FRIDAY
I have a couple of hours to fill in before the shuttle bus to the airport picks me up. After another strenuous day of sightseeing, I just wanted to come back to the Mayfair Hotel and sit.
I caught a bus out to LACMA and then realised they didn't open until midday. So I walked up to the Farmers Market (about a mile) for breakfast. Like most markets it has stalls selling fresh produce and meat. Pete would have liked the shop that sold nothing but chilli sauce: top rating was 10++. I thought about bringing some home but worried it might spill.
Across the road was Ross, a shop we girls discovered in Honolulu that sells last season fashions at discount prices. I bought 5 outfits for $80, and could have bought more but I'm running out of space in the suitcases.
I caught a bus back to LACMA and walked along the road to the La Brea Tar Pits, which are next to LACMA. There's a separate museum explaining the Tar Pits and exhibiting lots of the bones they've recovered: did you know there were camels in North America about 20,000 years ago? Also wolves, sloths, cougars, mammoths ... very interesting. They have a "fishbowl" where you can watch the scientists and volunteers cleaning and sorting bones.
Back to LACMA, which has several different buildings in the complex. I walked through the contemporary art building where they had some Andy Warhol (which I like) and a lot of other stuff that did nothing for me. On the ground floor thee's a sculpture called Band which is huges sheets of metal, rust coloured, curving around to make shapes you can walk through.
I had lunch (with wine) at one of the cafes there and then caught another bus back to downtown to visit LA Central Library, which is architecturally interesting, with lots of murals painted on the walls and ceilings. Did a walk-through self-guided tour and decided I'd had enough.
Pete suggested buying a Kindle (electronic book reader) but I couldn't find anywhere in downtown LA that sells computers or anything like it, so I've given up. I think we can buy them on line at Amazon.
Okay, now I'm done. See you in Sydney!
Friday, November 13, 2009
Homeward Bound
THURSDAY
I caught another bus out to Century City to track down Pete's MBTs. When I got off the bus there were gum trees growing next to the footpath. I crushed a leaf (it's still in my pocket) and the smell of home brought tears to my eyes. It's definitely time to go home.
I was at the shops bright and early at 9 am, and then discovered that nothing much opens until 10 am and the shoe shop didn't open until 10:30 am. I filled in the time window shopping, found a shop called The Container Company that's a bit like Howard's Storage World, and then bought some books at Borders. The Walking Company had the shoes Pete wanted so that was alll right, and I bought some MBT sandals for myself and wore them (which was a mistake, because I had a blister by the end of another day's hard walking).
I caught another bus back to Downtown LA (I'm getting good at this) and walked down to the FIDM Museum(FIDM is Fashion Industry Design and Marketing) in the fashion district. They had a wonderful exhibit about Betsy Bloomingdale and Haute Couture. Betsy married into the Bloomingdale family (Bloomingdale department stores) and her husband started Diners Club credit cards, so they weren't poor. From the sixties to the nineties Betsy bought haute couture in Paris and she donated a lot of her clothes and accompanying sketches to the Museum. The exhibit included video interviews with Betsy and some of the designers. It was fascinating to see the designs and the detailing of the dresses.
FIDM also has a scholarship shop with discounted clothes but I didn't find anything I wanted to buy. I wandered around the Fashion District for a couple of hours (poor feet) - there are blocks and blocks of clothing shops, mostly cheap imports (I've never seen so many stretch jeans with diamante pockets) but with some designer shops - usuallly just wholesale, not retail - as well. Big bottoms must be fashionable, because all the jeans were displayed on big bottomed dummies and I even saw some panties with foam inserts to make your bottom bigger. Not that I need that!
There's also a Jewellery District, which I skirted yesterday - blocks and blocks of jewellery shops. These districts remind me a bit of the cities Pete and I visited in Vietnam and Thailand, which also have specialised shopping districts.
After all that I needed to sit down and rest, so I ended up at the new cinema complex that has just opened near the Convention Centre. There were lots of people headed for the Nokia Stadium to see a basketball match (I think) but I saw Scrooge in 3D. It was okay, apart from chattering children at the back of the theatre. I notice a lot of movies have sequences in them that seem to have been included so they can become a computer game or a Disneyland adventure ride at some future date. This one certainly did, and the graphics were great (especially in 3D).
