How I spent my birthday in LA

I turned 24 in October. When I planned my 3 weeks holiday to California, I knew I wanted to spend my birthday in LA. I could think of nothing better than to spend the day exploring in a foreign country by myself!

After a church service in DTLA, I went to see a Sunday matinee orchestra performance at the WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL!!

Do you recognise the building? You've probably seen in it a few movies, I saw it in Get Smart.
It was designed by the architect Frank Gehry, whom I studied in high school graphics, so I really wanted to see his works in person. The construction was funded by Walt Disney's wife after his death, hence the name. It is now used as the home of LA Philharmonic Orchestra, and on my birthday I saw them perform Ravel and Stravinsky.

It was a magnificent concert!
Honestly, I only went there to witness the supposedly amazing sound acoustics (apparently the quality is excellent no matter where you sit in the theatre) and for the architecture. I didn't even know Ravel's or Stravinsky's music. But WOW! I've never been to a classical concert before, but I want to see some more!!

I got a terrace seat, so I got a view of the very expressive conductor, Pablo Heras-Casado. I also saw that most of the audience had white hair hahaha. Though I think next time I would get a standard view cause I want to see the violinists play.

Two hours later it finished and I had planned to go to The Broad art gallery next to it but they weren't letting any more people in. It is free entry and you can reserve tickets in advance (at the time, it was booked til the next month) or you can join the loooong queue for 'first in first served' entry. The security guard wouldn't even allow me to visit the gift shop without a ticket, so that was very disappointing.

Nevertheless, I had leftover lunch for dinner (as you can see I don't use food to treat myself haha) and then headed over to the Griffith Observatory armed with my tripod. They have free shuttle from Vermont/ Sunset station on the weekends, so turns out I chose a good day to go. Unfortunately due to traffic jam, I missed sunset photos by 15 minutes, but I did see it from the bus. It was more superb than the sunset from the Skyspace in downtown! It turned the sky to a gradient of phthalo blue and vermillion.

When the sun disappeared, I turned trigger happy and managed to set up my tripod among the tourists on the deck. I spent an hour taking photos before heading inside briefly. The best photos of the Hollywood sign can be taken from here! It would look great in the daytime.

That's how I started my 24th year (technically 25th) and I'm so glad and thankful for the day.


Signed,

Elisa