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Los Angeles - "The stars come out to play..."
After arriving by bus into LA we spent a few days on Venice Beach. This place is seriously free of any restriction on personal expression. Some of my favourite people include the guy shaking his tin can asking for money and singing "jingle bells, jingle bells help me get drunk"! Others include the old man dancing practically naked (in the cold) amongst skateboarders, rollerbladers and freestyle dance troupes near a skate ramp whilst mad "sk8-a-boi's" defied gravity - except these dudes were like 50, they must have started skating in the 70's. Then there were the "Hush Doctors" - these are retail street shopfronts along Venice Beach that sell "medicinal marajuarna" and offer free onsite testing (only when the doctor is in of course) to see if you too are eligble for a dose. There are dozens of T-shirt shops and even more vendors selling, well selling crap quite frankly...but then there were the street performers, very fun groups getting the crowd involved with crazy dance moves and pretty awesome music sets. We checked out the muscle men at Venice Beach gym, huge individuals trying to glean their motivation from pictures of Arnie in his prime working out 30 years ago in the same gym. The street basketball, handball and paddle tennis was fun to check out too. The beach itself is awesome, it was too cold to swim but you can see why this place is so popular in summer - it goes on for miles and is so expansive and its golden sands and beautiful waters attract swimmers, surfers, volleyballers, dog lovers, runners and walkers of all backgrounds.
On our first day we walked the length of Venice Beach and checked out the famous Santa Monica pier. After shopping at some boutique stores on nearby Abbott Kinney street we had dinner at the Sidewalk Cafe. This was my 1st introduction to the typical American burger and chilli fries. About a 1000 calories later I "rolled" out the door very content indeed.
Before we knew it New Year had rolled around and we celebrated at a nearby restaurant on Washington boulevad after a few warm up drinks in our room and a brief concert of our top 10 kareoke songs from Tams playlist. Notable performances included Greatest Love of All, I'll Be There and Take Me Back.
Then it was time to move house for a few days over to Hollywood. We stayed just off Hollywood Boulevad and the "Walk of Fame". We had lunch at Hard Rock Cafe amongst famous memoribillia from Elvis to Hendrix to Marilyn Monroe and more burgers abounded! We strolled past such famous landmarks as Madam Tussauds (although there appears to be one everywhere we go - not my thing), Ripleys Believe it or Not, The Kodak Theatre where the Academy Awards are held, the famous Chinese theatre where famous Hollywood stars have their hand and shoe imprints and everything else wild and wacky.
The next day it was time to man up and pick up the hire car for my first driving experience outside of Australia and New Zealand. We bused it out to LAX to pick up the car - can I just make a comment about the bus system in LA - its brilliant, I wouldn't travel any other way on a budget. Its cheap, comfortable, reliable and informative. Upon picking up the car we requested a GPS to be included - BEST DECISION EVER!!!! After a little practice it was all systems go and it was surprisingly easy to get used to driving on the right, dealing with some crazy LA traffic and those weird cross intersections where there are 4 stop signs and everyone is looking at everyone else to see who is going to go 1st!! So with the car is was far easier to get around and loads more fun so we set a course for Beverly Hills and found ourselves on Rodeo Drive with the rest if LA's tourist population. Its funny to see the worlds most expensive shopping strip being packed with international tourists snapping photographs wildly whilst the shops are barren - the retail assistants perhaps waiting for Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian to appear for a shopping frenzy! We had a beautiful lunch over looking the street at a chic cafe and enjoyed a Nappa Valley wine whilst the sun set over the city.
The next day we set off across town to Pasadena to stay at the very famous Langham Hotel. I have to say that this place was incredible. The grounds, facilities and service was outstanding and whilst we were there a TV network was holding a conference so the hotel was filled with producers and executives and a couple of celebrities we apparently didnt recognise as they were swamped by fans asking for their autograph outside the hotel lobby.
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