I had grilled salmon at the Country Kitchen diner ("continously in operation 24 hours a day since 1926"), sitting up at the counter like they do in diners in the movies - that was fun. And I caught a taxi the rest of the way home, and was asleep by 9 pm.
This morning I'm packed and ready to check out. I'm catching another bus west of Downtown to eat at the Farmers Market and then visit LACMA "one of the finest art museums in the nation" and the La Brea tar pits, and then come back to the hotel to pick up my luggage and catch a shuttle bus to the airport. So this will be my last post until I get home. Pete's picking me up from the airport on Sunday morning.
I caught another bus out to Century City to track down Pete's MBTs. When I got off the bus there were gum trees growing next to the footpath. I crushed a leaf (it's still in my pocket) and the smell of home brought tears to my eyes. It's definitely time to go home.
I was at the shops bright and early at 9 am, and then discovered that nothing much opens until 10 am and the shoe shop didn't open until 10:30 am. I filled in the time window shopping, found a shop called The Container Company that's a bit like Howard's Storage World, and then bought some books at Borders. The Walking Company had the shoes Pete wanted so that was alll right, and I bought some MBT sandals for myself and wore them (which was a mistake, because I had a blister by the end of another day's hard walking).
I caught another bus back to Downtown LA (I'm getting good at this) and walked down to the FIDM Museum(FIDM is Fashion Industry Design and Marketing) in the fashion district. They had a wonderful exhibit about Betsy Bloomingdale and Haute Couture. Betsy married into the Bloomingdale family (Bloomingdale department stores) and her husband started Diners Club credit cards, so they weren't poor. From the sixties to the nineties Betsy bought haute couture in Paris and she donated a lot of her clothes and accompanying sketches to the Museum. The exhibit included video interviews with Betsy and some of the designers. It was fascinating to see the designs and the detailing of the dresses.
FIDM also has a scholarship shop with discounted clothes but I didn't find anything I wanted to buy. I wandered around the Fashion District for a couple of hours (poor feet) - there are blocks and blocks of clothing shops, mostly cheap imports (I've never seen so many stretch jeans with diamante pockets) but with some designer shops - usuallly just wholesale, not retail - as well. Big bottoms must be fashionable, because all the jeans were displayed on big bottomed dummies and I even saw some panties with foam inserts to make your bottom bigger. Not that I need that!
There's also a Jewellery District, which I skirted yesterday - blocks and blocks of jewellery shops. These districts remind me a bit of the cities Pete and I visited in Vietnam and Thailand, which also have specialised shopping districts.
After all that I needed to sit down and rest, so I ended up at the new cinema complex that has just opened near the Convention Centre. There were lots of people headed for the Nokia Stadium to see a basketball match (I think) but I saw Scrooge in 3D. It was okay, apart from chattering children at the back of the theatre. I notice a lot of movies have sequences in them that seem to have been included so they can become a computer game or a Disneyland adventure ride at some future date. This one certainly did, and the graphics were great (especially in 3D).
I had grilled salmon at the Country Kitchen diner ("continously in operation 24 hours a day since 1926"), sitting up at the counter like they do in diners in the movies - that was fun. And I caught a taxi the rest of the way home, and was asleep by 9 pm.
This morning I'm packed and ready to check out. I'm catching another bus west of Downtown to eat at the Farmers Market and then visit LACMA "one of the finest art museums in the nation" and the La Brea tar pits, and then come back to the hotel to pick up my luggage and catch a shuttle bus to the airport. So this will be my last post until I get home. Pete's picking me up from the airport on Sunday morning.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Looking south west from Santa Monica
WEDNESDAY
I decided to catch a bus to Santa Monica today, as I thought it would involve less walking and give my aching feet a rest. The Visitor Centre instructions worked again for which bus to catch - all the way down Wiltshire Boulevarde, for an hour and a quarter. The smog here is really bad, even the surrounding hills are obscured.
