Arrival in Los Angeles

The arrival into Los Angeles was easy because I'd done all the hard stuff in the no mans land of Vancouver Airport Transit Area and in moments I was off the plane and onto the streets of the ..no hang on a minute, not onto the streets! I got in a queue for a shuttle bus and made a small tour of Inglewood and West Hollywood with a group of very pleasant strangers before arriving at the rarefied atmosphere of the Chateau Marmont..do people take the shuttle to this hotel usually? Well you'd think so, I was greeted with such charm and warmth that I felt immediately welcomed, despite the fact I wasn't even staying and taken care of. Here the service exceeds anything else about the place.
Brenda was already there and we sank into the deep lounges of the restaurant and enjoyed the combination of catching up about twenty years of lost time and the conversation with the waiter, who could hardly be called a waiter, he was more like a new friend that had decided to join us but with access to the kitchen. I learned so so much, about coffee, about coffee at intelligentsia, about the ficus trees on Melrose that are being cut down because they are threatening the water pipes..and I got to see an actor have his photo taken..it never ceases to amaze me how much smaller people appear when they are not dominating the tv screen...A fine welcome to LA, good friends, friendly strangers and a very reasonable Cafe Americano!