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.