On my to do list for Santa Monica was doing a tour on a Segway. The shop wasn't open when I arrived so I walked out along Santa Monica pier (complete with amusement park). There were a mob of photographers and a very small crowd surrounding someone making a speech about Santa Monica being the end of Route 66, and unveiling a plaque.
Continuing to the end of the pier, I looked vaguely in the direction of Australia and felt homesick. I fly home on Friday, and am looking forward to being back with Pete again. The pier had its 100th birthday this year and there was an interesting display about the history.
Back to the Segway shop. In case you don't know, Segways are a two-wheeled platform that's battery driven and steered by shifting your weight. I've always wanted to try one, but in Sydney apparently they're illegal to be used on the footpath (motorised vehicle) or the road (not registered). They have a maximum speed of about 12 miles an hour.
In Santa Monica you can ride them on the bike paths and the beach and the footpath (but in Venice, next door, not on the footpath). The shop wasn't running guided tours today but I was able to rent one for two hours ($75). A couple of German guys who are in the television industry and over here for the WMA (whatever that is) turned up so we all got our training together. The Segway is amazingly easy to learn to use, I love it.
After a few turns around the shop floor we were out on the footpath, down a steep roadway to the beach, and then off on our own. I wasn't game to go on the sand so just cruised the bike path all the way up Santa Monica Beach and down past Muscle Beach to Little Venice. It's a great way to sight see, and after a while I could relax and admire all the beach houses without thinking too hard about steering. There were lots and lots of people out exercising: walking, biking, roller-blading, skate boarding, walking the dogs, playing beach volley-ball. A bit too cold for swimming or surfing though, and after 2 hours I was cold too and ready to take it back to the shop. Pete, they're only $5,000 US, can I have one for Christmas?
I walked up to Third Avenue Promenade - four blocks of shopping with the street closed off - and found I'd missed the farmers market that's there on Wednesday and Saturday, they were just packing up. There were some gorgeous dinosaur sculptures in the promenade, with the bodies created by growing ivy over a wire frame. The shops were interesting, and I dropped into Old Navy to buy a $10 shirt as I was still cold. And I think I got chatted up by a Mexican cowboy, but it was hard to tell as he didn't speak English.
The Cirque du Soleil was performing at 8 pm on the beach near the pier, and I thought about sticking around but decided to catch a bus along Santa Monica Boulevarde and look for shoes for Pete. (He's given me the addresses of five shoe stores in LA that sell MBTs, hoping I could buy them for him at a cheaper price.)
Well, Santa Monica Boulevarde is a very very long street. I was looking for 12,050 Santa Monica Bouldevarde and couldn't find it, despite getting off the bus twice and walking for what seemed liked miles, so I eventually gave up and caught the bus again back to downtown LA via Sunset Boulevarde. Poor feet! Riding the bus is interesting, we went through some very rich looking areas (Beverley Hills, Los Angeles Country Club) and some very poor looking areas. Most of the people who catch the bus look like workers, and most announcements and notices in LA are bilingual. I hadn't realised what a strong Mexican influence there was in LA. Nearly all the Americans I've met have been friendly and helpful, but in LA I've noticed this even more. A young guy with a small daughter got on the bus and he looked like he was stoned; two elderly Mexican ladies noticed and were so concerned they mentioned it to the bus driver; and the driver asked the guy very nicely as he was getting off the bus whether he was okay, and to take care.
I thought I'd like to go to a show last night, and there were tourist signs in the street saying "theatre district this way", so I wandered around for a while looking, but concluded that the theatres were there historically but are now shops and bars. I stopped by a Thai restaurant that had only just opened (three days ago) and had a very nice vegetable curry and two beers (lovely to have vegetables again!). And was so buggered by the time I got back to the hotel that I went to bed, channel surfed unsuccessfully, and was asleep by 8 pm!
Tomorrow: shopping for Pete's shoes, and museums and art galleries.
I decided to catch a bus to Santa Monica today, as I thought it would involve less walking and give my aching feet a rest. The Visitor Centre instructions worked again for which bus to catch - all the way down Wiltshire Boulevarde, for an hour and a quarter. The smog here is really bad, even the surrounding hills are obscured.
