Timbits from LA & Santa Monica

My roommate Oleg and I made a two-day trip to LA out of necessity because, continuing my list of things that can go wrong on vacation, our apartment got flooded during night and we had to move out. First time this happens to me, imagine the feeling of jumping out of bed into a wet sauce of steaming water and dirt. Originally I wanted to call this post "Into the swamps and back again" as a reference to Tolkien but decided against it. This should be about LA and the things that happened there, so with this checked off let´s continue.
The first stop in LA was the LACMA, Los Angeles County Museum of Arts. They have a great collection and fascinating exhibitions in the Japanese pavilion that are really worth the visit. Unexpectedly, I also saw my first John Singer Sargent that day, wow! His paintings are just phenomenal, after admiring his artworks for more than 10 years solely from reproductions in books or the internet, this was stunning.

Because of the heavy traffic, time rushed by and I paid a short visit to downtown LA and walked around. The city is just too huge to expect to see a lot by foot, but I had my first burger in the States with fantastic meat which made up for it.
I decided to try to meet another local and stayed the night at Nathan´s place, another couchsurfer. He was great, responded to my spontaneous request and took time during his working schedule to make sure I got to the right address. The neighbourhood outside of Downtown is actually quite pretty.
Nathan is an animator so we had similar interests and I could browse through his library of books and saw many familiar titles. He treated me to a nice coffee in the morning and shared a great story about his recent first trip outside the US. He went to Japan with a Motorbike and crossed the country with it, packed with all his equipment on the little Honda. He was spotted by a film team who are making a series about people visiting Japan and they were so intrigued by his undertaking that they followed him a couple of days and in consequence he became a minor celebrity. Thanks Nathan for the couch and your time.

The rest of the second day was spent visiting Hollywood. After sightseeing the Universal Studios and the obligatory Walk of Fame I wanted to walk again. Terrible Idea, but I spotted some nice places while not getting anywhere. Now, I have to hark back in order to explain this post´s title. In Canada, Matthijs introduced me to Timbits, the little, sugary bite-sized donuts that you get everywhere in Timmies, which is hugely popular over there. It´s a little arrangement of different tastes so you get some diversity in a while satisfying your cravings for a sweet snack. The photos I made reminded me of Timbits, very small spots, details from a bigger picture. Unfortunately there was no good place to have a wide vista.

The day ended in Santa Monica Beach, visiting the famous pier and enjoying the last glimpses of sunlight. Around the beach are some very beautiful and creative little shops and bars which I hopefully will be able to visit the next time in LA.

"It´s Sindy´s birthday today" - La Jolla

 Today´s post title is from a random remark I heard walking along the beautiful coastline of La Jolla in the north of San Diego. There is not much to see in the city itself except the many research facilities that are around. But the nature surrounding it is remarkable. The sea always fascinates me in it´s swinging rhythmical and never changing sounds of waves clashing against the beach. But it´s a phenomenon I enjoy from the distance, what´s hidden beneath the surface is just too obscure for me to feel comfortable swimming or diving.
Anyways, it was quiet a surprise to see wild seals all swimming in the water next to the surfers and lying basking in the sun. The fauna was a spectacle today, next to the pelicans I even caught a Humming Bird with the camera.

We were hiking around a lake in the east of La Jolla called Lake Jennings. To get there we had to walk up to a camping place where we met one of the staff, Barb, who was kind enough to let me take a picture of her. It´s peculiar how small and connected the world is, the theory of the six degrees of separation rings true. Barb had an exchange student from Essen and had visited my hometown in the past. There you are, in the middle of the prairie in southern California and have encounters you wouln´t expect.