Back in the USA--Final Day in Los Angeles

Monday, July 6, 2014

En Route Home: Shanghai-Los Angeles

We organized a taxi and were up and away, the next morning and flew from Pudong to Los Angeles—a 13 hour flight that surprisingly went quickly as we watched The Wolf of Wall Street and All is Lost (both of which we enjoyed immensely).

 Last Day in Los Angeles:     

In Los Angeles, we checked into the Radisson Airport hotel which was just 5 minutes away. The free shuttle bus dropped us off there and we tried hard to catch a much-needed nap before Chriselle arrived to spend the day with us. Alas, neither one of us could fall asleep easily.

            An hour later, she was with us. We dressed and she drove us to the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena as we thought we’d have enough energy to take it in. However, I have to say that although its collection is superb, 45 minutes into our visit, I was staggering with jetlag and had to call a halt to it.

            Chriselle then drove us to her place where we had a fabulous reunion with her dogs, Ferris and Herky and then fell fast asleep for a couple of hours. Robert got home at 7. 30 when we dressed again and got ready for our dinner appointment and an early birthday celebration for me at Osteria Mozza, Mario Battali’s restaurant in Los Angeles. We had ourselves a truly amazing meal with a sampler of mozzarella and buratta cheese, a lovely Valipocelli red wine, lamb chops, goat-cheese filled ravioli, spaghetti with sea urchin and hangar steak—not to mention the amazing desserts of Nancy Silverton whose cioccolato (a dense chocolate cake) and almond tart were the final touches of gastronomic greatness that ended our evening and indeed our holiday.

            Robert and Chriselle dropped us back to the Radisson Hotel for a good night’s sleep before our early morning flight, the next morning, on American Airlines, and then it was all over. We were finally home at Southport at about 11 pm after I had spent my entire birthday airborne.    

 Conclusion:

            Our travels had come to an end—and exciting though they were, it was not a moment too soon. Both Llew and I were footsore and exhausted and although we had been deeply enlightened and fascinated by the Far East, we had probably bitten off more than we could chew. We were ready to sleep in our own bed and bathe in our own bath tub again.