A Day In Los Angeles

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I've lived in Orange County for around five years and every so often I say to my friends "I want to go to LA more!" It rarely ever happens, mostly because no one wants to make the hour drive in the traffic. But this weekend my roommate and I decided that we needed some time in the city, especially since we'll be moving soon and don't have much more time to explore! I thought I would share the places I went to and some photos from the day. Warning this post is a bit photo-heavy!

Our first stop was what I was most excited about. We got up early to beat the traffic and figured we would grab breakfast in the city. We decided on Bottega Louie, a place I'd heard about from Instagram and looked both delicious and fun. It was such a fun experience, and we definitely felt bougie eating here! They have a full bakery in the front of the restaurant and sell a number of things from chocolate bars to house-made pasta. I ended up buying some pasta sauce (YUM!) while we were waiting for our table and then settled on the French toast once seated. They soak the bread for this dish in vanilla custard for 36 HOURS. That's crazy right?! They actually refuse to serve it if it hasn't soaked long enough. I completely understand why though, because it was incredible. It almost had the texture of a bread pudding but with crispy edges. Amazing. I shared this with my friend as well as some potato pancakes and bacon. All good, but nothing beats that french toast. I definitely recommend this place if you want to get a fancier breakfast or brunch!

Next we traveled a few blocks away to The Last Bookstore. This was another thing that was on my Los Angeles bucket list. It's a HUGE bookstore/museum/labyrinth of fun. As you can see from the photo in the center it's full of all different sorts of books, but that's only a view of part of the first floor! They have new and used books on everything you can imagine (my friend almost bought a book on Scientology because it was cheap and she was curious, ha!) and if you walk upstairs there's even more! When you go up the stairs you walk into what they call the labyrinth which is more books in fun designs like this tunnel above. If you keep walking you also head into the art collective that houses a few different artists and their studios/shops. Although I didn't buy anything it was really cool to visit!

After The Last Bookstore we drove over to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) to visit the museum as well as the iconic street lights. The museum was super interesting, but I'm not going to lie it was the lanterns that were really on my list to visit! They're in practically every LA-themed show or movie, so I had to visit them while I was here! As you can imagine there were a good number of people taking photos with them, so naturally I had to too.

Our next stop was the famed Laduree macaron shop in Beverly Hills. My friend and I have had Laduree a few times before on our various trips together, but hadn't been to this store. We decided we had to judge Bottega Louie's macarons against these, and it we decided that although BL's were good, the filling in Laduree's just can't be beat. My favorite are the fruit flavors which have actually jam in them, so good!

Top: Marshalls, Similar, Similar | Jeans: Topshop | Boots: Target | Purse: Target | Sunglasses: Old, Similar 

Our final stop was walking distance from Laduree, the famous Rodeo Drive! My friend couldn't believe I had never been, so we just walked up and down the street looking at all the extremely expensive stores and people dressed in crazy expensive outfits. I swear I saw SarahMichele Gellar, but maybe that's because I just wanted to see a celeb so badly, ha! There's a section of Rodeo Drive that isn't accessible to cars, and it looks just like a European street, so pretty to walk down.

The day was so fun, although by the end I was ready to kick my shoes off there was so much walking! Have you been to any of these iconic LA spots? What are your favorite places in the city to see, I would love to put them on the itinerary for my next trip!