while, she put the phone down for a second and asked what we wanted. As soon as I told her, she thrust tickets at me - MUCH easier than for Americans, who need to see their local member of congress or senator to obtain tickets.

I was pretty excited.

The Senate public gallery is reached via numerous corridors - grand marble, nice carpets - as impressive as you'd expect. But no dress standards are enforced, which surprised me. We watched for about an hour, and saw various senators speak for and against the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court - fascinating stuff. The Senate Chamber was very impressive and elegant, and the senators were extremely articulate and excellent speakers. I absolutely loved the experience.

Then headed over the road to the Supreme Court. Went to a really good lecture (held in the Supreme Court itself) about the Court and the building. The building is absolutely unbelievable. Almost totally constructed from white marble and incredibly dignified and beautiful. The Court is a very impressive room with some amazing sculptured marble panels representing various mythological and historical figures relevant to the law. Advocates in the Supreme Court have half an hour for each side for oral arguent... it would be fantastic discipline and would absolutely force you to get to the heart of the issue.

Then lunch at Teaism right near the White House - fantastic cheap Asian food, a wander by the White House (not a great tourist attraction - you can see the building from the street, but can't get close to it), then a relax in our room.

A really good first day in DC so far.

Right turns

I LOVE being allowed to turn right when the light is red if there's no traffic (the equivalent of being allowed to turn left against the lights in Australia)

LA to San Diego to LAX

Now in Washington DC; arrived around midnight last night after a fairly average flight from Los Angeles. Staying at Donovan House (a Thompson hotel). It seems to be the DC place to be at the moment - various American Idol people were wandering around last night when we arrived.

LAX has not improved since last time I flew from there in 2002 - still a very painful airport to leave. Our carry-on bags excited some interest, and for some reason they ran my bag through 4 times. And then let it through without actually going through anything inside it. Anyway, we almost missed our plane. V stressful.

A late start on Monday... M went to a work meeting in an LA outer suburb then was very late back - I was pretty irritated. After another Gordon Ramsay restaurant breakfast (very good again) headed off for a quick cruise down Hollywood Boulevard (we didn't stop or get out, but I did see a few stars on the boulevard while driving - and felt no compulsion to see more. Oh and there was some guy dressed up as batman). Headed on to the freeways and drove towards San Diego. My first US proper freeway experience for some years - it was actually quite fun once I settled into it. The Mustang was made for freeway driving.

Arrived in San Diego and headed to S and R's house - they live in suburbia about 20 minutes from downtown. Fascinating to spend some time in an American suburb, rather than the inner-city life we normally see on holiday. We headed down to meet R after work in La Jolla - a really nice seaside suburb. Had some great Mexican food, then a walk around La Jolla. After that, S took M and I on a mega-tourist spree. In a few hours we wandered around Balboa Park (beautiful museums and nice gardens - a great place to be on a summer evening), then a drive to Coronado Island - a cute area with great views (including over to Mexico) and the amazing-looking old Hotel del Coronado. Followed by ice-cream and tequila with S and R. In the morning, S made a great breakfast then we hung out for a while, then hit the road back towards LA. Was great to see S and R and the kids (I and B) - they've been back in the USA for a few months now. The kids are adorable and I taught me hopscotch. She's starting to get an American accent on some words!

Making good time on the way back to LAX, so dropped by Newport Beach to relive my memories of the OC (particularly Season One). Parked near the Newport Beach Yacht Club and went for a wander. Very upmarket and glamorous - and self-contained - it reminded me of Brighton. And also of Rachel Bilson.

Then a mad rush to make our plane for DC.

LA Day #3

It is now 12.50am - the end of another fun day in LA.

We had a late start this morning after the wedding... when we eventually got up, the gym for me and a swim for M then a late (and good) breakfast poolside on the roof.

Then headed down Sunset to the Getty Museum via Beverly Hills and Bel Air - lots of mansions, high hedges and little stands selling star maps. The Getty is awesome - you park at the bottom of the hill, then head up the hill in an electric tram to the museum. The museum consists of a number of pavilions surrounding a beautiful garden. Great architecture. A fairly good selection of c15th-c18th religious art - including a spectacular El Greco - plus some excellent impressionists and an amazing sculpture collection (including an incredible Magritte). A huge photography exhibit. And a temporary exhibition of French bronzes from c16th - c18th was pretty impressive.

