I have carried on getting up or at least waking up very early due to the residual jet lag. This morning I was wide awake at 6 am and started reading my emails etc on the phone shortly afterwards.
We had breakfast together trying to finish off all the perishable food. I had more that my usual amount of Greek yogurt. Still we threw a lot of stuff away. Just because you can afford to buy more its doesn’t mean you should. You only end up wasting it. Wasted food, clothes and everything else in our consumer society costs all of us a fortune to either recycle or destroy.
I managed to cram all my gear back into the rucksack and suitcase it had spilled from in the last few days. Maggi did the same and made some sandwiches for our three hour journey to The Omni Hotel in downtown LA.
Lunch on the go
We stopped for our lunch at a random freeway exit and found a shady place to park the car. The neighbourhood looked lower middle class but we weren’t disturbed.
Our hotel and the first afternoon in LA
We arrived at our hotel and found we could look out on The Broad Gallery at less than 200 yds from our hotel. After settling in we decided to explore the neighbourhood. We dropped down by cable car to The Central Market where we decided to have lunch tomorrow.
I found a few potential local restaurants for our evening meal and we decided to walk and check them out. We didn’t have to far to find two in the same building, Mr Fish and Perch. The concierge told us we couldn’t take the lift to the Perch until 4pm. The lobby of the building already had 6 people standing around so we decided to wait as well. We couldn’t find out what it was like without poking our nose around the front door.
We needed to take two lifts to arrive at our destination. The restaurant looked very interesting, I think people ate on long tables so you could end up sharing with strangers. Large sofas sat at each end of the dining area. We decided to book a table for 7 pm and in the meantime we sat at the bar and had a drink.
Also at the bar drinking and eating a happy hour snack a younger couple. The woman started to talk to Maggi. When Maggi asked her what the food was like she put her thumb down. This put us off eating at the Perch.
The evening meal
I also spotted another restaurant near to the hotel called Vespaio. We looked in and it seemed quite nice so we decided to eat here instead.
We arrived just before 7 and stood waiting until the appointed time. The place was very busy and the waitress placed us in a backwater part of the restaurant. All the staff rushed everywhere. Everything seemed to have to be done in a hurry. We had a starter and as we placed our knife and fork down out came the main course.
The quality of the food met the usual very average level and of course the price stood at the top end. I think the bill came in at $150 for a shared starter and two pasta dishes. Maggi had a drink I didn’t.