The Grand Plan Begins

Our in-and-out home for the next two-and-a-half months

Sun sets over the clouds - an obscenely amber, molton lollipop melting slowly into fluffy white cotton candy poufs. We're flying over Californian skies, with promises of beach cottage vacation weather all year round. This is the start of our journey through the United States of America. We've picked the well trodden paths of travellers before us not least because we're greenhorns in the continent, but heck we really want to see the touristy things in the most untouristy frame of mind.

At 79-days, just a hair shy of the proverbial round-the-world-in-80-days journey, we begin our Americana experience in Los Angeles.
 
Dinner at ELF Cafe with a couple who are close to our hearts. At 1.5 years, they're relatively new to the city of Angels. But their adventuring spirits would lead us the next day, after a night of comatose sleeping, to Square One Dining for a hot breakfast, La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Hollyhock House (designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, no less), Griffith Observatory, Glendale Galleria and Americana Mall. It was a packed day for a transition day, no doubt. 

It was freezing cold too, for anywhere, but especially for usually-sunny Los Angeles. Driving up Griffith Park, we were given a running narration of the park's unofficial status as Hollywood's favourite shooting spot. "Over there...that's where they filmed CSI Los Angeles. And if you look at those trees on your right, you might recognise that grisly crime scene from CSI New York," explained Morgan, our unofficial guide. Yes, most of the CSI's are shot in LA. It was a Saturday afternoon, so there was a fairly big crowd, pushing us as far as mid-way down the hill for a park.

A cloudy, rainy Saturday afternoon at the Griffith Observatory

Hunched over in our hoodies, and wrapped up in woolly scarves, we walked at a laboured but brisk pace – it was after all about 7 degrees celcius and drizzling relentlessly – up to the peak of Griffith Park, where the Griffith Observatory stood.

"This is really unusual for California," says Claudia. "In fact, it rains so infrequently the car accident rate really shoots up when it does. LA is so blessed with clear, sunny weather all year round that the people are not sure how to drive in the rain." She herself had left her favourite umbrella in London when they moved here almost 2 years ago.

Elf Café: The de rigueur Los Angeles vegetarian café – a little bit Bohemian, a little bit rock ‘n’ roll, and so chilled out that it took half an hour for a party of three chatty women to vacate their table after paying their bill. This shoe-box sized café is vegetarian, with no mock meats and a with a slight Middle Eastern twist. We had the Moroccan Vegetable Tagine served over red quinoa and spicy harissa (tasty but a little on the wet side), Roasted Beet and Braised Fennel with wild rice and port wine reduction (with its meaty, sweet beets, the vegetarian’s answer to a hearty steak), mac and cheese, and their build-you-own Baked Tart with Thyme and Garlic (pick two fillings from a list. Ours had caramelized onions and blue cheese, and it was divine.). Wash it all down with Rosewater Lemonade. We did.                                                        
2135 Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026 
Tel: (213) 484 6829      
www.elfcafe.com

Square One Dining: Try one of the three baked egg dishes, which are fritata-like dishes, served in its sizzling hot skillet. We had the chorizo, gruyere cheese, tomato, onions, tortilla, roasted bell peppers and salsa roja ($10.75) variety. We also had eggs benedict with smoked canadian bacon & baby spinach on a tuscan roll with hollandaise ($13.25). Their pressed egg sandwich, constructed from two scrambled eggs, tomato, arugula and aiol, looked delicious. They do a great mocha latte that even non-coffee drinkers would be happy to sip.
4854 Fountain Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90029
Open everyday from 8am-3pm
Tel: (323) 661 1109

www.squareonedining.com

Griffith Observatory: Astronomy nerds will go ape shit here, what with its interactive exhibits of the planets and space. Measure one’s relative weight on Venus, the moon and the other planets; or gawk at the 150-foot timeline of the universe, made up of celestial-themed jewellery donated by one fanatical individual. A small room is dedicated to the camera obscura, while the Foucault Pendulum, which appears to swing in relation to the Earth’s rotation (in reality, the plane is fixed while the earth rotates under it), is the main crowd drawer.

2800 East Observatory Road

Los Angeles, CA 90027

Tel: (213) 473 0800

Admission: Free

Hours: Wed to Fri 12nn to 10pm; Sat to Sun 10am to 10pm. Closed Mon to Tues

www.griffithobservatory.org

The Americana at Brand: Most every American chain store is here, from Urban Outfitters to Anthropologie, Sephora to J. Crew. If you had to do the quintessential American shopping, you might as well do it here. It’s gorgeous.

889 Americana Way, Glendale, CA 91210

Tel: (818) 637 8982
www.americanaatbrand.com

La Nouba

I’ve never been to see a Cirque de Soleil show, though as a child, I do remember going to the circus. It
was memorable for many reasons - the ache of sitting on grandstand planked seating, the puzzling at the antics of clowns and the smell of elephant dung still resounds in my memories.

The La Nouba tent in the background, next to Disney Quest, in Downtown Disney.

La Nouba. Pity we couldn't take pictures of the show inside.