After the Getty, headed down to Santa Monica Beach. Traffic was bad - unsurprising for a perfect Summer Sunday afternoon. We (eventually) parked at a parking lot on Santa Monica pier, after dodging thousands of people and much traffic. The beach is amazing - very white and very wide. And the crowd was multicultural and happy. It is a weird setup - there is a road by the beach, then a grassed section, then a HUGE parking lot right by the beach. After parking, we headed to the 3rd Street Promenade - a mall of huge stores (all the big chains), thousands of people and extremely polished street performers / buskers. I bought perhaps the two biggest coffees I've ever seen (I'm still in shock that they were regular-sized) and burned myself carrying them. We headed up the pier past lots of crappy amusement parlors and etc, then back to the car and drove back to the hotel via Venice Beach and Culver City (we drove right past the Sony Pictures / Columbia studio lot).

We are still working on tipping culture - M lost her watch and bracelet by the pool earlier today, and retrieved them this evening. A nice guy from security brought them back after we asked at the front desk. Given our (admittedly limited) understanding of US tipping culture, we had thought it was appropriate to give him some money as a thank you. He refused it. We do not understand why, and probably never will.

A quick change, then headed down Sunset to dinner at Le Petit Four - it is claimed to be LA's best restaurant for people-watching and, though I have little to compare it to, it seems possible. We had a great outside table, and there was definitely lots of people-watching going on, along with really good French food. The cars parked outside were largely Ferraris, with an occasional Audi R8 or 7 series BMW - rather pedestrian after the Bugatti last night.

After a late dinner, a drink at the bar at the Sunset Marquis... very dark, very intimate and very cool. I felt very much at home there, and M had to drag me away.

After another day of observation, it is clear that the dress code in LA this summer is either
(a) short and tight; or
(b) see-through and billowing.

LA day #2

Today... Breakfast at the Gordon Ramsay restaurant at The London West Hollywood - a beautiful room with distressed floorboards, eclectic furnishings, delicious food and great service.  I experienced Turkey Bacon for the first time and it deserves the capitalisation accorded it.  Next, Beverly Centre.  An American mall, Beverly Hills - style.  It didn't feel that much different to Chadstone, which is meant neither as a compliment to the Beverly centre or chadstone.  Picked up some pretty good trainers.

Spent the afternoon at LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art).  Amazing contemporary art collection in the Broad building.  Jeff Koons 'Michael Jackson and Bubbles' and the huge metal egg and balloon dog.  Lots of Jasper Johns, Rauschenbergs.  In the general collection some great Rothkos, many Picasso... an awesome exhibition of contemporary Korean art (irreverent, funny, meaningful and basically really good).  Probably the best stuff were the two massively gigantic rusted steel sculptures / installations by Richard Serra.  One of them, particularly, was an experience not soon forgotten - it was sort of a massive-room-sized rusted-steel maze - but even better.

Then back to the hotel - I'm getting more used to valet parking - then a quick change and off to Burbank for M's cousin's wedding.

The wedding was an experience. 

Met up at M's cousin's house and travelled to the wedding with the family in a stretch Hummer.  The wedding was at a weird and intensely uncool reception venue and restaurant in the Burbank hills called 'Castaway'.  Good views over LA, but otherwise almost unbelievably crap.  M's cousin (his mother is Australian and his dad is English - and he grew up in LA and is all-American complete with his own gun collection and pick-up truck) was marrying an Argentinian girl.  So the wedding comprised English cousins, Australian cousins, an Argentinian delegation and many young Angelenos.  There are few certainties in life, but I can confidently say that the fashion this summer in Burbank is for very very short, tight dresses which show as much cleavage as possible.  One (definitely underage) girl's dress was so short that her ass was on view.  Her parents were also at the wedding.  Her mother was among the many tattooed ladies, and had particularly prominent and ugly tattooes across her left breast and left upper back.  Her dress was just marginally longer than her daughters'.

M's dad was there and was definitely the life of the party.  There was a family get-together on Thursday night which we missed, and apparently he had made many friends there, so that on entry he was roundly high-fived and later in the evening was pulled onto the dancefloor by the bride.  And he was definitely a required participant in the garter-throwing (a bizarre tradition i've never previously experienced involving the groom removing the bride's garter and then throwing it over his head like a bouquet to be caught by one 'lucky' unmarried man).