On my to do list for Santa Monica was doing a tour on a Segway. The shop wasn't open when I arrived so I walked out along Santa Monica pier (complete with amusement park). There were a mob of photographers and a very small crowd surrounding someone making a speech about Santa Monica being the end of Route 66, and unveiling a plaque.
Continuing to the end of the pier, I looked vaguely in the direction of Australia and felt homesick. I fly home on Friday, and am looking forward to being back with Pete again. The pier had its 100th birthday this year and there was an interesting display about the history.
Back to the Segway shop. In case you don't know, Segways are a two-wheeled platform that's battery driven and steered by shifting your weight. I've always wanted to try one, but in Sydney apparently they're illegal to be used on the footpath (motorised vehicle) or the road (not registered). They have a maximum speed of about 12 miles an hour.
In Santa Monica you can ride them on the bike paths and the beach and the footpath (but in Venice, next door, not on the footpath). The shop wasn't running guided tours today but I was able to rent one for two hours ($75). A couple of German guys who are in the television industry and over here for the WMA (whatever that is) turned up so we all got our training together. The Segway is amazingly easy to learn to use, I love it.
After a few turns around the shop floor we were out on the footpath, down a steep roadway to the beach, and then off on our own. I wasn't game to go on the sand so just cruised the bike path all the way up Santa Monica Beach and down past Muscle Beach to Little Venice. It's a great way to sight see, and after a while I could relax and admire all the beach houses without thinking too hard about steering. There were lots and lots of people out exercising: walking, biking, roller-blading, skate boarding, walking the dogs, playing beach volley-ball. A bit too cold for swimming or surfing though, and after 2 hours I was cold too and ready to take it back to the shop. Pete, they're only $5,000 US, can I have one for Christmas?
I walked up to Third Avenue Promenade - four blocks of shopping with the street closed off - and found I'd missed the farmers market that's there on Wednesday and Saturday, they were just packing up. There were some gorgeous dinosaur sculptures in the promenade, with the bodies created by growing ivy over a wire frame. The shops were interesting, and I dropped into Old Navy to buy a $10 shirt as I was still cold. And I think I got chatted up by a Mexican cowboy, but it was hard to tell as he didn't speak English.
The Cirque du Soleil was performing at 8 pm on the beach near the pier, and I thought about sticking around but decided to catch a bus along Santa Monica Boulevarde and look for shoes for Pete. (He's given me the addresses of five shoe stores in LA that sell MBTs, hoping I could buy them for him at a cheaper price.)
Well, Santa Monica Boulevarde is a very very long street. I was looking for 12,050 Santa Monica Bouldevarde and couldn't find it, despite getting off the bus twice and walking for what seemed liked miles, so I eventually gave up and caught the bus again back to downtown LA via Sunset Boulevarde. Poor feet! Riding the bus is interesting, we went through some very rich looking areas (Beverley Hills, Los Angeles Country Club) and some very poor looking areas. Most of the people who catch the bus look like workers, and most announcements and notices in LA are bilingual. I hadn't realised what a strong Mexican influence there was in LA. Nearly all the Americans I've met have been friendly and helpful, but in LA I've noticed this even more. A young guy with a small daughter got on the bus and he looked like he was stoned; two elderly Mexican ladies noticed and were so concerned they mentioned it to the bus driver; and the driver asked the guy very nicely as he was getting off the bus whether he was okay, and to take care.
I thought I'd like to go to a show last night, and there were tourist signs in the street saying "theatre district this way", so I wandered around for a while looking, but concluded that the theatres were there historically but are now shops and bars. I stopped by a Thai restaurant that had only just opened (three days ago) and had a very nice vegetable curry and two beers (lovely to have vegetables again!). And was so buggered by the time I got back to the hotel that I went to bed, channel surfed unsuccessfully, and was asleep by 8 pm!
Tomorrow: shopping for Pete's shoes, and museums and art galleries.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Disneyland
TUESDAY
Today I caught a bus to Disneyland. It only cost $1.25, but it took an hour and a half (but a taxi costs $75 so I think I did okay). The Visitor Centre's handy guide to how to catch public transport to tourist attractions is coming in very handy.
