1st June 2023.
Key Highlights:-
Los Angeles Visit 4 days over Memorial Day weekend. We got the feel of a traffic Jam towards LA, took 2 hrs for 40 miles (until San Jose) and then 4 1/2 hrs for the further 330miles to LA from Cupertino. Eshwar and Shravan- awesome driving and on the way back Sangeetha did 100 miles, cool...!
- AirBNB apartment, well maintained stacked apartment (3 bed/2 bath) with coffee tea etc, worth the money we paid for 4 nights. Interesting experience of a non hotel stay at a place unknown. (More so we arrived at midnight not knowing where Apt is!?)
- Hollywood Sign, Hollywood walk of fame, Madame Tussauds @ Hollywood. I visited Tussauds in London 1994 so it was a kind of revisit to see a changed world. Ofcourse, here it is all about entertainment.
- Griffith Observatory, -2 shows the origin of life and the universe..! Amazing. The narrator, Steve Cooperman, reminded me of our Siddarth Kak whose narration was so awesome when I visited the Nehru Planetarium in Bombay 1979.
- Universal Studios 9am to 7pm. So many rides, which put you in shock and awe.. Some are really scary. The WaterWorld show was a stunning end to the day with so many stunts.! Also ending the day with a snap with Marilyn Monroe, She said let's "pose for the Paparazzi". !
- National History museum, Battleship Iowa,and Santa Monica Beach. (Battleship Iowa was one Truman, Churchill, Stalin met for world peace!)
- Car parking can take hours, as we found out Sunday to park our vehicle, we lost 2 hrs almost during the 4 days.! Also ordering and eating food takes a lot of time. Oh yes, amazing food (Indian, Mediterranean, and Mexican.... 1 hr is the minimum needed for lunch/dinner!)
- Great to catch up with my Monsanto Colleague, Clyde Roe after 18 years, at Irvine CA, (60 miles from Rosemead, where we stayed!). I had to miss meeting my Honeywell Colleague, George Kohn, who had a situation and excused himself, an hour before our meeting..!
- Spending time at Radha's place this week at Foster City. So many water bodies feel a lot colder than Cupertino,(Just 30 miles away!).
General Takeaway of USA, so far for me.. Amazingly after 10+ visits I am getting to see real home life in America...(Shravan was always commenting, "Dad you have seen American life from Hilton/ Marriott or through Mercedes Benz rental pick up"!!!)
- Corporate discounts for anything and everything is just amazing, so much potential $ savings! Your Badge helps save so much. Oh, yes speedy access at a higher price, like entry into Indian temples!
- Driving in India is equal to cooking in America, kitchen spaces just don't exist as much as road space doesn't exist in India. I am struggling and bang myself against one object or other or drop things when it trips against obstacles.
- America is a discount / sale nation! Everything is offered on Discount /sale at a lesser price!! You give your Cell Phone # you get discounts... (It gave on my Indian Cell #). All on credit cards, guy was stumped when I offered Cash for parking slot 30$.! (2 hrs parking!)....
- We could never come across 1 pound packs of stuff; all are 2, 5, 10,20 pound packs!! So store a lot, consume a lot and get fat!! hahahhah!
Regards
Karthik.
With Marilyn Monroe Live!!!
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