Another City of Lights

Ah...LA. There's nothing like that place in the world, and all things considered I guess that's a good thing. I insisted we stopped here despite everyone and their donkey advising us against it as I felt any impression Marja would get of California or, indeed, the UsA would be incomplete without experiencing LA.

We had spent the night in Palmdale, CA, a very leisurely prosperous town just an hour's drive from LA, and made our way into The Pride of Southern California in the early afternoon. From a previous visit I knew where to park strategically to partake in the one thing I feel everybody should do at least once: walk Hollywood Boulevard. The weather was nice, the 26C was giving us a breather from the 35C+ temperatures we've been having since setting down in the country, and the Boulevard was as expected: slightly run-down, lots of tourists and more or less the same trinkets and t-shirts sold in dozens of shops. Still, seeing the stars in the pavement is always nice, most of the celebrety impersonators were at least trying their best and it proved to be an enjoyable walk. The only activity we did was walk around Ripley's Believe it or Not museum which was certainly worth the time invested.

We took the US-101 out as we were planning to take the coastal route to San Fransisco and as luck would have it we got a first-hand experience of the thing that LA is perhaps most known for: Confusing freeway exits, overabundance of traffic and a traffic jam or two. If they have traffic like that at 5pm on a Sunday I really, really don't want to be in a car there on a weekday.

We stopped for dinner at Santa Barbara, I always wondered what that place would be like and as it bears the name of one of my dear sisters we figured it would do as well as any place for a stop. Exactly the type of people you see in Amsterdam on the PC Hooftstraat were present there: Slightly too loud in dress and manners, making their way smugly past pompous buildings and overpriced restaurants. That said, we had a decent enough meal there though did not feel compelled to linger or, for that matter, ever return there.

We stopped for the night at a Motel 6 in Buellton, CA, a small community serving as a haven for fastfood chains, motel chains and gas stations.