After sleeping in till 11 am, the boyfriend and I decided to have a relaxed, touristy day in the City of Angels. We took the car to one of the most touristic places in the United States: the Walk of Fame. Personally, I’m not really into the touristic way of exploring a city, but when in Los Angeles, one should definitely check out the Walk of Fame.
The first names of the street (it’s soooo long) didn’t say anything to me but the more you walk towards the commercial stores part, the more names you’ll recognise. Honestly, it wasn’t that interesting or whatever, but it was cool to see it for once. There weren’t many tourists around but that’ll come next week after Memorial Day. That’s when the big crowd is free from school and everything.
We had a nice lunch with a view over the famous Hollywood sign and took off to Beverly Hills after. There we checked out some stores and had a stroll through the streets of district 90210. The streets are very clean, people are dressed to impress (everywhere in LA really) and massive plastic surgery failures occur every 100 steps you take. From way too full-of-botox-injected lips to Michael Jackson kind of nose jobs. It’s really funny to see and hideous at the same time. The houses are gigantic, as well as the extremely tall palmtrees. I wonder how much an average villa in this neighbourhood is..
I was craving ice cream and the first ice cream shop we found was one of the best I’ve ever been to. I’m a real ice cream and milkshake addict so this was quite the experience. The place is called Ice Cream Lab and they make the flavour of ice cream or shake you want while you’re waiting. Pretty cool and one of the nicest things you’ll every taste. Prices go from $5 and it’s definitely worth it to take a big cup (= more expensive) instead of a small one.
People in LA have their own way of driving cars. They give priority to every pedestrian, but make their own rules for driving on the road. They drive fast, cut you off if you’re a too slow driver, they stop their cars in the middle of the intersection if they missed an exit, but driving around LA is the best. It feels so liberating. Don’t push the pedal too hard though, because there are transparant speed bumps everywhere on the smaller street (not the avenues).
After taking a brief break in our Melrose Ave guest house, we drove to the Santa Monica Pier where we paid $12 for parking. Insane. It was after 9 pm already so every activity on the pier – the ferris wheel for example – was closed or closing. A bit of a waste of money but the beach was all worth it. The sand felt so nice and so different from the Miami sand. Beautiful.
I looked up a trendy restaurant on Santa Monica Boulevard and after being seated at the bar for 20 minutes, we finally got placed at our table. The restaurant is called Tar & Roses and it’s a fairly new LA restaurant. The crowd is young (25 – 35) , lively and good looking. The service was outstanding. We had a very friendly waiter who said “how were the first couple of bites?”, every time he served out a new course.
We had a bruschetta-cheese-charcuterie platter that was one of the most surprising food starters I’ve ever had, followed by a ricotta-gnocchi with asparagus. Delicious! The boyfriend had a lamb with chutney. Dessert was interesting. We had bruschetta with roasted strawberries and ice cream, and a toffee pudding with whipped cream. Melts in your mouth!! Two of the tastiest desserts you’ll ever try!
The cool thing about their menu is that you can combine some small veggie-cheese-charcuterie starters for a reasonable price of 3 for $14 and 5 for $20. The menu doesn’t have normal sized starters or main courses, but it’s divided in small and bigger plates, and veggies and snacks. Their combination of food is exceptional and the price is really good too. If you don’t want to spend too much, there’s plenty of cheaper priced plates, as well as for more expensive plates. Prices for desserts range from 8 to 11 bucks. The food is from local farmers and it’s organic.
Now back in the guest house, ready to go to sleep. Tomorrow I’m gonna add some pictures of today!
Orange Revelry 