USA Trip Day 2 / May 12, 2006 Friday

The day started early. The call time was abt 8AM but I was up as early as 6AM. I went outside Tita Ita’s house and just walked around, have a feel of the “most sought after” country. The weather was a few centigrade colder than Baguio City. Tita Ita, her daughter Jenny and myself had breakfast at Jack in the Box. After breakfast, we were off to downtown LA. On our way, we saw the Staples Center where the Lakers and the Clippers play basketball. The first stop was at Walt Disney Concert Hall. The LA Music Center was just across the street. Then we went to Hollywood blvd where we saw the Kodak Theatre, Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, Hollywood star walk and went inside Ripley's Odditorium. We saw the Hollywood sign via the viewing deck of Hollywood/ Highland Mall. Lunch was at a Persian restaurant. Whew! We’ve already covered so much and it’s only been half a day.

After lunch, we were off to Beverly Hills. I enjoyed Beverly Hills because of the high end stores (I guess the word ‘sale’ is taboo in that part of town) and the high end vehicles. The place was like a car show – Ferraris, Lamborghinis and Aston Martins abound. Our star gazing proved to be a success as I saw Denzel Washington driving a spanking new black Porsche Carrera 4S.

The last stop for the day was Santa Monica. They have a very nice promenade. I successfully resisted the shopping temptation. My first US purchase was a Nokia 6101 phone at a T-Mobile store for $50. It was more of a necessity than a luxury purchase. I computed it already and it's cheaper this way than using the international roaming service of my Philippine based cellphone. Sorry Smt, I was operating on a self-imposed-real-tight-budget. Dinner was at a Japanese resto in Santa Monica with Tita Ita and her two lovely daughters Jenny & Tina.