Entry to Disneyland was $72 for just a one day, one park ticket. I thought that would do me. It was exciting to walk through the entrance to Disneyland and down Main Street. I went on lots of rides (can't remember them all now). The scariest was a Space Ride - lots of very very fast twists and turns - but I didn't scream much. I did the Jungle River ride with the hippos rising up out of the water, just like the postcards, and took lots of photos. I had my photo taken with Mickey Mouse (which reminds me, I forgot to mention that yesterday I went to Madame Taussard's wax museum and had my photo taken with lots of other famous actors). I walked for miles and miles and miles - from 11 am to 5 pm and was exhausted by the end, but I reckon I saw everything I wanted to see (apart from a few attractions that were closed):
NEW ORLEANS - Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean
FRONTIERLAND - Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
CRITTER COUNTRY - Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
ADVENTURELAND - Indiana Jones Adventure, Jungle Cruise, Tarzan's Treehouse
TOONTOWN - Mickey's House, Disney Railroad
TOMORROWLAND - Honey, I Shrank the Audience*; Innoventions; Space Mountain; Star Tours
*I must say the 3D films were fun, particularly when they were combined with sprays of water and puffs of air to simulate touch as well as sight. It really felt as if there were mice running up my leg.
I caught the bus home again - another hour and a half trip, but at least this bus had television entertainment. Had dinner at Californian pizza restaurant, and walked home to the hotel, and discovered the internet computers in the lobby.
Tomorrow I'm going to have a less exciting day visiting museums and art galleries and doing a little light shopping.
Today I caught a bus to Disneyland. It only cost $1.25, but it took an hour and a half (but a taxi costs $75 so I think I did okay). The Visitor Centre's handy guide to how to catch public transport to tourist attractions is coming in very handy.
Entry to Disneyland was $72 for just a one day, one park ticket. I thought that would do me. It was exciting to walk through the entrance to Disneyland and down Main Street. I went on lots of rides (can't remember them all now). The scariest was a Space Ride - lots of very very fast twists and turns - but I didn't scream much. I did the Jungle River ride with the hippos rising up out of the water, just like the postcards, and took lots of photos. I had my photo taken with Mickey Mouse (which reminds me, I forgot to mention that yesterday I went to Madame Taussard's wax museum and had my photo taken with lots of other famous actors). I walked for miles and miles and miles - from 11 am to 5 pm and was exhausted by the end, but I reckon I saw everything I wanted to see (apart from a few attractions that were closed):
NEW ORLEANS - Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean
FRONTIERLAND - Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
CRITTER COUNTRY - Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
ADVENTURELAND - Indiana Jones Adventure, Jungle Cruise, Tarzan's Treehouse
TOONTOWN - Mickey's House, Disney Railroad
TOMORROWLAND - Honey, I Shrank the Audience*; Innoventions; Space Mountain; Star Tours
*I must say the 3D films were fun, particularly when they were combined with sprays of water and puffs of air to simulate touch as well as sight. It really felt as if there were mice running up my leg.
I caught the bus home again - another hour and a half trip, but at least this bus had television entertainment. Had dinner at Californian pizza restaurant, and walked home to the hotel, and discovered the internet computers in the lobby.
Tomorrow I'm going to have a less exciting day visiting museums and art galleries and doing a little light shopping.
Hollywood
MONDAY:
I bought a weekly pass for the Metro (train and bus) and caught the metro red line to Hollywood, with a bundle of tourist brochures and the metro map in my shoulder bag.
First stop was Graumann's Chinese Theatre: a movie theatre built around 1933 in Chinese style, with lots of original paintings on the walls. It's famous for the imprints of movie stars' hands and feet (and sometimes other appendages) in the concrete pavement outside. I did the official tour, which was fascinating, about the architecture and the history. It's still used occasionally for movie premieres, and the rest of the time it's a working cinema. I went back that night and watched The Fourth Kind, just to experience it; but the movie was lousy and I definitely don't recommend it - a part documentary/part recreation of someone's alleged experiences with alien abduction.
