Shaving Pokemons

A family that Pokemon's together...
Los Angeles knows how to turn the heat on.
Public transport systems certainly carry more diverse characters than an Uber. We weren't sure at first if the gentleman on the bus was combing his skin or possibly brushing on some ointment. As you attempt not to stare while casually glancing left to right, trying to zoom in your focus and actually see what he was carrying. Ah, sure enough, it was a hand shaver. Yes, he was shaving on the bus while wearing headphones and bopping his head along to music. Possibly some Barber Shop Quartet I imagine.
It's funny how memory can slowly escape you, partly a privelege when wanting to let things go. We noticed a Billboard  advertising a new cartoon, we knew it was from the creator of another show we had seen. It had characters called Fry, Bender and Lela. But we couldn't recall the name, a nice moment as we could even hum the tune but neither of us recall the title. We took that as a good sign we were leaving things behind us.
We noticed the heat when strolling Hollywood Boulevard, that and the majority of this city is concrete. We googled the nearest leafy park to sit, pause and eat our lunch. After a 15 minute walk it turns out that small park square was heavily fenced in and for 'Private Patrons Only'. We were convinced we could fulfil the role of private patrons, there are many times in our lives we have acted as patrons as well as been private. Alas, instead of scaling the fence, we turned away back towards the Boulevard to find some shade and eat our AirBNB made sandwiches we had been carrying around.
Turns out there are four seats along the entire length of the Hollywood Boulevard that aren't inside a retailer. We had to wait for the elderly couple to move along before we stole their places. It was a lovely place to sit, take a breath, a drink and eat, until the Southern Glaziers Wine and Spirits delivery truck parked directly in front of us and sat idling for the next 30 minutes. Being stubborn folk we knew we could outlast the parked truck, turns out we didn't. So we enjoyed our midday lunch on Hollywood Boulevard in the hot heat of the day of a concreted city while admiring the liquor products advertised on the side of the truck as it blew heated exhaust onto us.
Afternoon adventures included Griffith Observatory, a wonderful exhibition of Astronomy and views of the city. We remarked the smog over the city wnd the nearby forest fires didn't help. As we strolled the rooftop we spotted the usual tourist graffiti and scratching of identities on historic walls. Always a shame, particularly to watch it take place as a mother hands her daughter a pen to be the newest to deface a monument.
Highlight for the day was certainly listening to the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra play the music alongside the film of Star Wars A New Hope. At the LA Hollywood bowl, a magical outdoor amphitheatre overlooking the hills, we sat glued to our seats as Luke became caught up in the Rebel fight, Leia met her future Husband (though she doesn't know it yet) and the Orchestra played beautifully. We were enthralled and so too were the tens of thousands there, including the family of four sitting in front of us. Though before the start and during intermission they were quick to each jump on their mobiles and play Pokemon. Families of the future, it was nice to see the Mother boast to her Son that she'd captured a new character.
Like all large scale city events, it finished late and transport home was going to be a question. We knew we could walk 15 minutes away from the venue and find an Uber home for only $15. This was the plan until we noticed 'Shuttle Buses' that included a location to Culver City, where our AirBnB was. We thought this could be a convenient option so attempted to board but was advised we couldn't use our city Metro cards. These were special buses that came at a cost of $12 per person. A moments look at each other, 'sure' we thought. As we handed over $25 and received no change. We sat on the bus and waited for it to depart. We weren't 100% certain where it would drop us, but if it was Culver City, we knew it would be a simple 10minute walk to our apartent. Our love of connectivity meant we could monitor the bus location on Google Maps as it traversed the LA streets. Surprisingly, it took a different route than what Google had recommended. Not unusual though, it just took a wider freeway that went slightly in the opposite direction for 10 minutes before swinging back around again and resuming a more direct approach to Culver City. Now after midnight, we were tiring, but our bus was nearing our port of call. Nearing our port of call, at our port of call, passing our port of call, continuing well past our port of call. You may not know this, we didn't at the time, but you can Google Culver City and sure enough, our residence is Culver City. But did you know, there is also Westfield Culver City. We believe it is a shopping centre a further 10 miles South of where we wanted to be. Many looks at each other as we watched our blue GPS dot continue further away from where we wanted to be. We finally exited a long way from home. A quick Uber request and we had a white Honda Civic pull up in 2 minutes and we were back driving along the freeway directly to our AirBnB. Another $15 later we pulled up at home close to 1am. A shower and onto bed we were dead to the world. If that's the worst of our travel muck ups then we will be very happy. As we said our goodnights, Jamie called out, "Futurama".