What? LA Again? (part I)

Speaking of friends, one of the great features some of them come with is the “helping” part. You know, the good old a friend in need is a friend indeed thing. Well, thanks to the fact that my ONLY old American friend Brian – with whom I haven’t stopped being in touch for the past fourteen years, and who is the only person that said he’d come and visit me in Bulgaria back when we were kids, and he did – has that feature, we managed to pull off another awesome visit to our favorite little getaway – LA! So, since he lives in a tiny little place and we really didn’t want to be in his way again, he let us stay there while he was indulging on some good German beer at the Munich beerfest.

So, we packed our one bag and Sami’s four-five-six bags…and off we drove early in the wake of the beautiful Vegas Sunday morning.

Daddy had done something new this time. Since most the time I leave home in almost complete oblivion, not really knowing where we’ll end up spending our time and what we’re going to see in Cali, this time I did my homework: a Plan! I’m telling you, Alex says she gets little orgasms when things go according to plan, but I never admitted to her – this time I did too.

First off, I had decided not to let our classic early-morning-right-before-we-leave-ultra-tension-fight unfold this time. So I was patient, careful and quick with the morning preparations. Then, just as planned, I pinned a fast moving car on the freeway, threw the bate at it, attached myself right behind it and drove happily ever after, without being disturbed by the fear of cops, or the bastards themselves.

LA! Once again digging through the maps, but this time with (almost) perfect directions, written with the tiniest letters on the tiniest piece of paper, (what was I thinking, knowing I was about to read and drive?)but at least, diligently leading us to the vegan restaurant for lunch!

There’s something so freakin’ awesome about LA-ans (not aliens). How can they pull off being dressed with - what looks like - rugs and still looking cool? And why do they have so many awesome vegan restaurants? This is probably the easiest place on earth to live a cruelty-free lifestyle, because I tell you – the food is totally awesome!

So, after a healthy, tasty lunch, we headed right for the MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art). On the ticket stand they told us that the first Sunday of the month, the cover to see the museum is free! So how’s that for luck?

 
It was time for us to engulf in some thinking. Every piece of art that we saw could either be barely glanced with an uncomprehending smile or pondered upon for several minutes, or hours. We decided to join a small “discussion” group and see what all this nonsense around us was all about. And it was a beautiful feeling! To see those paintings and artifacts open their meanings up to us, generously charging us with emotions and awe at the depth of their meanings, which seem petty and ridiculous to the naked eye. All this just proved to me how awfully inexperienced I am at perceive art the way it was meant to be decoded. For now it’s more convenient for me to stick to the school that says art is all about what it conveys TO YOU and not merely to the artist, who materialized his vision.

The long ride and MOCA took it out of us. We were once again amazed at Sami’s patience. This little guy is what any parent would just dream for. He does the least that makes you uncomfortable and the most that makes you happy!

So, on the way to Brian’s apartment we got lost, just one more time today, but ended up finding one of our favorite grocery stores. So we loaded up the car with a dinner for champions and pulled out the map again. But since daddy’s plan had included getting lost, we got there just in time for us to comfortably set the bed, camera and white-noise machine and put Sami to bed.

Aaah, it was time to relax. We could smell the ocean, just a couple of blocks away from us, we felt the nice chill, huddled under a blanket with a glass of wine and fell asleep in no time.

…

Read Part II here!