03.25.07
Playing Tourist Near Home
One thing nice about having relatives visit from out of town is that we get to play tourist with them, heh. My parents were planning on taking my cousins up north to San Simeon last week, but with the ER event, that has now been canceled. Instead, we decided that there are a few local spots that might be of some interest to my cousins. Yesterday we visited the Grauman’s Chinese Theater on Hollywood and Highland. I thought it might be nice to share some pictures because I know that some of my blog friends are not from Southern California. So, this gives me an opportunity to give a tiny tour. 
Not much unspoilt nature here like some of you are able to enjoy daily, who are lucky enough to live father away from large cities. Here we have mostly man-made edifices, lots of paved roads. But this is where I live, so what can I say? 
Here’s a picture of my sister and me in front of the theater. Just click onto the images to see a larger version. I also got a couple more shots inside the theater. 
Here’s one inside the theater, but just outside the seating area. It’s old-style with a large seating capacity including a balcony. The ladies restroom still has a large outer lounge that you don’t see much anymore in modern buildings (except “some” upscale hotels). 
The next picture is one in the women’s lounge area. That’s one feature that I liked in older buildings. From memory, I think there were about six or eight vanity stations with it’s own mirror and cushioned chair from where women could “freshen up.” Since I’ve lived here in Los Angeles for most of my life, I always thought that everyone knew about the hand and footprints at the Chinese Theater. 
But not everyone is star struck and couldn’t care less about the goings on here in LA, ha, but just i
n case you haven’t seen these prints, here are a few of them. There are many, many more all around the courtyard of the Chinese Theater. All along the sidewalks in the area are embedded stars with various people’s names on them. 
Here’s a picture of one of those stars. I shot one of Louis Armstrong’s star. I’m sure you Saints fans are familiar with Armstrong. While we were there, we decided to watch the movie “300,” and boy what a story that is! I’m sure the directors embellished a lot and got a little more artsy fartsy than I like, but regardless, if there is any truth to that story, what a story! Never have I seen so many capes busting out in testosterone all in one place, ha! Oh, and not the kind of movie for the young-uns to see. One of the several things that struck me was the strength and endurance those men had. We hear that life expectancy is longer now, yet we also hear so much of “chronic fatigue” and rising incidences of disease and new diseases. Today so many people just sit in front of a desk pushing a pencil, then come home exhausted, while those Spartan warriors marched for miles carrying heavy sheilds and swords with enough energy to spare and fight the whole day long against hundreds and hundreds of men. 
Here are a couple pictures I took from the Topkapi Palace Museum in Istanbul, Turkey. These are likely not those from Sparta, but other ancient swords. One of the first things that impressed upon me was the “size” of these swords. Not light-weight, I’m sure. I imagine I would be pooped out just picking it up once or twice, much less having to haul it around for miles and then afterwards weld it around while fighting hour after hour with it. No need for an enemy to kill me, just bearing the weight of those swords for a few days would kill me of exhaustion, ha! Where did they get their strength? I know that pound for pound men are stronger than women. But I’m not so confident that we have lots of men today who could weld these swords. The potential strength of men is something that has always impressed me about how God created men (not to mention all the talent in arts, music, and sports man is capable of). The human body is truly magnificent. And those men of old. . . boy, would they be something to see. Was King David like one of these?
Well, that’s enough for today. My cousins still have one more week here, so I might be able to post some more touring pictures of Los Angeles. If not, I may just add some that I’ve taken in the past for other email friends, hehe. Digital cameras are addicting sometimes!
Marlakins
