I’m back with Day 3 of the LA leg of our trip! In case it’s helpful, I thought I’d share our itinerary…
Los Angeles with Kids – Itinerary
Day 1
Dinner at In-N-Out
Check in to Beverly Hilton
Day 2
Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Breakfast
Griffith Observatory / Hollywood Sign
Griffith Park Merry-Go-Round
Mendocino Farms Lunch
LACMA / La Brea Tar Pits
The Original Farmers Market Dinner
Walk of Fame
Zootopia at El Capitan
Day 3
The Ivy Breakfast
Rodeo Drive
Beverly Gardens Park
Getty Museum
Santa Monica Pier
Diddy Riese Snack
Pool
Il Forno Caldo Dinner
Day 4
Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Breakfast
WB Studio Tour
Stalk Disney Studios
The SmokeHouse Late Lunch
Drive to Disneyland
Our first stop of the morning was for an amazing Easter breakfast at the famed Beverly Hills restaurant The Ivy!! I had heard stories of the roses and how lovely it is, and it certainly lived up to all of them!! It just felt wonderfully indulgent to be there and I tried hard to soak up every moment.
All of the waiters were men in pink shirts with floral ties… swoon! As soon as we walked in they offered us champagne and the littles juice.
Not just any juice, we’re talking amazing home made strawberry lemonade and fresh squeezed apple juice. You don’t even want to know what that glass of apple juice cost … but I insisted on a sip and it was quite delicious.
We were seated on a lovely little corner settee in the main room by the fire and certainly had a great time!! I had the french toast, the littles had pancakes and omelettes, and Honey had eggs benedict.
After lunch we scooted over to Rodeo Drive for some Sunday morning window shopping. I totally had a Pretty Woman moment. I mean, except for the whole hooker thing.
Beverly Gardens Park was just at the end of Rodeo and I’d been itching to get a picture made here since we drove past it so frequently. It’s actually one of the most photographed spots in the city!
We arrived at the Getty Museum right before lunch and it ended up being a highlight of our trip for Honey and me!! It was such a unique experience with the tram ride up the hill and everything being so white against the lush landscape. This will sound odd, but it kind of reminded me of those trains they take into the Capitol in Hunger Games. I mean, totally different, but for some reason I kept thinking that.
We spent tons of time exploring the various exhibits, with our favorites being the old European paintings. We just don’t have this caliber of art in Atlanta. We saw Monets…
Rembrandts…
Renoirs…
And so many that we didn’t even know we’d love. One of my very favorites was The Ransom by John Everett Millais. It was literally captivating… I could hardly walk away from it. He depicts a 16th century knight being reunited with his daughters. The kidnapper firmly grasps the the girls by their wrists. One daughter’s fingers grip her father’s shoulder while he places a comforting arm on her back. The knight stares intently at the captor while a co-conspirator’s hand overs over the precious jewels serving as ransom.
One of the most unique features of Getty Center were that the outdoor spaces were just as wonderful to explore as those indoors.
It was a lovely way to spend a few hours and the littles enjoyed it much more than we had expected. When they started to get fidgety we just sent them to the sofas in the middles of the rooms :-) Admission is free to the museum and parking is $15. Overall, we were blown away by the number of free things to do in LA!
After the Getty Center we headed to the Santa Monica Pier. I always wanted to see the Pacific Park ferris wheel in real life. Why? I have no idea. We bought tickets and gave it a whirl. While it was not something I’d do again, the views of Santa Monica and all of the sail boats out in the ocean were impressive. I think I realized if you’ve done one ferris wheel, you’ve done them all. (Of course I promptly forgot that the second I laid eye on Paradise Pier in Disneyland.)
After getting sucked in to some boardwalk games, we made a super quick walk down to dip our toes in the Pacific Ocean for the first time, took the requisite pic at the end of Route 66 (Cars movie fans in tow) and hit the road. If I had to cut one thing from our entire itinerary, this would be it. It was SUPER crowded, dirty (I say this because we had to dodge multiple chicken bones and other various unmentionables on our way to the water) and just kind of ho-hum in general.
At this point we were getting a bit hungry but already had dinner reservations so I pulled out one of the lists my neighbors sent and we headed to Diddy Riese in Westwood for a snack. The little place had a line out the door (mostly college students), is super inexpensive and only takes cash. We felt a little nervous at the slightly soup-nazi-ish demeanor of the people working inside. We were obviously new, newbs, nervous southerners that didn’t know what in the world to order. But, we muddled through – with a whole bag to go as well – and were blown away with deliciousness!!!!!!
I had some sort of chocolate ice cream between a chocolate chip cookie and peanut butter cookie. It was to die for. The cookies were so perfectly chewy and crispy. I seriously wish this was in my neighborhood!
We spent the later part of the afternoon back at the Beverly Hilton‘s famed Aqua Star Pool. It’s a pretty luxurious space reminiscent of old Hollywood. It turns out that it is also Beverly Hills’ largest pool and is the setting for many photos and films.
We ended our night with a lovely dinner at Il Forno Caldo right in Beverly Hills at the recommendation of the same friend that sent us pretty much every other restaurant (next time I’m dining out I’m totally calling her.) It is a tiny little place that we drove by twice before finally honing in on it. It was a yummy and fun meal and we had such a good time rehashing all of our favorites from the prior two days!
The sign of good pizza… and he knows pizza.
When we got back to the Beverly Hilton the turn down service had left us with chocolates and bottled waters and dimmed lights and classical music playing softly. It was super romantic… other than the two tired boys we carried in and had to dress in jammies :-). We literally fell in the beds and nobody got up to turn off the music. I have to say, I think it was the best night’s sleep we had that week!
xoxo
Los Angeles
Day 1 & 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | GoPro Review
DIXIE DELIGHTS DELIVERED
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