Somewhere along the way, my brother Aaron picked up fishing. He invited us to go with him to fish Irvine Lake on Sunday, and we were totally game as the last time either of us had been fishing was probably 20 years ago. When we showed up (early, btw), we discovered that the lake was significantly lower than the last time Aaron had been there about a year ago. California is in the midst of a serious drought going on four years, leaving the lake around 20 feet below capacity. Despite the non-ideal conditions, we still had a great time. You can see our setup above, and Aaron prepping our fishing poles below on the left. Obviously that's me on the right posing in between casting. Our first spot of the day ended up being full of vegetation; the only thing we caught were a bunch of lake weeds (no, that's not the technical term). At the end of the day, we had no fish to show for our efforts other than the bait fish Michael dragged in from the shore. We had to snap a photo of our big catch:
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Having spent most of our time on this California trip ocean-bound, we decided it was time to head to the city. Michael had never been to Hollywood, so we braced ourselves for some terrible California traffic (even on a Saturday!) and headed for Tinseltown. I'll be honest - Hollywood has never been my favorite spot in SoCal, but it's really something we needed to do so that Michael could appreciate the gilded sleaziness of the place first-hand. We parked at the Hollywood and Highland complex, which I would definitely recommend to those driving up for a visit. It is the home of the Dolby Theater where they host the Academy Awards, and is also probably the cleanest areas around with relatively-cheap parking. Our first stop was to Grauman's Chinese Theatre to see the footprints and signatures of Hollywood legends. I said hi to the Duke for Sue and my Mom. We also took a stroll along the Hollywood Walk of Fame, which passes right in front of the Chinese Theatre. While there were many stars that we could have snapped a photo of, I also took this one for my Mom: Our last stop was to visit the most famous landmark in Southern California - the Hollywood sign! This was by far our favorite part of the trip.
The sign was built in 1923, and actually extended to spell out "Hollywoodland", which was an advertisement for a housing community under construction in the neighborhood. Never meant to be permanent (some say only 1.5 years), the sign had fallen into disrepair by 1949 when the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce offered to remove the last four letters and repair the sign. The one we see today is a completely brand new sign made of steel, erected in 1978. A fantastic timeline and more history can be found here, for those interested. I have never made ice cream myself, but I know from those who have that it takes a lot of time and cranking (or kicking, if you have an ice cream ball). But what about when you NEED ice cream and only have the patience to wait, like five minutes? Well if you're in Southern California, look no further than the local liquid nitrogen ice cream shop, which magics ice cream from a liquid state into a solid delicious dessert in a matter of a few minutes. Michael and I stopped by A la Minute today, which is in Old Town Orange, and enjoyed both the show and the results.
We had a fun dinner tonight with Jean and Dave, who are good family friends that I have known all my life, at Roma d'Italia, a restaurant my parents have been going to since the 70s. All but Shane and Sue could make it.
It is impossible to get a true flavor of Southern California life and culture without visiting the coastal beach towns. We started with a local classic - Laguna Beach in Orange County, which is about 20 minutes from where I grew up in Irvine. It's not hideous. We also got to some time with the lovely Noelle in San Diego. First stop was to La Jolla, where we got to stick our toes in the Pacific and hang with a few seals, followed by lunch in Old Town San Diego - Mexican food and margaritas, thank you very much! And it doesn't get much better than seeing my friend Danny perform a few sets at the Huntington beach Surf City Nights farmers market/ street fair. I've known Danny for almost 15 years now, but hadn't gotten to see him perform since he's made a career out of music. It was awesome - and for those reading who need a musician for an upcoming event or wedding, look this guy up :)
If you ask anyone who grows up in California about their fourth grade mission report and diorama project, they'll undoubtedly remember the assignment and have a good story to tell about their plight to recreate one of the 21 Spanish missions in paper mache or a used shoe box. It was a right of passage shared by us all.
So as a start to our 10-day Southern California adventure, Michael and I headed to the San Juan Capistrano Mission, which I last visited over 20 years ago as a fourth grader. It was an absolutely beautiful sunny day to enjoy the California architecture and some history of the mission, which claims to be the birthplace of the OC. Day one in California, and this is the perfect illustration of the difference between delicacies in California and France. While I fully embrase and love both kinds of goodness, I am ready for a time out from the butter and sugar-filled calories. Cheers to a few weeks of green juice (oh, and of course Mexican food)!
Tomorrow morning, Michael and I board a flight headed to the United States for a month-long journey to the motherland.
I feel a strange mix of excitement to be back in my home country (and to be easily understood speaking English!!) and nostalgia about leaving Paris. The last time we were on American soil was in December 2013, and this is by far the longest period of time I have ever spent outside of the US. I know I must have changed in a million small ways, and I'm a bit afraid of being confronted with that reality. I no longer belong to one place, but to several. The past two months have been insanely busy, capped off by an extraordinarily stressful week at work. When I left the office last night, I felt a bit shell shocked at the sheer volume of work I had to finish before closing my computer down for the longest chunk of time I have ever taken off. The last time I had four weeks off was probably during summer break in junior high. I desperately need a vacation, and can't wait to see the smiling faces of friends and family on the other side. I recently took a bit of a whirlwind trip to Southeast Asia, stopping through Thailand, Cambodia, and the Philippines all in a span of six days. It was a very last-minute work trip, and was horribly timed as I flew out of Paris at the same time Ian and Neha flew in for a visit from DC. I had been to both Bangkok and Manila before, so my only ambition was to squeeze a few hours out of my stay in Siem Reap, Cambodia to take a tour of the Angkor Wat temple complex. Angkor is one of the places that Michael has told me about for years, having visited there about 10 years ago when he lived in Thailand. I landed in Siem Reap at 9am, immediately hired a guide at the hotel, and was at the temple complex by 11am. The temple that you generally think of as "Angkor Wat" is the largest and most famous - and is even incorporated into the design of Cambodia's national flag - but it is only one of many temples that was built almost 1,000 years ago in the area now part of the Angkor Archaeological Park. During my visit, I saw three temples: Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm and Bayon. Temple #1: Angkor Wat Temple #2: Ta Prohm At this point in the day, the temperature was feeling like about 110 degrees - not awesome, but I continued on and survived with several huge bottles of water. Ta Prohm was the second temple on my itinerary, and is known as the "jungle temple" because it was left in much the same condition in which it was found after about 400 years of neglect. It was built in the late 12th and early 13th centuries, and is perhaps best known to you as the location where the first Lara Croft Tomb Raider was shot. Temple #3: Bayon The third and final stop on my mini-tour was to Bayon temple, which ended up also being my favorite. Bayon was built at the same time as Ta Prohm by Jayavarman VII. The most distinctive features at Bayon are the 216 gigantic smiling stone faces built into the temple's towers, which some scholars believe are in the likeness to the king himself. The temple is magnificent, a bit haunting, and incredibly beautiful. More pics from my trip can be found here.
On Saturday, we took an evening bike tour of Paris with Fat Tire Bike Tours. Neha had done this tour the last time she was in Paris, and we were glad she was up for doing it again because it's a blast. We were with a pack of about 20 bikers cruising around the streets of Paris. After about two hours, we locked up our bikes on the side of the Seine and hopped on a boat for a one-hour cruise down the river. Aren't our yellow safety vests fetching? I would definitely recommend this tour company for future visitors - they also do a great trip to Versailles.
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AuthorBecause why not get married and move to Paris to really kick off your thirties? Archives
December 2016
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