01/24/09 The cruise leaves today!!

Hello from not-so-sunny southern California. We've been here 3 days now and have not yet seen the sun. It has rained steadily for the past 2 days (they only have about 35 rainy days a year!)

Yesterday was high on adventure and kind of low on fun. We decided to take the LA Metro system from the airport to Hollywood. After a couple of shuttles, we caught the Green Line near the airport. We connected to the Blue Line and then transferred to the Red Line at Union Station near the Staples Center. We went through the middle of South LA/Watts neighborhood and the trip was quite interesting. Part of the Metro is considered light rail and is above ground. The rest is a subway. The south LA part was above ground, so we could see everything. It changes to subway just before Union Station near downtown. The good news is that we weren't killed or robbed, and it was cheap--we rode all day with multiple transfers back and forth in the Hollywood area for $5 each. Unfortunately it was raining and cold, and we hadn't brought jackets or umbrellas. We bought umbrellas from some guy in Hollywood for $6 each.

You couldn't really see anything because of the weather, so we skipped out on the Universal Studios tour and other tours. We did eventually make it to the Universal CityWalk and ate lunch at Karl Strauss Brewery Restaurant (more beer and fish tacos). We had numerous adventures in the Hollywood area, including at Hollywood & Highland (Grauman's Chinese Theater/Kodak Theater--the Academy Awards). We were undecided about what to do when we were ready to head back to the hotel. It was getting later in the afternoon, and it was Friday afternoon. The thought of going back through South LA on the Metro was not a good one. We took the subway part of the way back to cut back the cost and length of a cab ride, but we went too far south. There were no cabs available in these neighborhoods and there were crazy people both outside and inside the subways. We finally went back to Hollywood & Vine and eventually found a cab to get back to the hotel. At that point I would have paid $151, but the fare was only $51.

We made it back alive and then took the shuttle back to Manhattan Beach to eat dinner. This time we ate at Pasta Pomodoro.

The cruise leaves at 4pm. The bridgecam link (Sapphire Princess): http://www.princess.com/bridgecams/sa/sapphire_bridgecam.html


Rick looks very scared in the subway.
















Universal CityWalk/Universal Studios


















The corner of Hollywood & Vine--where we finally caught the cab back. The tall building on the left is the Scientology building.