The wedding ceremony lasted between 4 and 5 minutes, and was conducted by the groom's father (M's cousin's husband).  It was,  I understand, his second wedding as a marriage celebrant.  He is a bit-part actor (apparently his career highlight is a one-line part in Titanic) and struggled to give across the microphone to the bride and groom, but he managed to ensure his jokes were definitely picked up by the mic.
The groom's brother gave probably the worst wedding speech ever (and that includes E's speech at his brother's wedding where he described the bride as a fungus that had grown on the family).  The speech consisted of a long, rambling anecdote about the fact that he met his brother's bride first, as they had worked at Burger King together as teenagers.  There did not appear to be any particular point, although I wondered if he was insinuating that he'd been there first.  It was not clear.  He did, however, swear every few words and - sitting next to the groom's parents (ie. his parents) - it was fairly amusing watching them sink lower into their chairs and bury their heads deeper and deeper into their hands.  He also, for reasons which remained unclear, frequently made a farting noise into the mic.  I think he did this either before or after each time he mentioned the bride's name, but I could be mistaken.  Eventually, someone grabbed the mic off him and started another speech. 

The dancing was also interesting.  AC-DC mixed into 'Baby Got Back' mixed into Argentinian pop.  The tall, blond girl dancing next to me in the second-shortest dress of the evening somehow lost her balance and fell on her ass.  This was not particularly graceful and afforded an interesting to those who cared to look.

Overall, the wedding was an experience not to be missed.  The happy couple looked very happy and (on meeting them for the first time at their wedding) seemed very warm and full of love for each other.

Veyron

Got back to The London West Hollywood from the wedding tonight, and there was a Bugatti Veyron parked outside... according to Wikipedia there are only 200 in existence and they cost US$1.4m each. Never thought I'd see one in the metal... makes my Ford Mustang look more like a piece of crap than it actually is.

M&T: LA #1

It is now 5.20pm Friday LA time; arrived at about 8am today, after an incredibly stress-free journey from Melbourne. Very happy we upgraded our flight. I even had a good conversation with the customs guy at LAX about the differences between barristers and solicitors !?!

Ended up hiring a black Ford Mustang for $7/day more than the (crap) car we were going to hire. It is an American muscle car - 2 door, very low-slung, big bonnet, short tail, fairly ugly and (I suspect) a suburban hoon's car; it is certainly not in abundance in West Hollywood, which appears to be dominated by European sports cars, Hummers and Range Rovers.

The London West Hollywood is fantastic so far. Our room is huge and extremely tastefully funished [no kidding, the bathroom is bigger than I expect my room to be at The Standard NYC and the double shower inexplicably has 3 separate shower heads], the staff are friendly (and have so far complimented both my car and my t-shirt), the pool and surround are really nice and they let us check in at about 9am - very welcome after the long flight.
The location is also great - basically on the corner of San Vicente and Sunset Boulevard. The Whisky A Go Go is pretty much within spitting distance, and the Viper Room is a couple of doors down on Sunsset. About 5 minutes drive to Beverly Centre (a huge shopping mall).

Have had a great day so far... determined to try and stay awake until bedtime tonight.
Went to the gym this morning, then a wander down Sunset.
Ended up getting lunch on Santa Monica Boulevard, then grabbed the car [still getting used to valet parking and the whens,hows and whys of tipping] and found Samy's Cameras to buy a Canon G10 - much cheaper than in Australia, and (apparently) the best camera store in LA. It was huge and fantastic (and had valet parking!!), and we got talking to a couple of people working there. Bizarrely, one had spent a year living in Bundoora studying at Latrobe and the other was an older European guy who's son was leaving for Australia today.
Then a coffee at Urth Cafe on Melrose in West Hollywood - good coffee, and great people watching. The people at the next table were having what appeared to be a script development meeting, and the girl sitting at the table 2 away directly in my line of sight was whatever is beyond beautiful.
A drive through the hills of Beverly Hills and Bel Air - lots of amazing modernist architecture (and etc) and huge mansions, most of which are hidden behind hedges and fences so all that can be seen is glimpses and gates. A very wind-y drive along Mulholland Drive and we somehow ended up in Sherman Oaks thanks to M's directions. After finding our way out of the Valley, we drove back up Sunset and are now back at the hotel relaxing.

Tonight, dinner with M's friend Tanya who lives in LA. Tomorrow, M's cousin's wedding somewhere in the wilds of Burbank.

No pressure, but if you're interested in further instalments check them out at www.samizdat7.blogspot.com - i won't be sending further group emails.