Not even two years ago, Jon and I were wandering a bit lost through downtown LA, looking for that trendy new coffee shop in a neighborhood where there was hardly anything to see. But when we walked through that same neighborhood last week, we couldn't believe our eyes: downtown is THE place to be! It's now teeming with cool coffee bars, small boutiques, and countless art galleries. An absolute must-see is the exhibition by Jason Rhoades at Hauser Wirth & Schimmel: you've never seen so many neon signs in one room. And while you're there, make sure to stop for lunch at Manuela, the newest hotspot in the area.
It is truly impossible to walk five minutes through LA without spotting a vegan or raw food place. Although more and more vegan hotspots are opening in Amsterdam, LA has been ahead for years. My friend Marieke, who lives in LA and swears by a vegan lifestyle, takes us to her favorite restaurant Crossroads. ‘Don't be surprised if Jennifer Lopez suddenly sits next to us.’ Apparently, this place is also very popular among the celebs. But there's no time to look at the guests around me: one fantastic vegan dish after another is served to us, with the highlight being the ‘Impossible Meat Cigar’; a pastry filled with some special leaf from a tree, but you would swear you taste meat. I would love a ‘Crossroads Amsterdam’ ASAP, please!
When we walked through that same neighborhood last week, we couldn't believe our eyes: downtown is THE place to be!
Meanwhile, the temperature has risen to a lovely 25 degrees, but for the real locals, it's still winter. And although LA is full of beautiful rooftop swimming pools, you hardly spot any locals around this time of year. Lucky for me: there's plenty of space everywhere, and all I have to do is make my entrance in my best outfit and with a healthy attitude as if it's the most normal thing in the world. Whether it's because it's ‘low season’ and they're happy with every customer, or because they don't dare to ask if I'm actually staying at the hotel thanks to my convincing entrance: I get to take a seat on a lovely sunbed by the pool. Score! My latest discovery: the rooftop @ SIXTY in Beverly Hills.
Now that I've just gotten used to those summer temperatures, have neatly painted my toes for those brand new flip-flops, and only want to walk around in short dresses, my husband and I are FINALLY off on our honeymoon trip. Now I hear you thinking: LA sounds like a great destination, right?! But for our honeymoon, we had something more adventurous in mind. So we headed north for our first stop in Sequoia National Park. We had read that it could be cold in the mountains, but this scene was something else: once at the entrance of the park, it was snowing so hard that you could hardly see through the windshield; the temperature had dropped to a mere minus 5... ‘Uh, honey, are we sure we want to do this?’
Once we arrived at our lodge, we decided to embrace the cold and get ready for an exciting hike through the twenty centimeters of freshly fallen snow. Lacking snowshoes, I bravely put on my brand new Timberlands, hoping my feet would stay dry for a little longer than half an hour. No worries, this is not an advertisement, but I really couldn't believe how those shoes looked after five hours of hiking through the snow. Not a drop of water or scratch in sight: it's amazing!, as they would say in a bad teleshopping commercial. And the surroundings are so beautiful: I've never seen such stunning and large trees. What an incredibly beautiful start to our honeymoon! I wonder if the second location is just as enchanting... To be continued!