Next stop was Ripley's Believe It Or Not (because the Hollywood Museum next door was closed on Mondays). Ripleys was very entertaining for the oddities it contained. It included, interestingly, a portrait of Jesus created by writing the gospel according to John in very small print (remember that portrait I was extolling at the portrait exhibition in Louisville?)
Then I caught the metro to Universal Studios and took their official tour. That was also very interesting, and part of it was like a theme park ride. There were parts where we were told we had to be quiet because there was filming going on, and we did actually drive through the set for Desperate Housewives and see some activity (though as I've never watched the show I couldn't recognise any of the actors).
Then back to Hollywood Boulevarde for dinner and the movie. I had some time to kill and wandered around the shops for a bit. There was also a movie premiere across the street, of a movie called (I think) Old Dogs with Robin Williams. Lots of people and photographers were lined up along the street watching.
I caught the metro home after the movie (see above) with no hassles at all.
I bought a weekly pass for the Metro (train and bus) and caught the metro red line to Hollywood, with a bundle of tourist brochures and the metro map in my shoulder bag.
First stop was Graumann's Chinese Theatre: a movie theatre built around 1933 in Chinese style, with lots of original paintings on the walls. It's famous for the imprints of movie stars' hands and feet (and sometimes other appendages) in the concrete pavement outside. I did the official tour, which was fascinating, about the architecture and the history. It's still used occasionally for movie premieres, and the rest of the time it's a working cinema. I went back that night and watched The Fourth Kind, just to experience it; but the movie was lousy and I definitely don't recommend it - a part documentary/part recreation of someone's alleged experiences with alien abduction.
Next stop was Ripley's Believe It Or Not (because the Hollywood Museum next door was closed on Mondays). Ripleys was very entertaining for the oddities it contained. It included, interestingly, a portrait of Jesus created by writing the gospel according to John in very small print (remember that portrait I was extolling at the portrait exhibition in Louisville?)
Then I caught the metro to Universal Studios and took their official tour. That was also very interesting, and part of it was like a theme park ride. There were parts where we were told we had to be quiet because there was filming going on, and we did actually drive through the set for Desperate Housewives and see some activity (though as I've never watched the show I couldn't recognise any of the actors).
Then back to Hollywood Boulevarde for dinner and the movie. I had some time to kill and wandered around the shops for a bit. There was also a movie premiere across the street, of a movie called (I think) Old Dogs with Robin Williams. Lots of people and photographers were lined up along the street watching.
I caught the metro home after the movie (see above) with no hassles at all.
Eeeek!
SUNDAY:
I've been having problems with my beloved Asus eee pc on this trip - something to do with the authorisations for hidden files on the root directory, I think, which from what I read after Googling seems to be a bit of a bug that requires greater knowledge of Linux commands than I have. In desperation I decide to update my software, and now I've lost it completely. Maybe a complete reinstall? I need a computer repair shop that understands Linux.
Anyway, I'm behind with my blog again, and am updating this from the lobby of the Historic Mayfair where I'm staying in downtown Los Angeles.
Sunday was boring, and in retrospect I should have stayed with the Kiwi Express tour until Nashville and then caught a connecting flight to St Louis to pick up my flight to LA on Sunday night. What I actually did was hang about my hotel in St Louis (miles from anything interesting, unless I walked 1/2 an hour to the nearest shopping mall, which didn't open until 11 am so it was too late anyway), do my laundry, and watch crappy television.
I checked out at midday, caught the airport shuttle bus to St Louis, and then hung about there (reading) until my flight took off at 5:30 pm. I ran into two of the Kiwi ladies I'd been touring with at St Louis airport, on their way back to New Zealand via LA. Luckily the airport had a bookshop and I picked up a couple of vampire novels by Charmaine Harris.
It's a three hour flight to LA but there's a two hour time difference so I didn't get in too late. I took another airport shuttle (I'm getting good at this) to my hotel in downtown LA, the Historic Mayfair and had a late dinner at the hotel. It's very handy for transport, and quite attractive, but a little run down compared with the hotels I was staying in on tour. It's on 7th Avenue, and 5 minutes down the street there's a metro station and lots of buses. More about that in the next post.
