Saturday 1 September 2012 – Los Angeles in a day
Day 142 and 16 days to go
So today marks the 1 month
date here in the states. Last night was a blue moon and Neil Armstrong was
buried in Ohio.
We were awake and up by 8.30
this morning after having had a better night’s sleep. I must be getting used to
the ironing board they call a bed in this cab. I was surprised that noise from
the fair did not keep us awake.
Once we were dressed and fed
we walked to the front of the campground where our tour guide was waiting to
take us into LA for our tour. We had to drive for about 30min passing the
concrete drains where they filmed the Grease racing scenes before making it
into old LA where they were having a party for the city’s birthday. We were
able to wander around the stalls for 15min before meeting up with our tour
group and jumping in the mini van.
Our first stop was the Disney
Concert hall where we got out and were able to enter inside to see the
building. From here we drove on to Griffith Park. This park houses many things
to do like golf, archery, theatre. The houses leading up the hill are quite
grand and it is a picturesque area.
When we reached the top we
were given time to wander. From up here we could see the Hollywood sign, an
icon of the area. We also had great views north of LA and across the downtown
area. We were lucky we got it on a relatively clear day.
As we walked to the Griffith
Observatory we saw a hummingbird flying around the bushes. We did a lap of the
observatory taking in the view and then it was back to the bus to head to the
Hollywood walk of fame. Our tour guide parked near the Chinese theatre and then
we were able to walk along the boulevard lined with gold stars. Reading the
name of the legends of film and music.
In front of the Chinese
theatre are the concrete slabs that have been signed by various stars. Each
slab also contains their hand and foot prints. It was fun to wander around and
pick out the stars we knew.
We then walked through the
arcade and on to the Dolby Theatre or what was the Kodak Theatre, where they
hold the Oscars. I walked the stairs that would be covered in red carpet before
we crossed the street to check out the Disney theatre and then it was back to
the van to drive on to the Grove Farmer’s Market where we were given an hour to
wander around and buy our lunch.
Paul and I had a wander
through the large outdoor food court before finding something to eat and sitting
down to finish it off. When we were done we wandered around the outdoor mall
before making it back to the group and heading on.
We drove into Beverly Hills
passing along a very trendy strip where stars are known to hang out. We even
saw Justin Bieber’s chrome lambourgini parked in the street. We drove past many
clubs including The Viper Room owned by Johnny Depp and other star hangouts
before driving into the residential area to drive past the homes of the stars
including Christina Aguilera, David Beckham, Michael Jackson to name a few. Of
course the stars were nowhere to be seen. Of the homes we could see WOW! The
properties are massive and the homes bigger. The architecture of many of the
them is stunning and the grounds are pristine.
From here we drove down Rodeo
Drive surrounded by ridiculously expensive things. A Bugatti was parked on the
street outside a shop you have to make a reservation for and you have to spend
$50 000 minimum. It really is just crazy stuff. We stopped briefly at the Beverly
Hills Sign before following Santa Monica Boulevard to the beach.
Here we were able to wander
freely along the incredibly crowded Santa Monica Pier and check out the
sideshow rides along with the beach that stretches north to Malibu. There were
so many people on the pier but just as many on the beach and in the water
making the most of the good weather and the long weekend.
We walked from the pier down
to the beach on the south side, now known as Muscle Beach as it has many
apparatus that can be used for fitness and there were plenty of people working
on it today. Even Arnie in his day worked out on the equipment.
We were then taken further
down the strip to Venice Beach that is somewhat more seedy in its feel, but
also has some interesting arts stalls and buskers. This was the original spot
for muscle beach. Between here and Santa Monica Baywatch was filmed.
With our beach views complete
it was time to finish up our tour and we began the long trip back firstly
having to head to Anaheim to drop off the others at their hotels. This gave us
a chance to see around the perimeter of Disneyland, catching glimpses of the
rides but not much else. Once the other passengers were dropped off we had a
further 40 minutes of driving to get back to our campground. We passed the
California Angels home ground and plenty of highway spaghetti. I was so glad we
didn’t have to drive any of it today. By 7pm we were finally home.
Once in we cooked up dinner
and I loaded the pictures before catching Brad and the family on Skype. It was
great to touch base and see them all. Can’t wait to see them all in a few
weeks.
I did some checking on things
for the next few days and then we went to the spa again for a little relaxation
only there were too many small, noisy kids talking about video games they
should know nothing about. It was quite sad really. I attempted to tune them
out as much as possible but after a while we decided to cut our losses and
return to the van. We could here tonight’s concert going on at the Fair. Carly
Rae was belting out her hit ‘Call Me Maybe’ and the girls were yelling again.
Once back we had dessert
while I finished up the blog and loaded photos while listening to the Ipod and
then it was time to head to bed ready and refreshed for our forward journey
tomorrow.
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