2016 Motorcycle Adventure (DAY Sixteen)

Seven o'clock came way too early this morning but I didn't want to miss seeing Duncan off to work as I was planning to leave after breakfast. Despite the warm weather I had endured the last several days, LA was much cooler and besides I didn't have to contend with rain and high winds. The California coastal weather is pretty hard to beat in the summer.
I had told Giacomo that I would be at his Hollywood apartment by 11:00 so not knowing what kind of traffic I might find waiting for me I left early. The traffic turned out to be fairly light by LA standards and I made good time getting there.
It is a lovely apartment on a quiet street not too far from where the studio is located. For those of you who may not know, Giacomo plays a Dr. DeLuca on the hit series, Grey's Anatomy. Fortunately for me he is off this week.

Giacomo had purchased a hammock that he wanted to hang between two trees out in front at his girlfriend, Nicole's apartment so he asked me to give him a hand. The hammock came with a couple of hooks and two short pieces of chain but not near long enough to reach the trees. We needed rope so off we went to the hardware store. Once we had all the materials the hammock installation was pretty straightforward.
Nicole wanted to get to her gym for a workout so Giacomo and I came back to his place and he prepared me a gourmet lunch for the two of us.
Now we had the rest of the afternoon and I asked if we could do some Hollywood stuff. Being a celebrity has it's perks so Harley Davidson gave him a brand new "Fat Bob" motorcycle. Giacomo already owned a Harley "V-Rod" so he suggested we take his two bikes and ride up to get some photos at the huge "HOLLYWOOD" sign on the hill overlooking this film industry mecca.

Next stop was the film studio where Grey's Anatomy is filmed. As a fan of the show, mainly because of Giacomo, I really enjoyed seeing the various sets that were so familiar to me. In this industry the summer is usually time off for the actors but the crew spends their time prepping all the props, lighting, etc. so I had a real behind the scenes kind of tour.

Once back at Giacomo's place we showered and got dressed for dinner out as Nicole had made reservations at a local eatery for 7:00. These two use Uber or Lift to get around town which seems to have crippled the taxi industry in many big cities. It's very fast, inexpensive and can be ordered and paid for all on your cell phone. We found a big black Mercedes sedan waiting out front for us almost like out own private limo. We ate at Republique and had a variety of unusual taste delights, The octopus salad was very tasty as a starter and my pasta dish with a glass of Pinot was delicious. After getting back to the apartment I wanted to get some photos of Giacomo and Nicole so we fooled around doing that for awhile. I had mentioned to Nicole that I had all kinds of pics of Giacomo over the years so she was eager to see them all.

I could tell that Giacomo was tired so it was time to close things out for the day. He graciously gave me his apartment and he went with Nicole to her place.