Now to report on my last day in California - the end of an exciting week that had begun with a visit to Advanced Bionics and a spectacular sunrise.
The view from our downtown Los Angeles hotel on this last day of our trip wasn't quite the illuminating spectacle I was treated to a week ago, but it was still worth photographing - the big sky, the mountain backdrop, the glow from the east. Here's the view from my hotel window - and if you look closely, you can see the LA Opera building on the right, alongside a partial view of silvery Disney Hall.
 |
| Sunrise in downtown Los Angeles |
We only had a few hours left to sightsee before heading to the airport, so the pick for the day was Rodeo Drive, that fabled street of luxury stores. I had always heard so much about it, and it seemed like the ideal place to spend our last few hours in Los Angeles - just park the car, walk up and down the boulevard until we ran out the clock on our week in California.
The experience was as "bling" as I had expected - no disappointments here! We stopped at every store window, dropped into a few shops to browse, spoke with some salespeople. No hearing revelations - just a perfect way to see this legendary location in person. Shoes, jewelry, fashions:
 |
| Gucci shoes |
 |
| Jewelry |
 |
| Fashion displays |
We meandered up the charming Rodeo North side street, with its Tiffany and Versace stores:
 |
| Tiffany and Versace shops on Rodeo Drive North |
It was right there, as I was window shopping in front of Tiffany's, that my husband suddenly told me to STOP. He had to take my picture at that moment - the sun was casting its illuminating glow on me! After viewing the photo, I thought immediately of the excerpt from my book, Listening Closely, that I had read to the Advanced Bionics staff just one week ago, about creating a masterpiece with my cochlear implants. Considering the hearing adventures of the past week that I've written about in these blog episodes - the music, the casual conversations, the greater ease of socializing - my masterpiece description was coming to life here on Rodeo Drive:
"In essence, the masterpiece I am creating this time is more like an impressionist painting - a Renoir portrait, perhaps? The shades are subtle, they blend, you can't really see the image clearly unless you step back, and it takes a while to appreciate what you're looking at. The image that is emerging is someone who can hear even better than before - smiling, shining, confident - and hearing impaired continues to recede farther into the background."
 |
No comments:
Post a Comment