I'm starting to agree with that last statement. It's been nothing but beautiful here with mid day temperatures lingering in the 70s. It gets kind of cold at night but cold here is Spring or early fall in Seattle so I'm not complaining. So far I've run into only incredibly friendly, kind people. Strangers are quick to smile and strike up conversation. There is an amazing coffeehouse here called "Back to the Grind" that seems to be in the building of an old saloon, with lots of old-fashioned charm, combined with a very hip, modern vibe that I've fallen in LOVE with. And for those who know me well enough you know that if there is a good place to drink coffee, I am happy. So the last few days I've been perfectly content drinking coffee, hanging with Will (who also loves coffee as much as I) and enjoying the beautiful sunshine and the historic downtown.
Will works during the day so the first few days we only got to hang out at night. These nights mostly include making and eating lots of veggie packed vegan food and then heading out to the bar next to the coffeehouse that has a bit of a regular crowd and great music. There are screens showing music videos in the back and I've become totally mesmerized by the modern art of music video making. It's like heroin for your eyes! Wednesday was 80's night, showcasing the era of psychodelic, pop, surrealist videos, so that was doubly entertaining. Met, talked and danced with some very nice locals, and had a great time.
Friday I headed out on my own downtown and toured the historic Mission Inn, Riverside's largest attraction. Built in the 1890's and voted the top historic inn in the country by some big shot hotel association, it is a sight to be seen. Both Richard Nixon and Reagan were married there and it has been visited by around 15 presidents, starting with William McKinley. The building is enormous, covering a whole city block and looks like a castle, inside and out. I felt like I was in Europe already touring around it! Check out some photos to see the Spanish Mission revival style architecture yourself :
That night Will, I and a friend of his walked around the local man-made lake until being chased off by geese. Literally! They wouldn't stop following, quaking and hissing at us until we left the park borders. It was disturbing. See Will below confronting the feathered bully tag team, then quickly backing down after seeing one rear it's head down (you can see in the 1st photo) and emit a terrible, evil warning noise. I've always heard geese were mean but this was beyond what I ever imagined. This pair had an agenda.
Saturday we headed out to LA to see the sights.
Sadly no celebrity sightings this time, though at one point I thought I saw Joan Rivers. Then I quickly realized it was just a woman with a similar amount of plastic surgery.
There we headed to Gallery Row a section of the art district. I quickly learned that LA has a bizarre amount of districts in it's downtown as I passed through the old bank district, the fashion district and the toy district in a matter of a few blocks. The city seems to have attempted to organize, compartmentlizing all its things but has since lost control and now the building layout is equivalent to a bunch of underwear being in the sock drawer and the underwear drawer now being devoted to office products. But still most of the socks are in the original drawer because you haven't got new socks in years.
Below are from an art exhibit entitled 1000 teddy bears, and sure enough hung on the walls were all of 1000 paintings of teddy bears. The affect was beautiful, hilarious and mildly creepy. It's like you entered a foreign world with the cutest native critters imaginable but their all staring at you behind various sized windows wondering "what is thing that's entered our world and what should we do with it?"
As we wandered we passed through a row of Mexican markets selling all sorts of cheap, made-in-china goods. Felt completely like we were in Mexico as no one was speaking English and the scenery was quite similar (so says Will). Wikitravel fact I found : Los Angeles has the third largest Mexican population in the world behind Mexico City and Guadalajara.
Art gallery in an old warehouse/factory that I thought was pretty cool. Notice the donkey painting. There were a lot of those.
We also ran into quite a few graphiti shops and some really impressive graphiti art, near which we found an artfully modern Vietnamese restaurant that looked like it was designed by Ikea. There we ate delicious, very california chic-food, then headed on over to the beach in Santa Monica where we waded along the shore, picked up rocks and watched the sunset. You can see it in all it's glorious stages below.
Will having deep, deep, serene beach thoughts.
Making our mark on the sand.
The Santa Monica Pier and all it's amusements.
Proof I was there with sunset all over my face.
Like something from a record album cover in the 70s.
Under the boardwalk...
On our way back we stopped by the LACMU (LA County Art Museum) and saw some amazing modern art. They had a huge pop art exhibit going on with tons of Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons and Roy Lichtenstein pieces, along with many famous others. So great! I'm a huge Jeff Koons fan now. If you don't know who he is look him up, or search for "Michael Jackson with Monkey Bubbles." It was just an amazing museum, but they closed an hour after we got there so we couldn't see half as much as we wanted to.
Lampost forest outside the LACMU.
Then we finished up the night with delicious Ethiopian food in the labeled Ethiopian district and I discovered the joys of honey wine. So good!
Sunday we mostly hung out, walked around a bookstore, shopped at the local Mexican grocery store that was blow-my-mind cheap and went to a Food not Bombs picinic. Food not Bombs is a unofficial organization of mostly young people that gets together to eat good, healthy, mostly vegan food in the park and feed whoever wants it. I guess there are little groups in a lot of cities that do this and their goal is to feed those who need it and create a sense of community without involving the government. It was great food and even better people.
After, we climbed up one of the local foothill mountains where there was a cross and watch tower at the top along with an amazing view of the city. Unfortunately I did not bring my camera, so there are no photos of that. As we walked back down we saw the sun go down over the city and it was amazing.
Apparently I came at the right time of the year. It rained before I got here so there is green everywhere and such a diversity of plants. Most times of the year I am told Riverside is a brown and desolate place. Not much to see in terms of scenery. But As of now with the weather and the new growth landscape, I can't imagine anything better. I feel very lucky to be here.
Now I just have to prep for the cold dreary weather of Scotland, where I will be tommorow!
There are snow warnings so I'm a little worried about flight delays.
Just keeping my fingers crossed and hoping for the best.
Or the second best which would be a long layover in Dublin.
That might not be so bad :)
But now I half to go soak up some sun before it's all gone.
More later!
- Kim
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