The day after Disney I had a lazy day at home chilling with family. I went to Trader Joe’s for the first time and also had my first In-N-Out experience! My cheeseburger was sooo good, but I’m not sure why I decided to get my fries animal style cause I don’t even like onions. =P

The following day we made the long trek to downtown LA. Since my relatives live in the suburbs close to Anaheim, traveling downtown generally meant inching along the freeway regardless of the time of day. LA is notorious for having bad traffic, but the alternative – taking public transit – would have been worse. 

Everyone I talked to about LA told me to avoid taking any forms of public transportation and I could tell why when I got there. Not only would trips take three times the amount of time than by car, it’s also not very reliable or safe. I think it really comes down to the income disparity and how ghetto parts of LA are in comparison to the glitter and glamour of Hollywood. I saw firsthand how terrible it was when my Uber driver drove through Skid Row. Actually most of downtown LA was pretty empty and there were only a few small pockets where you could feel the vibrancy of city life. I think I averaged spending $100 a day on Ubers on the days I went out, but it was definitely a much needed expense for both the comfort and safety of getting to places.

Our first official stop that day was to the Walt Disney Concert Hall. I had looked online that they offer free self guided audio tours inside. However, the day we went there was a performance happening at 11am and none of the staff could confirm whether the tours would be running. I was directed to multiple people before being told that the tours would not be offered that day, which completely defeated my purpose of going. Because I didn’t want to waste the trip, I asked if they still had tickets left and ended up staying for the performance. 

I was pretty lucky because it happened to be a Mozart and Ravel concert and I really enjoyed it. It was also the first time since the pandemic started that I’ve been to a live performance. How strange it is that my last two concert experiences were both Mozart! 

After the concert ended, we walked to the nearby Grand Central Market for lunch. We had already scoped out what we wanted to eat earlier that morning, so it was quick getting our orders down. 

After lunch we had to make the trip to the Broad, which meant walking back up the hill towards Grand Avenue. I was surprised there were random hills in downtown LA, but I guess it’s a pretty common occurrence in California. There’s actually a funicular you can take to get up the hill called the Angels Flight, but it seemed a bit more touristy than anything. =P

Our visit to the Broad was nice. I actually liked how a lot of museums in LA offer free admission, including the Broad and the Getty Center. Unfortunately on the day we went to the Broad, only the third floor was open for viewing as they were prepping for a new exhibition. It meant we finished our visit earlier than expected. Since there was still time, we walked over to Little Tokyo and spent the remainder of the afternoon exploring the neighbourhood.