We started the day by going outside our hotel for breakfast. Here they had a MacDonalds type menu system where you have to find your items on a large screen. The software keeps prompting you to add more items to your order or to choose a larger version. We eventually sat down to eat a very enjoyable overnight oats with fruit and coffee.
We had a little time on our hands because we had booked to visit The Museum of Contemporary Art which again just next door to our hotel. We wandered around the district looking at the financial architecture of the quarter. During our stay in LA I spotted a number of driverless cabs run by a company called Waymo. The cars look strange because they have camera/radar on the roof that spins round and helps them avoid obstacles.
We entered the brand new MOCA building. It sits in a basement and you are welcomed by a team of under 30’s who tell you what you can and can’t do in the exhibition.
Both Maggi and I felt unimpressed by the exhibits on display. Here is a sample of what I thought were the better quality works.
Yamaguchi
Journey to Laguna Beach
We picked up the car from the valet service and drove south to Laguna Beach. It’s meant to be an art colony along the Pacific Coast, north of San Diego. The traffic along the highways out of LA ran very slowly, just through weight of numbers. No accidents or incidents on the road caused this inching along. There are just so many cars on the road.
We arrived at Laguna Beach much later than expected and found a bustling little town full of cars. Luckily a parking space opened up in the small car park belonging to Whole Foods. We ate the slice of pizza lunch we bought standing beside our car.
We thought it might be nice to have a walk along the coast but we simply couldn’t find a place to park the couple of places we stopped only accepted cash in their meters or there were no places available so we just ended up driving onto our hotel, Granger, in the middle of San Diego’s Gaslamp district.
The Granger can best be described as slightly quirky. It looked like the place had been converted from an old fashioned office building. The rooms fed off a long wide corridor all painted in a dark blue/ black colour. Our room was quite small but had most of the amenities except a desk to work on.
At the end of the corridor sat a large cupboard where you could make yourself a Nespresso Coffee or tea. Also here were a number of dispensers filled with sweets or nuts of various kinds. On the first night we were offered a free cocktail each which you could enjoy in the well designed hall/lobby/breakfast room.
Maggi had scouted a local Mexican restaurant so after a couple of drinks each we sauntered down 5th Avenue to find this place. I don’t know why Maggi chose the place. It was bright, brash and full of screens showing various sports. I chose a seafood enchilada. I didn’t realise that it would be absolutely crammed full of melted cheese. That night I suffered terrible indigestion.
