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Published: September 7th 2013
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You've seen the sights hundreds of times in the movies or the television coverage of the Oscars and today we were going on a morning tour to see it in person and I was quite excited. After a lovely healthy breakfast the shuttle bus came and collected us to take us to join the other tour members from various hotels for the trip
When we arrived there were already lots of waiting day trippers ready to board. The guide pointed out the bus for Tour Number 1 and the crowd surged towards the door. "Ok may I firstly have the group from Channel Rd Inn ?..Result..we do like to walk from the back of the crowd and board first...it sort of makes you feel important!
We took the route to the infamous Rodeo Drive and were allowed thirty minutes to explore the shopping haunts of the well heeled, but as Jackie rightly said the really rich don't go to the shops... the shops go to them!
Kevin the tour guide showed us where to go and pointed how to get to the Bijan store a couple of blocks away where he told us you need to pay a
non refundable deposit of $1500 just to enter the store!!! what.. really?!! I suppose it keeps the riff raff from asking for a carrier bag. Apparantly you can tell if the owners cars are parked outside as they are yellow Buggatti's or Rolls Royce. or some other super car... I could rant on forever about my opinion of the idiotic cost of vanity but to be fair if people want to spend thousands on their appearance it's their business not mine.
Rodeo drive was quiet each of the immaculate window displays were impressive no price tags ... if you need to ask the price you can't afford it. The outside air temperature must have been over 100 degrees and as you passed each store a cold waft from the full on aircon was very welcome.
The sales ladies are posted like beautifully coiffured models at the doors waiting to serve and suck up (I wondered what their job title was... it was easy to imagine the scene from Pretty Woman... it was so so hot and I couldn't see anywhere to buy water so after 30 mins exploration we were happy to board the tour bus again. Again
it wasn't as I had expected it to be, and to me reminiscent of 5th Avenue in New York
There were expensive luxury super cars driving past and it seemed most were driven by women (much to Martin's annoyance).
Next stop Hollywood Boulevard, after driving past several points of interest, mansions where the famous lived, places where the stars died, where they stayed for rehab etc. we arrived at our next stop The Walk of Fame. It's 16 blocks long with hundreds of tributes to the stars.. Jackie found Johhny Depp and decided that he was worthy of a photo so she had a sneaky lie on the pavement just to say she had led next to him... I doubt any others would be worthy of such a tribute although Lionel Richie came close but only because she thinks she may be confusing him with someone else!. We decided that one of the blanks ready to be filled should be reserved for our very own Manx Starlett Sam Barks and I'm sure she will be there one day. We also saw the Chinese Theatre and The Dolby Theatre
Last stop the viewpoint over the famous "HOLLYWOOD" sign,
a good distance away and various places like The Hollywood Bowl, The home that Harrison Ford built himself (he's a master carpenter and the story goes that in 'Star Wars he was the carpenter on the set and got the part because Nick Nolte turned it down!!.. ) Kevin our guide, indicated loads of buildings that were used in the films like the church in Sister Act, the place where Drew Barrymore hung off the edge by a sheet in Charlie Angels and so many more I can't begin to list them all. We saw the penthouse where Chandler Bing from Friends lived... the list goes on but gets a bit boring after a while...
On he way back we had a little game with the driver , we name the tag line from the film and he says the title.. he was good and I so wanted to shout 'S'long GayBoy for Max but didn't want to embarrass Jackie
Back at the hotel the driver dropped us off and Mike Martin and I went to get a sandwich for lunch... Jackie was a little weary from the excitement of lying next to Johnny and needed to rest
so we left her at the hotel only to come back five minutes later to find her sipping gin and tonic with our new American friends from Minnesota... sat at the table glass of iced gin in hand.... to be followed by a couple more just to cool her down you know!
Out of the scorching heat we tend to relax in the afternoons in the beautiful surroundings of this lovely house until it's time for wine at 5... this is a habit I could get into, I am not a wine drinker but the Chardonnay is sweet and goes down a treat with the crackers cheeses and tapenade.
No dinner out tonight ... we just weren't hungry so Martin nipped out and bought half a dozen bottles of Newcastle Brown Ale.
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