I've been having problems with my beloved Asus eee pc on this trip - something to do with the authorisations for hidden files on the root directory, I think, which from what I read after Googling seems to be a bit of a bug that requires greater knowledge of Linux commands than I have. In desperation I decide to update my software, and now I've lost it completely. Maybe a complete reinstall? I need a computer repair shop that understands Linux.
Anyway, I'm behind with my blog again, and am updating this from the lobby of the Historic Mayfair where I'm staying in downtown Los Angeles.
Sunday was boring, and in retrospect I should have stayed with the Kiwi Express tour until Nashville and then caught a connecting flight to St Louis to pick up my flight to LA on Sunday night. What I actually did was hang about my hotel in St Louis (miles from anything interesting, unless I walked 1/2 an hour to the nearest shopping mall, which didn't open until 11 am so it was too late anyway), do my laundry, and watch crappy television.
I checked out at midday, caught the airport shuttle bus to St Louis, and then hung about there (reading) until my flight took off at 5:30 pm. I ran into two of the Kiwi ladies I'd been touring with at St Louis airport, on their way back to New Zealand via LA. Luckily the airport had a bookshop and I picked up a couple of vampire novels by Charmaine Harris.
It's a three hour flight to LA but there's a two hour time difference so I didn't get in too late. I took another airport shuttle (I'm getting good at this) to my hotel in downtown LA, the Historic Mayfair and had a late dinner at the hotel. It's very handy for transport, and quite attractive, but a little run down compared with the hotels I was staying in on tour. It's on 7th Avenue, and 5 minutes down the street there's a metro station and lots of buses. More about that in the next post.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
And so we bid a fond farewell ...
Louisville is where I part company with the Kiwi Express tour. Sue and I shared a room for the last time on Friday night, and this morning we finished packing up our surplus clothing in FedEx boxes and staggered several blocks to the local FedEx office. It turned out to be open for business, but not open for sending international parcels; for that, we had to go to the other FedEx office a taxi ride away. Our part of downtown St Louis was remarkably deserted, with no taxis to be seen, so we staggered another couple of blocks to the UPS office (once I'd found it hidden in the depths of a hotel) where a nice girl called Chelsea took half an hour to work out how to do international freight - something she'd never done before. My box weighed 21 lb 10 oz and cost over $200 to send home, but there was no way I was carrying it back to the hotel to repack into my two overflowing suitcases so it's now on it's way home without me.
Back at the hotel, the Kiwi Express buses were departing at 12 noon so I stayed to say goodbye and wave them off. I had a great time on the tour, it was very well organised, and we did a lot ... but it was lovely to be on my own again.
I had three hours before my taxi arrived at the hotel to take me to the airport, so I called in to the Visitor Centre. They recommended a walking tour down Main Street, taking in some museums and the Museum Hotel, and a film at the Kentucky Centre. The walking tour was interesting, with lots of historic buildings and different styles of architecture.
According to the guy in the Visitor Centre, the Museum Hotel is supposed to be rated the best hotel in America (I must look it up on Google). He says the urinals are amazing: the mirrors have the eyes of blind dart throwers that watch you (no, I'm not making this up). The hotel also has large red penguins above the entrance. On the outside wall there was an artwork that was a thousand paper emperor butterflies attached to the wall, with white plaster hands holding yellow carnations. Inside, above the reception desk, were four wooden figures, naked; and in the foyer and surrounding rooms there was an amazing exhibition of portraits. One of them was chipboard with black paint, and the paint had been partially etched away by a pattern of bullet holes leaving the outline of a face. Another portrait was composed of tiny writing, with different shades of grey achieved by different densities of writing - the guy next to me said it looked like Prince, and I had to admit I didn't know what Prince looked like.
I couldn't find the restrooms so can't report on the mirrors, damn it.
Further down the street I went to the Museum of Arts and Crafts. it was more shop than museum, with lots of works by local artists and craftworkers for sale; but they did have some very beautiful quilts on display from someone's collection, all with a water theme. I have never seen quilts like them - definitely art, not just craft. At the other end of the scale they also had an exhibition of folk art: very crudely carved and painted figures which didn't appeal to me at all. And there was an exhibition about the Day of the Dead, which I think is a Mexican festival where people create elaborate altars to commemorate the dead, with photos and decorations.
