~~Trip to Griffith park~~

 Griffith park is located  in scenic Santa Monica mountains in eastern LA, its also called as the Central Park of Los Angeles.There are number of stuffs to do in the park like playing golf,hiking,camping apart from site seeing places like the Los Angeles zoo, museum and Griffith observatory. Actually we went to the observatory the day before but  seeing the crowd we turned back.So planed the visit museum and observatory the next day

 The museum is called the museum of American West which has collections from the 19th century how the migration happened during that time and also during the famous gold rush of 1849.Then there were the artifacts of red Indian and a collection of Chinese artifacts who were surprisingly  major percentage of the population during that time . There was a good collection of painting in that place. We would have spent around two hours in that place.

Then we went to Griffith observatory, we could have an excellent view of the Hollywood sign from that place.The observatory had lots of information about the sun planet and stars. There was also a planetarium in the observatory in which we saw a show which was really good.Being a cloudy day we couldn't see on much on the sky but the view of Los Angeles city from that place was mind blowing.Then we had dinner at Italian restaurant and came back home. 

The next day Sukirtha drove me Disney Land where I got reunited with the 4S family.Thus the short trip to LA comes to an end in which Sheila have not visited any of the places I went except for the temple  :)

~~Visit to Pasadena~~

    While I was in Los Angeles we took time to go to Pasadena a small town to the east of Los Angeles, this is the town famous for the rose bowl parade which happens on every new year.  When Swami Vivekananda visited Los Angles he stayed in Pasadena for more than a month, now they have converted that house into a small memorial.

At that time Sukirtha told me about an incident when Swami Vivekananda met Rockefeller. 

Rockefeller gave a large sum of money to Swami Vivekananda as donation which he quietly accepted it. Rockefeller waiting for a response asked Vivekananda "You should thank me". Vivekananda replied back saying that "It is for you to Thank me", meaning he is giving him the opportunity to do good things! For the detailed story see this link(Good Read!)

So for the people helping me in giving pocket money and getting other stuffs thank me for the opportunity I am giving you for doing good things :))

~~Visit to temples in LA~~

 After visiting Getty museum,Sukirtha took me Lake Shrine temple the place where Yoganada Paramahansa lived. Few months back I visited Ellis Island in New York, it was the port of entry for people from all over the world entering into US during the beginning of 20th century. There was a list of famous people from different countries who came via that island and settled in US and one of  the Indian in the list was Yoganada Paramahansa. The ashram was located near pacific palisades which is near Malibu beach.

We were the only visitor that time and as soon as I entered I was captivated by the beauty and serene atmosphere of the place. The place with lots of trees,well maintained garden and has a wonderful lake inside.Once in one would never feel he is in middle of a buzzing city. There was a meditation hall which was closed that time,when we told we wanted go there an American volunteer took us there, he was meta physicist who got inspired by yogi teachings and he is a follower for 3 years. He took us to the main prayer hall and after meditating there for few minutes he showed us around. They had a small memorial in the temple which had ashes of Mahatma Gandhiji and it was one of the first place to build a memorial back in 50's. We then took a small walk around the lake and spent some time enjoying the beauty of the place.

From there we took a drive along the Malibu beach ,it was in the evening sun set time and that was the right place to be. From there we went to the Balaji temple which was located in a small hill near the beach.It was a ride ride with lots of twist and turn and when we reached the temple we were the only one there.  Iyer of the temple was glad to see us and started talking with us for quite sometime. It was he who suggested to have dinner at woodlands and also told us the way to reach it. They also has a Shiva adjacent to it and we went there and prayed at all sanathis. Finally drove to woodlands for dinner.

There I had spring dosai which was something unique and tasted good. It was a long day to end with great dinner.

~~Visit to Getty museum~~

      One of the places suggested by Swetha to visit in Los Angeles was the Getty museum,she said its famous for Greek and Roman sculptures also the view of pacific ocean from that place is amazing.

      Sukirhta was kind enough to take off for a day in spite of her busy schedule. After having breakfast we left for Getty museum which was an hour drive from our place.The museum is located at a scenic place on top of the hill away from the buzz of the city.After parking the car we had to take a tram to reach that place. When we entered the museum we were confused which way to go or which exhibit to look for. Fortunately there was a collection tour which took around the museum pointing out what are the stuffs we need to check.

Since medieval paintings are more colorful and attractive we spent most of the time there. One thing about the renaissance painting are the wonderful mix of oil colors and perspective with which the artist drew makes it look unique. There was a wonderful restaurant inside the museum where we stopped for lunch.After that we checked few medieval sculptures which had wonderful workmanship.

One thing I liked about that museum it was not crowded and we didn't have to waste time in the queue. But after coming back home I was wondering how I missed the Greek and Roman architecture in the whole building.After doing a little search I found that the place Swetha mentioned was Getty Villa and what we went was Getty museum.May be next time to Getty Villa.

~~Journey to Los Angeles~~

I always believe that the the journey is more important than the destination.Trip to Los Angeles started with an awesome train journey from San Diego. Pacific Surfliner is the train service one needs to take from San Diego to  reach Los Angeles.The total journey takes two hours and 45 minutes. The awesome part of the journey is that the train travels along the pacific ocean for more than a hour. If we plan this journey on a clear evening like me, we can see the sun setting into Pacific ocean which is wonderful to watch from the moving train.Apart from the sun there are other scenic spots all along the route which makes the journey a treat to the eyes. In fact I had book in my hand but never bothered to read it as I was relishing the beauty of nature all the way.

Sukirtha one of our family friends hosted me in Los Angeles for three days. She picked me up from the Union station in Los Angeles and took to her home. She had prepared a delicious dinner which included murungakai sambhar,rasam, kathirikai curry along with crispy dosas which made me to take a long walk after dinner.

Will post about places I visited in LA later.