LA vacay by day

So I am finally getting round to writing about my holiday to Los Angeles!  There is simply too much to talk about, so I am going to break it down into a few posts separated into our daytime adventures and our nighttime escapades.

Firstly, I have to say that despite visiting LA a couple of times, years ago, I was not left with a lasting impression.  On this trip, however, I pretty much fell in love with the city of Angels, and cannot wait to go back!

Coming from the bitterly cold weather of London (it snowed in London during our time in LA!) it was amazing being in the California sunshine.  Cue short-shorts and iced coffee galore!

Our apartment was very near to Dodger Stadium, which was an ideal location, as we were able to get everywhere very quickly.  Literally, every time we typed an address into the GPS we were 14 minutes away...although that isn't taking traffic into account...

Of all the sight-seeing we did, I will start with my favourite - The Getty Museum.  The architecture is amazing, and the grounds are so beautifully well-maintained, dotted with modern art sculptures and plants.  The Getty Centre is one of two locations for the J. Paul Getty Trust, and opened in Brentwood in 1997.  To get to the Centre, which is up on a hill overlooking LA, you take a little tram, which adds a fun element to the experience.

I kid you not, the hubs probably took around 230948203949502340298340923084 photos of the architecture, from every single angle!  He is very thorough about capturing snaps of places that we visit, I'll give him that...

Of course we did the usual touristy things, such as visiting the Hollywood Walk of Fame, where even though all the stars look the same, you cannot resist taking yet another picture, when it bears the name of someone that you like!

We also went and looked at all the celebrity hand prints and signatures on the forecourt of TCL (formerly Grauman's) Chinese Theatre.  It's amazing how tiny some of those hand prints are!

Give us half a chance, and we cannot resist goofing around with random sculptures of tv and movie characters...

We 'hiked' up to Griffith Observatory, and were probably the only people not wearing hiking gear.  We decided that the only difference between hiking and walking is the outfits that people wear for these activities - so really, we walked up to Griffith Observatory.

We also walked up to the Hollywood Sign, and someone commented that we weren't dressed for hiking - to this we replied 'that is because we are not hiking - we are walking!' 

The two most uttered words on our stay in Los Angeles were probably 'Art Deco' as there is just so much gorgeous 1920s-30s architecture in the city.  From the plethora of theatres and hotels, to City Hall, Union Station and the Bradbury Building - LA is a feast for the eyes to anyone who appreciates art deco design.

It wasn't just the Getty Museum and the art deco buildings that loverboy took a billion, trillion photos of - it was all the other interesting architecture too.  Such as the wonderful Walt Disney Concert Hall, which is truly an impressive sight to behold.

As well as recognising places and buildings from so many movies, there are constant reminders that you are in the historical centre of film-making and celebrities....

The only celebrity I saw (in person) was Louis Theroux, who we walked past on the way up to the Griffith Observatory.  Funny that I went all the way to Los Angeles to spot a tv journalist from London!

Well I think that's more than enough to bombard you with in one post....stay tuned for the next installment of our LA adventure....

Banking on a fun weekend!

Well it's back to business as usual, following a lovely sunny bank holiday weekend.  It looks as if the weather is getting back to business too, replacing the glorious sunshine with clouds and rain....

We started the weekend off right with an evening packed full of dances on Saturday at The Girl Can't Help It in Waterloo.  This one-off event was hosted by Miss B Nightingale, who along with Rob be Bop kept the floor jumpin' with a great mix of rhythm and blues, rock'n'roll and jump blues.  My highlight of the night was seeing two of my favourite dancers tearing up the floor - my very own loverboy and a friend of ours, Anthony.  

Considering that they are both used to doing the leading, they busted out an awesome and very entertaining dance!

On Sunday, we headed into Central London to see an exhibition by Bert Hardy at The Photographers' Gallery.  Famous for his black and white candid shots from the 1940s and 1950s, Hardy, from Blackfriars in London, had a knack of capturing the most haunting and yet often playful images.

Serving as a war photographer during World War II, Hardy caught moments of suffering as well as celebration.  He captured images of poverty along with post-war liberty.  One of my favourite photos was the one below, featuring a room full of sailors, and a lady up on stage dancing in a full skirt.  When I got home I was so inspired by this shot that I recreated my own version....you can't see it, but Aaron was probably taking a peek under my skirt, just like the cheeky sailor in the Hardy photo...

I absolutely loved each and every one of his photos on display in the exhibition, as well as the ones in books that I flicked through.  Check out the one below with the cute swimsuit-clad ladies and the crocodile!

We went to a couple of other exhibitions in the gallery, including one by Cristina de Middel entitled 'The Afronauts', documenting Zambia's space programme in 1964, which never took off (ba-dummm-chhhh)...

We also enjoyed an exhibition by Claire Aho, featuring a series of fashion photography images from European advertisements in 1950s Finland.  The photos included so many gorgeous dresses!

On Monday, we hopped on a train and headed to the Queen's favourite weekend home, Windsor Castle.  A lot of other people had the same idea, so it was a good thing that the hubs was organised and bought our tickets in advance, because when we arrived the queue was already winding half way around the castle!

We started off the tour at St George's Chapel, the place of worship and Chapel of The Order of the Garter on the grounds of Windsor Castle.  Photos are prohibited inside all of the buildings, so I don't have any photos to show you, but I can confirm that it was absolutely breath-taking.

Inside the Chapel, there is a carved marble sculpture in memory of Princess Charlotte (1796-1817).  At just 21 years old, the Princess Royal died the day after giving birth to a baby boy, who was stillborn.

Words cannot describe just how moving this memorial is.  The artistry of the actual sculpture is exquisite, and the scene which is set, is a beautiful tribute.  It features Princess Charlotte's body under a sheet, with just her hand half hanging out from the edge, whilst she is surrounded by mourners, shrouded in cloaks.  Above this sadness, however, her spirit ascends to heaven, and she is flanked by two angels, one of them carrying her baby son.  I found an image from the internet to show you, however it is so much more powerful in real life.

Source

The way that the monument has been carved is so skillful, and the sheets look so realistic, that it is awe-inspiring to believe that they are sculpted out of marble.

The Castle was similarly magnificent, and we had a fun time walking around with our audio tours, being dorky tourists...

The rest of our day in Windsor was spent looking around the shops a little, and then sitting in a park by the Thames, eating ice cream, and (in my case) drinking gin and pink grapefruit tonics.  The perfect day, and a wonderful end to a perfect weekend.