Sep 09, 06
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La!
Being a lucky bastard and having a sister who works for...
http://www.swiss.com/web/NS6/logo-swiss.gif ...I was able to visit LA for very cheap! :D I've only been there for 3 days, here's my random trip-blurping... --- #01 - The Swiss Crew I knew this was going to be a good trip when the swiss-bus picked us up at the LAX airport and the first thing we did in there was toasting a crew member's birthday with a freaky looking juice-sorta-thing jazzed up by a deadly dose of noxious, high percentage alcoholic madness...that drink was the killer! Great that we had such an easy-going crew and big props to my sister for making all this possible! <3 #02 - Who the fuck is Mario Pacchioli? So, uhh...my neighbour on the flight to LA was that guy...ehh...after take-off we started chitchatting and...well...we were just sitting there and happily shooting the breeze when I asked him about his reason to go to LA. He told me that he would be visiting a music school for 4 months to advance his career and polish his songrwriting skills. Of course I got really curious and wanted to know more, so I asked him about his profession and he was like "uhh...i just write my songs and make music for a living, you know" - that disussion kinda left me back puzzled and I spent the rest of my flight wondering who the hell he could be. I mean, seriously...who can earn a crust with music in Switzerland and why the heck didn't I know this guy? Weird... Some hours later my sis (who worked on the flight) came to me, whispering "Hey! You know who you're sitting next to, right?" - "Uhh...no?" - "Mario Pacchioli!" - "Erm...Mario who?!" - "Mario Pacchioli! He gained second place in Musicstar!!" Hahaha...wtf! o.O *he even has his own website, click here* Musicstar is the Swiss pendant to Starmania, DSDS, Popstars, American Idol or whatever it's called in your country...I have never ever watched any of those casting shows and really couldn't care less...but hey, he was such a nice guy that I might even follow the next episode (it should air soon here) which is kind of a scary thought ain't it? Uhh... ;) #03 - Hyatt Regency Long Beach *click* Wow, sick residency...I felt pretty misplaced there though, between all the wannabe celebs and rich businessmen. And how anyone can spend all his day in the hotel's outside whirlpool area when you have the most beautiful beaches just some steps away is beyond me. Anyway, it was nice for once to stay in such a place, although we weren't really there a lot and spent our time outside discovering California instead... ;) http://static.flickr.com/82/237925906_ba621d5594_s.jpg http://static.flickr.com/97/237807090_70984ef07c_s.jpg #04 - The Long Beach / Seal Beach Area Hm, I found this to be a very beautiful place. I didn't know that the RMS Queen Mary is now permanently moored as a tourist attraction there, interesting. On my last day I wanted to go and see this but it was closed, so I visited the Long Beach Museum of Art instead and learned some new things about...uhm...art and history. One exhibition was called "Made in China: Export Porcelain" and the other "Portraits of a People: Picturing African Americans in the Nineteenth Century" - I especially enjoyed the former, because I didn't know anyhting about Porcelain trade so it was nice to learn something new. We also went to Seal Beach to have breakfast @ River's End, such a beautiful place...wow! http://static.flickr.com/95/237961358_d15c8c0cce_s.jpg http://static.flickr.com/83/237932665_3e363d5a8c_s.jpg http://static.flickr.com/91/237932671_a80ce86bb9_s.jpg http://static.flickr.com/92/237821851_ee221702b8_s.jpg http://static.flickr.com/86/237932664_391a8dec63_s.jpg http://static.flickr.com/79/237821856_f14ae6905e_s.jpg #05 - Free refills I see "free refills" (or at least very cheap refills) are common in the States as well...that's really cool, I wish we had this in Switzerland! Btw, thx for the free drinks @ River's End and that restaurant in the Long Beach Shoreline Village...awesome! #06 - Medium sized pizzas? This is a warning to you all...never ever order a "medium sized" pizza in the US...it will be fucking HUGE!! I love food but hey, that thing was just way too big for us Europeans...it made me wonder how a regular or even supersized pizza looks like over there...wtf! o.O #07 - LA traffic vs The Subway OMFG...LA TRAFFIC IS SICK! JUST SIIICK!!! o.O How the heck can you guys handle this? Wow...it took us sth like an hour to get from Venice Beach to the Hollywood Bowl but only 40 minutes go back to Long Beach after the concert...does this makes sense? Uhh, prolly not... Well, I'm not local, we just had this map from the car-rental shop. Anyway, in wikipedia it says you guys have three times more automobiles than people over there, that's just nuts. Therefore we decided to take the subway when we went to Universal City, which was a good call I guess. Also, I have never seen such a thing as carpooling in any European city. