Los Angeles is the largest city in the state of California by population, and the second most populous city in the United States. If you have only few days to visit LA, there are attractions which you do not want to miss ... such as Universal Studios, Beverly Hills and wonderful beaches like Santa Monica.
Universal Studios:
This is a *must see* place for people of any age. It describes the film-making business, special-effects, nice rides and lot of fun. The first show I watched was the theme from Kevin Kostner movie Waterworld. The theme was good, but they made it more interesting by putting so many scenes together to keep you busy the whole time. The good guy - bad guy stuff, the Jet Ski rides in such a small water body, the fire, the passion, the jumping from way above, and last but not the least is the amazing scene where a helicopter frying towards you and crashes in the water.
One of the must see rides have to be the Jurassic Park. I love the way they designed it, water filled park, surprises and a last sudden drop into waters, which will leave you anything but dry. Studios tours takes you to the actual sets for films such as "War of the Worlds" as well as TV programs like Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Desperate Housewives. You will also see the -production offices of directors like Alfred Hitchcock and Steven Spielberg. The tour includes nice simulations like the Earthquake at the SFO Union station,
I also loved the Shrek 4-D (funny) and Terminator 3-D shows (thriller), which makes me think how much effort is taken to realize these shows and how realistic they are while you are watching them. Donkey sneezing towards you on the screen is realized by spraying water on you from the front seat, Lord Farquaad's spirit coming from behind you realized by a puff of air on your ears from your own seat back, terminator sword pointed towards you coming close to 2 inches of your nose etc. I know all this is graphic and sounds simple, but when you are there, it really gets you.
Special Effects Stages was another attraction I liked a lot. In this half hour show, they demonstrated how those special effects in the movies, whether it is a 1000:1 proportion giants on the screen or bloody hand-cuttings or special sound effects, are created in the studio. Really inspiring was to involve the audience to create the sound effects for a scene and then replaying it to show how we did. Audience involvement creates more magic in terms of the capability we think we have to do the same special work which the studio guys are doing.
Somebody has captured the simulations and ride experiences on this flickr link for those interested.
Balboa Island, Newport Beach:
After a tiring full day at Universal Studios, I decided to take it easy, relax and then relax more on the Balboa Island, and what a plan it was. The Newport beach is small and cleaner than most tourist beaches such as Santa Monica (although nobody could deny the fact they are probably more beautiful). I was content with the idea of a small and less crowded beach for relaxing and enjoying some ocean breeze, let the sand relax my tired feet and some ocean tides moving my inner sentiments ;) and thats what this beach provided.
It was not too sunny day so I was initially disappointed, but once I reached there it was all good. The good thing about the Southern California beaches is that the water is not as cold as Bay Area (yeah, try swimming here and you will know) so you can stay longer and enjoy more. The friends sometimes describe what your activity will be on beach, whether it will be a beer day or a tea day (weird!!!) and it was tea for me :(
Overall I liked the LA (specially the Irvine area) little better than Bay Area. Bay area is too crowded (I know I know LA is very populated and I was in LA on a weekend). My experience is that LA is more widespread and hence you feel less claustrophobic. I look forward to being in LA again (hopefully soon), to see more of the place and also to utilize my 1 year Universal Pass again ;)
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