As we walk, the purpose built theater for La Nouba (which means “to live it up “) beckons at the end
of the Disney Downtown walk, luminous and inviting, like a modern day enchanted castle. We take
our seats in the auditorium and before me, I see a nondescript stage which is unadorned and unlit. It
reminds me of an ancient Greek agora that Aristophanes and Greek audiences would have watched
hundreds of years ago, but that is where the similarities end. Whether this is a purposeful design aspect, I am left wondering, as there is an audience interplay with traditional clowns: makeup, red noses and all. It’s a traditional schtick that brings many laughs, but soon enough, traditional ends and amazement begins.

Nothing can prepare you for the prowess and feats of agility and mesmerizing scenes that bloom before the audience. La Nouba, is not the circus of your grandparents or even your parents. This is a remix to the nth power. It is a popup story book that has shaken off its literary bindings and literally come to life. The stage itself is a marvel, as it metamorphosises to present obstacles, backdrops and pits. It’s the modern day circus ring that has grown up, left the house and done big, in the big top.

You literally must swivel your head to catch the sheer beauty and capture the antics on stage.
Sometimes it’s just one performer, and many times, there are many performers doing many things.

She nudges me with her knee, almost telepathically knowing that my line of sight is not in the right
place, I’m watching centre stage, when I should be looking much higher. I follow her gaze above the
stage to see two tight rope walkers daintily stepping down a sloping cable that bisects the stage. La
Nouba is just so…so much to see. High in the gods, the iconic character of La Nouba, the bird, watches through a small door, like a peeled back panel in a child’s popup book. Her presence is framed by a red light. The scene is the very stuff of dreams. It’s the first time in a very long time that I have been entertained and utterly speechless. The tiny Asian girls are caricatured chinoiserie, down
to the way they cock their heads and skip back and forth, throwing and catching their spinning tops
with inhuman efficiency. Each throw is higher and more difficult than the one before, and yet these
young girls never stop smiling. They are inhuman, and yes, you must see them to believe them. I’m
reminded that any live act is a massively complex and intricately wrought machine sequence of timing
and prowess set amidst a surreal backdrop. These stereotypes have broken their own moulds and recast
themselves - seeming stereotypes that have again found relevance amongst today’s audiences. Jugglers, stunt cyclists, gymnasts and more, all characters with their own personalities that hark back to anearlier, more romantic time. All the while, the physical acts of agility are accompanied by otherworldly voices - two singers, as theatrically dressed as the cast themselves. They are literally songbirds who alternate, appear and sing above, and to the side of the action, sometimes presiding, sometimes complementing with operatic dirges. It is an assault of the audience’s senses. I mentioned before that the amazement began with the opening act. It stays with me still. - CW

The Cirque Du Soleil virgin

La Nouba, 1478 East Buena Vista Drive
Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830
www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/shows/lanouba/default.aspx

 

Orlando Magic

America is truly bright lights, big city, and one of the jewels it boasts in its gaudy crown, are the finest and most entertaining sports. It is always a celebration of the world's best, so Americans loudly blare, proclaim, broadcast and dissect.

This is a pilgrimage for me, as I’ve followed the the NBA since a young boy. Oh boy, does America do everything big, the stadium is a modern marvel of sportdom, where seating sections and human traffic though heavy, never jams. And along this sporting highway are numerous food and drink outlets, Orlando magic memorabilia and so many screens with athletic imagery, graphics and iconography that it would make a mad scientist green with envy.

Newly bought Orlando Magic t-shirt in hand, we walk to my section, and staff are polite and genuinely welcoming and the energy that lines the place is palpable. We find our seat and the action is indeed all that is advertised. Though the hometeam loses to the visiting Chicago Bulls, the sheer industry that goes into entertaining the crowd is mindboggling. Whilst cheerleaders dance, stadium staff bring beer, t-shirts are fired through aircannons into the crowd, gymnasts caper and jump and camera men film the crowd and everything is shown on the big screen that hangs suspended in the center of the stadium. We're watching athletes worth millions, amongst a crowd of thousands in a stadium worth billions and it's worth every cent.

NBA: www.nba.com
Amway Center: www.amwaycenter.com

 

The Land of Make Believe

His

Hers

When we were marking out the Grand Plan, we split our research two ways. Clifford would take care of the West Coast planning, while I would research and plan all things in the East Coast. I jumped at the chance because I had been to New York a couple of times before and knew my way around. I was dying to show him the New York that I love. New Orleans was mine because of my undying love for jazz. At 14, I eschewed pop but loved jazz. Dave Grusin, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Spyro Gyra, Billie Holiday, Larry Carlton and Wynton Marsalis were my Madonna, Green Day and Pearl Jam. No, seriously. So obviously, I got New Orleans. And then, there was Orlando. Blame it on a childhood trip with my folks when I was 10, when we went through Florida twice during a 5-week journey through the US of A and didn't see any semblance of Disney. I even had a 5-year old copy of Fodor's Magic Kingdom in Orlando sitting in my library. So the moment I was awarded the task of planning for the East Coast, I called up the local bookstore, made a reservation for the 2011 version of a Disney Guide (this time, it was the Unofficial Guide to Disney) and voraciously devoured all 800-plus pages of mouse tips and strategies.

