Blake and Marla Visit Los Angeles Day 1

Wednesday February 29^th 2012

Trip Report – Los Angeles Post Cruise

Check in was fairly fast at the LAX Radisson. I am not sure if it is because everything is brown or golden coloured or if it is because it looks a little natty but I am not overly thrilled with this hotel. The price was excellent and the location is very good. We got the room for $67 on Priceline and I think that makes it okay.

We got settled in the room and the first thing that didn't work was the tv set. Then Marla found the place to insert the key to make the power stay on. Very European and you don't lose your key. Marla needed some rest and I needed some exercise so I walked up to the Ralph's and CVS about a mile away to get some milk, yogurt and peanuts. I am still looking for an American Phone too but I think I will get it next trip. It was a really nice walk.

I also took this time to rent us a car. There is a car rental place in the hotel so I went to them first. It was kind of a no-brainer deal since if I parked the car at the hotel from another company it would cost and additional $25 per day. But the local place covered the parking. Also, I think because they needed the business they changed the rental charges from $210 for the two days with full insurance coverage to $120. I was okay with $60 per day for a car rental.

Marla and I drove up to hollywood. I am looking for an Academy Awards t-shirt. None to be found but we had a good time. We had lunch at Mel's Diner and then shopped a bit. Marla got some new nail things from Sephora. Then we drove over to the Pantages Theater. I stopped in to check if they had tickets for tonight's show Spamalot. We got seat in center row J. I have a lucky thing about getting theater seats.

We went for a drink at an Irish Pub before the show and then went to see it. The Pantages is an awesomely beautiful theater. I have to find some pictures of it. The Show was great – even Marla liked it. I was worried she wouldn't because it is pretty silly. But her silly-side came through and all was well. I liked the show because it was fun but it wasn't really a great show, more of a diversion. Still it was fun. As usual I did really good in getting tickets, my second apparent gift. My first gift is finding parking spaces but this gift is the ability to get good last minute tickets for Broadway shows. For this ticket we got row J center seats 103 and 104 in one of the most beautiful theaters I have ever been inside. It was the Hollywood Pantages theater just off Hollywood and Vine.

We went home after the show, I really like using the GPS in Los Angeles it got us around town with no real problems. We made it back to he hotel and called it a night.