The Pacific Coast Highway and LA

(After some significant technical difficulties, we are now up and running!) Still lagging behind a little in the blog, but about a week ago we left Palo Alto and drove down the Pacific Coast Highway to LA. This is much longer than the freeway route (~8 hrs instead of ~5), but certainly worth it. It reminded both me and Dena of the Great Ocean Road in Australia, minus all the flies. In addition to the stunning views, taking the scenic route also has the advantage of visiting Hearst Castle in San Simeon (about halfway between SF and LA). Built in the 1920's and 1930's by the world's first media mogul, William Randolph Hearst, the castle is like no other place I've seen. Depending on your perspective, it is either eclectic or gaudy, but impressive either way. Basically Hearst gathered all the artistic and architectural artifacts he could find and put them together in one compound (according to our tour guide, Hearst purchase 25% of the all European art sold in the 1920's). As you walk around the mansion, you see architecture ranging from European Cathedral to Classic Greek / Roman to Asian / Oriental. The art ranges from sculptures of Egyptian gods to Baroque paintings to medieval tapestries. He imported an enormous fireplace / mantle (~15 feet wide by 30 feet tall) from a French mansion, ceilings / choir stalls from European cathedrals, etc... My favorite part was the heated outdoor pool (not to be confused with the indoor pool), overlooking the Pacific ocean on one side and California mountains on the other. At this humble abode, Hearst hosted the likes of Charlie Chaplin, Winston Churchill, etc... All in all, very impressive... From there we drove down to LA to spend the weekend with Jeff, my good friend from high school, and his girlfriend Quirina. The first evening we were there we went to a great comedy show at Hollywood Improv Club. I can't remember the name of the comedians, but there was one tragic but funny joke that was particularly memorable: "Recently a young gentleman was at an amusement park when he was decapitated by a roller coaster. He was not riding it at the time. Rather, he was standing underneath the roller coaster, having climbed over three different fences to get there. Apparently he was trying to retrieve his hat, which, as it turns out, he didn't need after all." We also had our mandatory celeberity siting at the comedy club. As we were leaving, we spotted Darryl from the office... VERY exciting. The following evening we went back to Hollywood, to Sunset Boulevard, to see the Walk of Fame (with all the celebrity names in stars in the sidewalk) and to watch a movie at a LA's famous Hollywood movie theater. The tickets were $14.50 each (OUCH), but the movie, Slumdog Millionaire, was EXCELLENT. One final note... we've been carrying out air mattress around with us all around the country, and we finally had the opportunity to use it at Jeff's place. It turns out that sleeping on an air mattress with a hole in it is not the fun at all... It also turns out that duct tape is not air tight... lesson learned. That's all for now. Hope you're all doing well! -Amit