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So apologies it's been a while since my last entry, I've just been very busy! But today is the day I bring everything up to date.
Following on from Wednesday in LA spent at Santa Monica and Venice Beach, Amanda and I got up Thursday morning to go off exploring Hollywood! It was quite a grey day, and we started off at the wrong end in an attempt to find cheap parking (which became almost an obsession on our part!) but we found the Walk of Fame and started off down there. We reached the Hollywood and Highland centre after a bit of walking, where there is a great view of the Hollywood sign. We reparked, got some lunch and waited for the weather to clear up a bit, managing eventually to get some good shots. We then checked out the famous hand and footprints of stars outside the Chinese theatre, which was very novel and fun! We took our picture by Michael Jackson's WoF star too, although the excitement of the WoF started to wear off when we saw stars for Kermit the Frog and Shrek. Not impressed, Hollywood!
We drove out of the main Hollywood stretch a bit to visit the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Here a lot of well known actors and actresses, as well as people linked with the film industry in Hollywood, are buried. The first grave we saw was Alfred Hitchcock's, followed by Johnny Ramone's, which was a life size statue of him playing the guitar! The guidebook told us that here Hollywood truly is forever (like the name suggests) as the Hollywood sign is very clearly visible from certain points. After driving around the cemetery a bit (even in cemetery's people in LA don't walk!!) we found this to be true. It was a very unforgetable experience seeing all these big mausoleums, and wandering in the cemetery's own mausoleum where less well off people were able to purchase a small square where they could put the person's name and dates. It was beautifully tranquil, with a lake in the middle on which someone had a mausoleum on an island, right smack bang in Hollywood, LA!
That evening we returned to now Amanda and I's favourite place of Santa Monica. We got some dinner, went to the pier to see a free concert, and then had some fun on the beach before returning home.
On the Friday Amanda, Will and I made our way out to the Getty Centre, located on the Santa Monica mountains. It was a truly remarkable piece of architecture, designed by the extremely clever Richard Meier, who had a great eye for detail, as we found out on an architecture tour. The botanical gardens were also beautifully landscaped and a real joy to walk around. Here we got many great photos as Will surprisingly stepped into the role of trip photographer! We saw a very moving photography exhibition about human crisis, featuring images from photographers such as Saguro, and featuring historical events such as the Afghanistan war, mercury poisoning in China and poverty around the world. Dave joined us after he had finished work, and we wandered around a bit more before leaving in the late afternoon.
That evening we went to the Hollywood Bowl to see 'A Beatles Celebration', which was an orchestrial Beatles tribute with around four different singers. It was a great show and the location and venue of the Hollywood Bowl was also amazing.
Saturday was a trip to Six Flags Magic Mountain, a short drive away in Valencia, CA. A great day full of thrills and spills (including the loss of my driving licence!) in incredibly hot weather. Amanda and I made fajitas when we got back and sangria which was very nice and made for a very jolly evening!
The next day was regrettably my last day :(. We headed out to Newport Beach, slightly south of LA to get some lunch, watch the World Cup final, and go to the beach. We went to (yet another!) Mexican restaurant to watch the World Cup, and were very happy when Spain won. We then spent a couple of hours on the beach, where Dave and I went for a very long swim in the Pacific Ocean, having fun in the (quite strong!) waves. On our return, instead of taking the interstate we decided to go via the Pacific Coast Highway (or PCH), which provided us with some lovely views of the South Californian Pacific coast - a lovely last drive. At the apartment we made yet more sangria, had an Indian takeaway and got slightly drunk in celebration of an awesome trip! Sami, who'd moved to Hollywood that day, also popped round to say bye which was nice.
All in all, Los Angeles was definitely the trip of a lifetime. I so preferred doing it with a friend (and newly made friends) than being a 'regular' tourist - I felt more like a local! Everyone I met there was so nice and really made me feel a part of things. I am extremely thankful to Dave and Amanda for putting me up in LA and Las Vegas, showing me the sights and generally making the trip the amazing time that it was. I'm also grateful to Will for adjusting to the presence of a new, female roomate without protest, and all of Dave friend's for being so nice and friendly to me! I will definitely be back!
C xxx
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