Copenhagen

So first up, I stayed at the Scandic Palace Hotel.

FYI, sunset is at 11pm, sunrise is 4am.  So yea, kinda wierd.

Here's the nice room.  Yes, I did the upgrade.  I am that kind of person

Nice spot for the Jordans.

Here's the view from our balcony.  Not too bad!  It was like 9pm here.

Next up is the boat tour.  There are lots of canals in Copenhagen and even more bridges for bikes and pedesrians!

We started the tour from Nyhavn.  Looks like a postcard.

Those are life jackets in that building.  These people are prepared.

This is their opera house.  Very nice.  Apparently the top roof deck is the size of a football field

Here is their playhouse

Side View of the Opera House.  They do the Red Bull Flutag off the building

Here's a cool multifamily building

In the backround is their trash incenerator which makes energy

Here are a camp of boats that homeless people set up.

This is Paper Island.  They have lots of food stalls and nice place to hang out.  Very cool.

This was on Paper Island.

Circle Bridge.  Setup so you can hang out..

Here is the royal library also called black diamond.

Harrods

I am thoroughly impressed with Harrod's.  I can't possibly think of anything equivalent here in the US of A.  The closest analogy would be like a Saks 5th times a thousand.

Harrod's

My favorite was their food halls.  My enthusiasm was dampened when I found out 

that there were no tables for the food to go market.

I took this pic a few moments before they closed.  Impressive, indeed.

This is a menu for a casual restaurant in the hall.  I want to give you an idea of how 

much stuff is, Fish and Chips with Cod is 27 GBP which is about $34 USD for FISH AND CHIPS!!

Cool Meat Locker!

Here's the prices for the meat.  So, say you want 1 pound of US Prime Rib.  There are 454 Grams/1 Pound and its "Per 100 Grams and assuming they can get you a 454 Grams, it comes out to 80 GBP which comes out to $101 USD.  May I repeat, one Pound, 12 OZ of US Prime Rib is $100.

As you walk through the entire store, you keep on telling yourself or outloud, WTF!

Among other things, they have art!  More specifically, I saw an Andy Worhol

This one was for sale.  

Here are some Chihuly

$45k

Here is another one.

Like Dominos?  Here is a gold set.

Here's a old school fridge with the artwork by Dolce and Gabanna

That's 16GBP which is currently $20 USD for ONE coconut from all the way in Thailand.  That's 5,800 miles from London.  From LA to Thailand its 8,100 miles, and at Asian markets you can get a dozen for $10.  Go figure. 

Some cookies!

Jabugo Iberico Jamon.  The whole damn leg of a pig from Spain.

London!

Hey everybodeeeee!  I know, it's been a while.  I promise to make it up with this post and the one after!  So I just got back from my trip and I have quite a  bit of stuff to share with y'all!

So when I got off the plane, at Heathrow, I saw this ice cream dispenser and I knew that London was going to be super cool.

Yes, they have this at Heathrow.  Why don't we have this in LA?

One the way to the hotel, we passed by the Queen's house.  Yup Buckingham Palace.

Nice!

Here is the view from my hotel.  Nice.  Another rainy day...

Big Ben at night

Big Ben in the day.

London Eye.

On the London Eye!

Up HIGH!

You can see the Shard and the train station from here.

Here is the Shard.  It's one of the tallest buildings in Europe.

Tower Bridge.

Birthday Outing!

Whats up everyone!  I met up with my friends last Friday to celebrate my birthday which is coincidentally today!  We went on top of the US Bank Tower on the observation deck which was super cool.  This is one of the tallest buildings around at 1,018 feet!

This is one of the elevators we took up.

Yup, 70th Floor.  71st Floor is the restaurant with overpriced food.

This is facing West.  

You are actually outside behind Plexiglas.  So that explains the reflections.

I think this is one of my best photos.  The Aon building is actually 69 floors and 860 feet tall.

I found a crack where I can stick out my phone to take this picture.  You can see the new tall building the Wilshire Grand.  It is currently under construction and should be opening 2017.  

That's the US Bank Tower Sign.  You can see the restaurant just below the sign.

This is facing East.  

The building with the blue top is 2 California Plaza.  

  That cleared out area behind that is Union Station.  Pretty damn big.

This one is facing North.  You can see the Disney Concert Hall.

After that we went to K-Tower and WTF the Lakers were kicking ass!!

At this point, we binged with some KBBQ and wrapped up the evening with donuts!

California DMV Pep Talk

Hey everyone!  This post, is going to be different.  Actually, this is a first for me.  I typically average a speeding ticket every other year.  The past couple of years, the Golden State has had several budget shortfalls and it seems that the Police have been working hard to compensate.  Last year I got a speeding ticket on the way to Las Vegas.  It was actually 5 minutes from the border.  Boom.  100Mph citation.  Few months later Boom.  Another speeding ticket.  WTF.  So if I do recall it was summertime and I already have 2 tickets that I cannot go to traffic school.  Then I get a letter in the mail....

WTF.  I feel like this was some pep talk saying that I am better than this shit.  So the, January 2016, my insurance premium doubled to nearly 3k a year.  Wow.  So yea, Fuck You DMV and State Farm.

Boston, Salem and Plymouth!

So we took the train from Penn Station to Boston.  

So they have the the fast train that gets you there in 3 hours and 15 min.  The slow train is like 2x as long.  Halfway through the ride, I remembered that they have apps that show you how fast you were going, and

From what I understand, these trains are the fastest in the US of A.  

I don't think it went over 160MPH.  

This one did have WiFi and lots of places to charge your electronica.  

They do have a bar car in the front of the train.  Lousy vodka selection... but hey...

Lobster Rolls

I actually ate 3 lobster rolls and they were all damn good.  One thing is that these rolls are all over the place but each place has their own way of preparing it and that's what makes it dope.

We wen to Whalburgers.  I thought it was pretty good.

So we went to Salem and wow, they really do embrace the Witch theme.

They have Witch museums!

This is called Stick Work.  

So if you are in Salem, you gotta take the tour!  

And if you are going to take the tour, do it at night!!

This was our tour guide.  He took us around town and explained WTF happened. I forgot his name.  Yea I know.  I should have remembered....

They have a nice memorial for the people that died in the 1692 Salem Witch Trials.

At the time there was mass hysteria and they accused 200 people of 

being a witches and 20 people were executed.

Giles was tortured to death by putting weight on him because he didn't admit guilt.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giles_Corey

This memorial is for George Burroughs.  He was hung on August 19,  1692

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Burroughs

Plymouth

Here's the rock!  It's actually pretty small.  I wish there was something I could have put in the photo to show scale, but they built this gazebo like structure where the middle part is like a well and you look down and see this.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_Rock

At least its nice and clean with no graffiti.  If this was in L.A.....

Here is the Mayflower II

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayflower_II

The ship is more of a replica that doesn't move.  

So people just board, look around and then leave.