Cabeza De Vaca Trails: Los Angeles

The drive into LA was not nearly as bad as what we had expected. We had a hotel near the Staples center to be near the action and right downtown. We also wanted to be close to Joachim, a friend from France, in order to meet up with him. He was at USC so we were not too far from the campus. The first night we got there we hung out at the hotel for a while before venturing out into the madness that is LA. We walked through a mainly Hispanic neighborhood trying to find the subway station, that we later found out was called the red line – and not the metro as it is called in France! The metro is actually a bus line…which was very confusing at first! So we didn’t find the closest subway entrance and ended up walking all the way to the downtown financial district which was unbelievably HUGE and lively. We tried going to the tourist office but they had just closed…so far LA has been a rough start!

Finally, we decided to sit at the California Pizza Kitchen to have a drink while we were waiting for Joachim.

We had planned on going to Chinatown with Joachim so we sat and caught up over a few beers before catching the red line. Chinatown was pretty cool but it was getting late so there wasn’t really a crowd. We were pleasantly surprised to see that our restaurant was pretty full, the reviews online were very good. The food was excellent but the service was too fast, they kinda through everything at us at once since they were closing soon. And then they refused us a sake! Not cool… But we had a fun time and our fortunes were promising.

The next day we were somewhat overwhelmed with everything there was to see and do in the city…so we decided to go to the beach instead. We ended up at Santa Monica beach, pretty well known and has a lot of cool shops and restaurants in the area. The ocean water was perfect! Just cool enough on the hot day but not too cold where it was hard to get in. And the waves were awesome to body surf! We had a great time even if Elisabeth was somewhat intimidated by the waves. We spent the whole afternoon just swimming, relaxing on the beach, and building sand castles. Then we went to the nearby pier to check out their attractions. There were lots of street performers, games, and rides for the kids. We hung out here for a bit before searching out the perfect place to have dinner.

Once leaving the pier we found this amazing Italian restaurant called ‘Il Fornaio’ that announced their happy hour until 6:30 with $5 starters, pizzas, and drinks. Well this was too good to pass up so we headed in. We had a few beers, a few glasses of wine, 3 starters including a carpaccio, fried calamari, and a flatbread with goat cheese and tomatoes. All this followed by an amazing pizza with the freshest ingredients piled high on top. All this for like $50! It was just awesome!

Our awesome bar tender!

Antoine matches the color of his brand new Lamborghini!

We headed back to the hotel from here and Antoine headed out to have a drink with Joachim. Friday was our day to go to Universal Studios. Joachim ended up crashing at our hotel so we could get an early start to Universal Studios the next day. We had an amazing time and Elisabeth was able to do almost all of the attractions except the Jurassic Park and the Mummy. The studio tour was very cool, we saw where they filmed tons of well-known movies and Desperate Housewives! And the part with King Kong was very awesome!! Even if it kinda freaked Elisabeth out a little. She was very brave though and even did the Simpson’s crazy virtual rollercoaster! They have a cool child switch system where one parent can wait with the child while the other rides the ride and switch without having to wait in line again. So Antoine got to ride Jurassic Park and the Mummy ride twice! I was not at all expecting the death defying drop in Jurassic Park or the part where you get soaked at the end. We also saw the Waterworld show and sat in the splash zone. The stuntmen were unbelievable, catching themselves on fire and jumping off the equivalent of a three building into the tiny pool of water below. It was very impressive! Then of course we can’t forget the House of Horrors where Antoine and Joachim came running out screaming like girls because they were being chased by a tiny Chucky. After this we headed up to Hollywood. The buildings, people, and vibe was bigger than life! There were people dressed up like celebrities and a wide array of crazy shops and awesome restaurants. We ended up at the Hard Rock Café which was hosting a band from Quebec that night.