I had long planned to pay a visit at a local exhibit that just opened (I got an invitation through their mailing list), although Petr is not at all interested. It's about a new concept of prefab house built on the concept of sustainable, green living, eco-friendliness, optimization and reuse of natural resources. Ever since I read the article in Dwell magazine, I fell in love with this particular model and I decided that this is exactly how I want my house to look like. Now I need to find a strategy to sell this concept to my architecturally conservative husband (for those interested: www.livinghomes.us).
After the exhibit, we drive to Beverly Hills and park the Vespa on Rodeo Drive. Here's where the V.I.P. shop till they drop: Bulgari, Ferragamo, Gucci, Prada, Armani, Versace, Ferrari... they are all one next to the other. They are decorating the streets with Christmas lights and festoons (in this heat, I have a hard time believing that Christmas is just one month away). Polystyrene snow, nutcrackers, tin soldiers, Christmas trees and lights are going up everywhere. I only buy a gelato: a kid's cup for $5. It better be good. We notice that street lamps here are not the usual kind, they are real crystal chandeliers mounted under a plexiglass dome to protect them from breaking. Oh well! We pick up the Vespa within 1 hour (the first hour is free and we like the idea of saving our pennies in this posh area) and drive into Hollywood. Nothing much has changed here since we left it. This time though we get to Mulholland Drive and see the city from above. It's worth it. The road offers views to the east (mountains) and to the west (ocean) with many outlooks for stopping. We meet two Italians who are driving through California. They think they will be able to cover San Francisco, Lassen, Reno, Lake Tahoe and possibly Las Vegas in the next 10 days. Good luck to them!
We then detour down to Santa Monica through Bel-Air and a really beautiful residential area called Royal Hills. We liked this a lot.
Before getting to the campground, we buy a takeout pizza and we gobble it up as soon as we are back. Aside from my gelato and a shared bottle of water, we had nothing to eat all day. Today was definitely a payback from the disappointments of the last few days.
A building in Beverly Hills with a Christmas tree being decorated in front.
Rolex building, the palms cast reflections in the glass panels.
Around Rodeo Drive.
Spago - George Clooney's favorite restaurant. I waited and waited, but he stood me up.
Rodeo Drive.
Detail of the "street lamps".
A Ferrari in an awful yellow color in the foreground. Behind, TrueGreen Chemlawn, the same landscaping company we use at home to treat our grass. We are V.I.P.s as well after all :-)
Mix and match architecture.
Laura eating gelato.
A historic building.
Another one.
Hand prints by famous musicians in front of Guitar Center.
The Green Hulk. You should have seen the look on this guy's face. Was he said because his work shift was over or because of the type of job he has?
Hollywood sign.
Downtown Los Angeles in a smog cloud.
Panorama of LA.
Vista towards Burbank, home of many TV networks, Disney Channel, Universal studios and others.
A house in Royal Hills.