I walked up the Belvedere to view the Ohio River: wide, picturesque. Louisville started because there were rapids on the river and people had to get out of their boats and carry their goods around the rapids, according to the sign.
And then I found out where all the people were: there's a pedestrian mall on Fourth Street, with shops and restaurants. I bought more books at Borders (in anticipation of long waits at airports) and toothpaste at a pharmacy, then headed back to the hotel to catch my taxi to the Louisville airport. My taxi driver said: "Oh, you must be from New Zealand" - he knew there was a group on tour from New Zealand in town, and picked up the different accent. Small town!
South Western don't do seat allocations, you just get a number that determines what order you get on the plane and then pick your own seat. I paid a bit extra to go on early (and get a free glass of wine) and that worked fine. The plane had empty seats and it was a quick flight, just 45 minutes, so we got in to St Louis early.
Now I'm at the SpringHill Suites in Earth City, St Louis, 10 minutes from the airport, and looking forward to a quiet evening on my own. The rest of the tour should be arriving in Nashville about now, and settling into the Opryland Hotel.
Back at the hotel, the Kiwi Express buses were departing at 12 noon so I stayed to say goodbye and wave them off. I had a great time on the tour, it was very well organised, and we did a lot ... but it was lovely to be on my own again.
I had three hours before my taxi arrived at the hotel to take me to the airport, so I called in to the Visitor Centre. They recommended a walking tour down Main Street, taking in some museums and the Museum Hotel, and a film at the Kentucky Centre. The walking tour was interesting, with lots of historic buildings and different styles of architecture.
According to the guy in the Visitor Centre, the Museum Hotel is supposed to be rated the best hotel in America (I must look it up on Google). He says the urinals are amazing: the mirrors have the eyes of blind dart throwers that watch you (no, I'm not making this up). The hotel also has large red penguins above the entrance. On the outside wall there was an artwork that was a thousand paper emperor butterflies attached to the wall, with white plaster hands holding yellow carnations. Inside, above the reception desk, were four wooden figures, naked; and in the foyer and surrounding rooms there was an amazing exhibition of portraits. One of them was chipboard with black paint, and the paint had been partially etched away by a pattern of bullet holes leaving the outline of a face. Another portrait was composed of tiny writing, with different shades of grey achieved by different densities of writing - the guy next to me said it looked like Prince, and I had to admit I didn't know what Prince looked like.
I couldn't find the restrooms so can't report on the mirrors, damn it.
Further down the street I went to the Museum of Arts and Crafts. it was more shop than museum, with lots of works by local artists and craftworkers for sale; but they did have some very beautiful quilts on display from someone's collection, all with a water theme. I have never seen quilts like them - definitely art, not just craft. At the other end of the scale they also had an exhibition of folk art: very crudely carved and painted figures which didn't appeal to me at all. And there was an exhibition about the Day of the Dead, which I think is a Mexican festival where people create elaborate altars to commemorate the dead, with photos and decorations.
I walked up the Belvedere to view the Ohio River: wide, picturesque. Louisville started because there were rapids on the river and people had to get out of their boats and carry their goods around the rapids, according to the sign.
And then I found out where all the people were: there's a pedestrian mall on Fourth Street, with shops and restaurants. I bought more books at Borders (in anticipation of long waits at airports) and toothpaste at a pharmacy, then headed back to the hotel to catch my taxi to the Louisville airport. My taxi driver said: "Oh, you must be from New Zealand" - he knew there was a group on tour from New Zealand in town, and picked up the different accent. Small town!
South Western don't do seat allocations, you just get a number that determines what order you get on the plane and then pick your own seat. I paid a bit extra to go on early (and get a free glass of wine) and that worked fine. The plane had empty seats and it was a quick flight, just 45 minutes, so we got in to St Louis early.
Now I'm at the SpringHill Suites in Earth City, St Louis, 10 minutes from the airport, and looking forward to a quiet evening on my own. The rest of the tour should be arriving in Nashville about now, and settling into the Opryland Hotel.
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