Land of the rich and famous… lots for us to do here.
Beaver was looking forward to some celeb spotting and peeking through a few of the windows of their houses and the cheap Californian Wine.
We got a hostel in the perfect location – a two minute walk from the Hollywood walk of fame and the famous Chinese theatre (where all the movie stars hand / foot prints are set). The journey from the Greyhound station was a little annoying, given that the hostel advertised free pick up from the bus terminal, however when we called for our lift, they protested they had no such service. Great!! On the bus with the moody driver and the homeless alcoholic people of LA.
Ok – Hollywood is not exactly as expected at all! Quite grotty really shabby shop fronts street folk selling this that and the other and people trying to earn their living dressed as famous Hollywood Characters such as Spiderman and Captain Jack Sparrow.
We couldn’t go to Hollywood without taking a trip out to see all the celebs homes and famous sights. So we had a chauffer drive us around past houses belonging to The Osborne’s, The Beckham’s, Mel Gibson, Britney, Mr Guess Jeans with his six Lamborghini’s parked in a line outside his property in red & yellow, and probably about another 40 of the rich & Famous homes all within a 2 mile radius! Quite incredible how close they live to each other. The walk of fame, Julia Roberts Apartment building from Pretty Woman and the famous Beverley Hills Rodeo Drive, All great if you’re a female!
Universal Studios was another one of the top tourist attractions we had to do. Thank god its Winter – No queues! We went on the studios Tour first on the little pull along train/bus thingy great fun! Then onto the rides - The Mummy, Jurrasic Park, House of Horrors and then the live Act shows! Quite amazing with the most incredible sound/action effects.
We took a trip out to Long beach on the Train (we found out later that it is not the safest method of transport in LA) It was an experience and a half…passing through not so wealthy regions such as Compton – where the tramps were a little richer here, as they decided to erect tents on the sidewalk and sleep there instead of shop doors! With them occasionally wondering on the trains giving everyone their sob story and handing a cap round. Then there was the very nice man that tried having a fight with someone as apparently he was looking at his pants the wrong way? After about 10 minutes of shouted abuse and swearing he then threatened to murder him! Anyway…Long beach did indeed have a long beach, but the train journey was so long it was near dusk when we arrived, so just took a walk down the pier and a coffee. Not that there was much to do here, it was disappointing to be honest and most certainly not worth the train journey – the return Journey was not exactly an improvement with us witnessing 6 sherriffs with guns running on to one of the platforms and arresting a drugged up man! God knows what he had been up to.
We went to see a film (American Gangster) at the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on its opening night. This is an amazing venue, but you’d have to see it to appreciate it. You have to wrestle your way through the character impersonators milling around outside (just like you see on the Borat movie) to get into the venue, but it’s worth it, and the film was great too. On our last night in LA we thought we would go out drinking on Sunset Boulevard where all the celebrities drink, we had a few cocktails and ended up sat at this bar where we met these really nice Aussies that had moved to Hollywood 6 months ago, as she worked in the film Industry and had been transferred from Fox Studios in Sydney to Fox Studios in Hollywood! Wow can you imagine that! Anyway they were both hating it as they are struggling to fit in with the Americans and really very unfriendly LA.. cant say I blame them to be Honest.
We decide to leave USA 10 days early as we had both had enough – and were desperate to get some beach time in Fiji!
Farewell America
