Gringo Tour 08/09 - Part 4

After the kewl LA Downtown Markets - we attempted to find a bus which would take us out past UCLA to the Getty Center (american spelling - f##k yeah!) - remember - we are big public transport freaks in LA. We were a bit lost in following the bus system maps so we thought we might take our chances at the tourist info centre (which was sort of near our True Lies Hotel).

There was this old grannie (who seemed to have a thick bronx accent) who was quite helpful - but we pretty much had to interrogate for 5 minutes her to get a complete covenanted LA Metro Bus Map (felt like Raiders of the Lost LA Bus Map). We followed her directions to the bus stop (which was pretty close to our hotel) and 10 minutes later - our bus to UCLA rocked up.

All the LA buses have these small LCD screens which play non stop "news, entertainment and sport" - but really - it keeps replaying the same "Paris Hilton got burgled" story which no one really gives a s@@t about and the "Snuggler" infomercial ad (a very unattractive and quite flammable blanket that you can wear - but only in the privacy in your own home otherwise you might get eggs thrown at you). And most of the stuff on TV was fairly latino orientated. Ant said to me that in the near future - Spanish speaking people in California will outnumber English speaking people... or something.

After a fairly long bus ride (in which I'm 95% confident I saw the D&D Advertising Building from Melrose Place along Santa Monica Blvd) - we got off near Bel Air. All the shops felt neeyce and different in a sort of Manuka sort of way. We had to reconnect to another bus which took us directly past the Getty Center (US spelling f##k yearrrh! Gonna save the muthaf##King day nowwwh!).

According to my Mum's guide - the Getty Centre is one of the top 10 tourist attractions in LA. It is built on top of a mountain/cliff and has fairly distinctive architecture. I was getting these 60s/70s Blofeld/James Bond Villains vibes from this place (I could imagine Blofeld stroking his fluffy white cat while his goons attempt to dispatch Sean Connery). To make things even more Blofeld/Dr Evil esque - you ride this automated electric train from the carpark to the Centre... (Very Austin Powers 1).

When we got there - we made a quick pit-stop at the "cheappy" cafeteria where we picked up some decent Chilli Beef Soups for not much $$$. The Getty Building is fairly spectacular (in a sort of Cameron Offices on top of a cliff way) and we took plenty of Kodak Moment shots of the place. Inside the Getty Center is a eclectic museum of art works - most of them older-school renaissance to impressionist work. The Impressionist Room was worth the admission (did I mention that the Getty Centre was free?) - Ant was wondering how much all of the artwork would cost in that one room alone. We had spent a good 3 hours at the Getty Center and by the time we had finished - it was getting darkish (around 4pm).

We headed back into town - and took a stroll around the Bel Air bus stop. As I previously mentioned - the shops here were quite neeyce and different - but you could actually live here and do shopping/groceries (unlike Beverly Hills where you can't buy a pint of milk from the Channel shop), We had a bit of a browse around "Best Buys" - the sort of Dick Smith Powerhouse equiv in the States (actually - we think that Dick Smith ripped off the idea of the store from Best Buys - just like Big W tries to rip off Wal-Mart). I bought a couple of DVDs (Drawn Together) and a few PSP games to keep me entertained.

We headed back on the bus to Downtown - but decided to get off at Beverly Hills to have a bit of a wander through it and Rodeo Drive (like any good tourist should). Rodeo Drive sort of feels like a reech beech "Main Street USA" equivalent street - although I'm not talking about middle America Main Street USA - but the Disneyland variety where everything feels a little fake. We headed into a department store - which was very quiet (hello GFC) apart from the cocktail bar on the top floor. They say that alcohol and gambling get more popular in a recession and I guess this was adding fire to that theory. We made our way past a gaggle of store attendants (who were definitely more busy into each other than helping any customer) to make use of the facilities before we rushed out of the store. Ant did his patented "push rich women out of the way" move and we were on a way. To be continued....