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...erstate110.jpg Special carpool-only lanes...wtf... o.O #08 - The Harbour The Long Beach Harbour is biiig...urm no, it's HUGE! I thought it must be even bigger than the one in Hamburg, I was wrong though. Anyway, that was impressive...wow!! #09 - Walk of Fame Uhhm, what's so special about the Walk of Fame? All I saw was this sidewalk embedded with a bunch of stars and thousands of people passing by, not giving a shit...hahaha! Dunno, but I thought it's quite boring... o.O #10 - Venice Beach ...but I really liked the Venice Beach area! Loved the mix of people...artists, poets, writers, tourists, musicians, surfers, painters, soothsayers, mongers, celebs, the homeless...you name it! Very special vibe there, fun place... http://static.flickr.com/89/237961356_cafae1dbab_s.jpg http://static.flickr.com/93/237954174_76081c911c_s.jpg http://static.flickr.com/84/237925901_fe7d78a658_s.jpg http://static.flickr.com/92/237908170_3335468919_s.jpg http://static.flickr.com/87/237954176_1cfbda6d08_s.jpg http://static.flickr.com/97/237954179_59ffeff5eb_s.jpg http://static.flickr.com/80/237932661_2db495020c_s.jpg http://static.flickr.com/93/237961352_d610fe5732_s.jpg #11 - Universal Studios Yep, we went to Universal City...it wouldn't have been my first choice but it's not that I was travelling alone...so why not go there, hehe...uhm, what can I say? It's like an upgraded version of Europa Park, just bigger and more spectacular. No must-see, but hey...when you're sitting in the Shrek Dome on a moving chair, wearing freaky 4D glasses and donkey himself spits you in the face (you really get wet) it's like... "OMFG, I'M IN HOLLYWOOD!" o.O http://static.flickr.com/87/237908168_ff604b26c0_s.jpg http://static.flickr.com/95/237946938_b35eaa5639_s.jpg http://static.flickr.com/96/237919117_a03b214500_s.jpg http://static.flickr.com/84/237807078_01f4cd0e81_s.jpg #12 - Surf It was sad that I had no time to go surfing...as there were beautiful conditions for beginners. I've been surfing in Portugal and the Canaries already and I would have loved to try surfing in California as well...I'm no expert but it was prolly sth like 3-4 ft? Oh well, you can't do a million things in only 3 days... Anyway, it was good to be at the sea again...missed it! #13 - Hooters Hahaha...I didn't know about Hooters before...2 girls of the Swiss crew kind of felt the urge to show me that place (hehe) and uhh...yes yes, not bad at all... *admits* *click* And they do have great chicken wings there! <3 #14 - The Hollywood Sign Uhm, where the fuck is it? I only saw the "wood" part when we were driving up to the Hollywood Bowl to see James Brown...haha, nice try! o.O Oh well, I could do without... ;) #15 - Hollywood Bowl, James Brown, Angie Stone Quote:
The highlight of our trip! :D In short: 1. The Hollywood Bowl is an awesome place for concerts 2. JB was fantastic, all my respect to this man 3. The atmospehre there is unique We were surprised to see that EVERYONE was having dinner in the Bowl...really, it seemed like we were the only ones who didn't. Some even took tablecloths with them...it was like WTF! In Switzerland they wouldn't even let you enter such a place like this...but then again you were not allowed to smoke in this wide open-air area...haha, you crazy Americans! :P http://static.flickr.com/91/237807088_26ed75cd65_s.jpg http://static.flickr.com/94/237898837_e950ddc700_s.jpg I didn't really like Angie Stone's performance (well, it's not really my taste in music) but hey, James Brown was just fantastic. I saw the Stones some weeks ago and was quite impressed with Mick Jagger, but James Brown totally puts him to shame...the crowd was really going crazy when he played his classics...I was totally surprised to see him like that, still going strong, jamming and doing the funky dance! :D Also, I thought it's fantastic that you can see concerts in the Bowl for only ONE DOLLAR. That's just great. Of course it are not the best seats and quite far away from the stage, but hey, where else can you see such legends like James Brown for only 1 dollar? Some people just can't afford to pay 10 or 20 dollars...here in Switzerland everybody had to pay a crazy 150 Swiss Francs to see the Stones, that's just fucked up. Uhh, anyway...that place is awesome and I urge everyone in LA to go there and indulge in the atmosphere of the Bowl! ;) http://images.google.ch/images?q=tbn...woodbowl_2.jpg --- Yeah, that's it for today. Hope you enjoyed the show! ;) P.S. LA is awesome, but hey... ...Vancouver is still my favourite of course! :P Last edited by anewlife; Sep 11, 06 at 08:36 PM. 
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Sep 09, 06
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Big Ups to Company Travel Benefits!
Who knows, I'm planning on Europe next Summer. Maybe I'll stop into Die Schweiz!
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Sep 09, 06
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Btw, http://www.last.fm/user/stokedfish/...06/09/9/223984/
(the original version of this, revised with a hopefully better English) o.O
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Sep 11, 06
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you always have the most interesting threads :)
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Sep 11, 06
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Quote:
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Sep 12, 06
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I keep forgetting that it's a damn 'Z'... lol I think that's a small price to pay for actually spelling it right. It's one of the few German words I have to stop and say like six times before I type it.
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Sep 12, 06
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Yup, in English it's easier somehow...you can often choose between 'z' and 's' like...hmm...mesmerize, or mesmerise, depending on whether is AE or BE...I love that, makes it harder to be wrong! :P
And aww...ms...thank you...hope one day we will meet!! *sigh*
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