Through undercovertourist.com, we purchased two 6-day passes to the Disney Parks, with the option for Water Parks Fun and More, which gave us 6 entries to the water parks Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach, and Disney Quest. We also bought two 3-day passes to Universal Studios, Universal Studios Islands of Adventure and added a one-day Wet 'n' Wild option.

We had planned to watch La Nouba, a permanent Cirque du Soleil act at Downtown Disney.

We're all set and ready to rumble with the likes of Mickey and Harry (Potter) for two whole, glorious weeks!

Our room at the Hilton Grand Vacation Suites on International Drive, complete with kitchenette.

The bed in our room. It's a lot more comfy than it looks.

The balcony, on which served as our semi-alfresco dining room for the first 2 nights –  till we discovered eating in front of the tv, in bed!

Americana

After years of gorging on the pap of pop culture, in the antipodes and the tropics, it's an exhilarating feeling to know that we've arrived, close and nestled up against its very teat. Its the cradle of pop culture, and it is sprawling. This is LA.

The airport is nice enough, somewhere between the tired of Londons Heathrow, and the well maintained of Singapore's Changi. The anodised aluminum art that rails the long hallways of the corridor from the gate that we landed at, seems to hint at cost saving, rather than deliberate avant garde. The immigration hall is long and it is full. Rather seems to fill quicker than anyone travelling for 16 hrs give or take a few, would prefer. You know what I say - any trip that's over 3 hrs, is a journey that should really furnish memory lane.

We line up with our travel documents, clutched in our hands, anxious and weary, reading and rereading to make sure that we havent accidentally rendered our nascent trip to USA irrelevant with information underload. A convergence of international flights have landed at the same time, and people are everywhere. We wait and are weighed by the TSA officers who watch from afar. I feel a little like it's the first day of school

The TSA immigration officer, with his nametag (Underwood) is a Caucasian, obviously job weary, but he's up to a bit of banter. Both Jacquie and I are at separate counters, and we come away with conflicting information about what cards we did and didn't need to fill out to enter the land of the free.

Luggage collection is relatively painless, but the line to customs snakes and we spend a good 20 mins sifting and shuffling before we both present ourselves and our 4 large pieces of baggage before another caucasian mustachioed chap who gives little inspection, but alot in his drawled effort to say thank you and good bye in Mandarin. He was earnest.
That could have even been his name.

Finding my sister and her husband is also easy enough, they are the ones whom have been waiting the one hour plus whilst we have been put through immigration cocktails at happy hour at LAX. It was busy at the bar, and everyone wanted the same drink - a long tall glass of L.A.

The car is parked close enough, and before we get a chance to load the luggage into the back, a low slung African-American chap who looks like the early 90's rapper, Coolio, with corn rows, and moustache, only shorter and far broader and wearing overalls that you could only call "industrious"swoops in and literally takes our luggage out of our hands, and has them packed into the car, whilst the four of us are simultaneously in WTF mode/half flight-fight and a quarter indignant. It was obvious that we didnt need help, so none of us offer a tip, but as we move to board the car, offering our thanks, he half asks/half berates us if we can at least spare a tip for coffee. Morgan proffers some small change, and he wishes us a godbless and safe trip.

We're away shifting down the LA highway. It's a slight disconnect to be driving on the right and turning at right turns. After a quick luggage unload, the weather has us a rather amiable jack frost, not quite nipping at our noses, but perhaps, its could be said, sitting down and having a polite chat with us, enough to remind us that he's here to stay, at least for two and a half months.


Cue hipster, busy vegetarian restaurant. It's a soundtrack of cool and the people are mostly white and informal. The service is good at Elf Café, and after waiting sometime for the table to be vacated (we could only assume that the four ladies hadn't seen each other for a very long time - and this being underscored by the four chatting outside with jack frost for at least 20 mins more - the food, as they say, was good.
A broccolini soup and a mac and blue cheese with truffle sauce serves as appetisers. For mains, two tarts (caramelised onions, tomatoes and blue cheese) for the gentlemen, a hearty tagine for Jacquie and a roasted beet dish for Claudia. Good food took time, but it was worth it.

We drive back down Sunset Boulevard, (cue man floating in pool for you movie afficianados) to Los Feliz, it being 11 something. The stores are far apart, - little bunkered islands many metres (or meters) apart. Its like a gigantic, fat lady wearing the technicolour dream coat with its many diverse food stands and cultures hipster accessories, laid back cool lay down on the beach and never got up again. It's a vibe, and it's everywhere.

The Grand Plan

It's an epic trip, almost 75 days through some of the most exciting cities of America. We've planned our route strategically, using the New Orleans Jazz Festival dates as our starting point for planning our chronological schedule and our family's home in Los Angeles as a jumping point for our geographical travels.