LA and the Hollywood Hills!

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So we caught the plane and landed in LA on the 12th (the 13th for most of you) at 11:40am. We cleared customs no problems and caught a shuttle to the car rental place not far from LAX. We had booked a compact but were upgraded free to a sedan or mini van of our choice. We chose a chevrolet HHR, grabbed the garmin and headed for Santa Monica!

After 20 minutes in the parking building we finally found a park, grabbed our gear then shot across the road to the HI hostel where we had a free night booked.

The weather was poor, rain and a cool breeze, but that didnt keep us away from exploring the 3rd street promenade. Here we found a new obsession, cheap filter coffee, 8 flavours to choose from and only $1.30 a cup!!! 😊 Hits the caffine spot and actually tastes pretty good. We then went and checked out the Santa Monica Pier. At night the lights from the ride on the pleasure pier were pretty cool. We were drawn in by Zoltar the fortune teller and spent $5 each in the Arcade. Elliot did his best to impersonate forrest gump outside Bubba Gump's Shimp Co.

We made our way back to the hotel for a good night sleep.

One free breakfast in the morning, checked out of the hostel and got on our tour bus to Hollywood.

We were with Mike from L.A Sightseeing Tours, he was great. We were taken through the Santa Monica area and enlightened with some history of the beach, pier and muscle beach. On the way to Rodeo drive, our tour guide, who was the self proclaimed uncle of Lindsay Lohan and Robert Downey Jnr, showed us the hollywood stars homes in Bel Air...most notably the Fresh Prince of Bel Air's mansion. We headed up the highway to Rodeo Drive aka the most expensive shopping street in the USA. Just looking in the windows of the jewelry stores, Dior, Louis Vitton and Dolce and Gabanna made us feel out of place...I think our shoes gave us away as backpackers:-( From there we checked out the infamous fire escape scene from Pretty Woman and headed to Hollywood...stars along the path, Chinese theater, Hollywood sign and some extra large club sandwiches from an awesome deli! Then up to Mulholland drive to a great look out of LA and the Hollywood sign. Finally to universal studios for a quick walk, and we happened upon the candy shop of Kaity's dreams...a lot of money could have been spent but alas only 4 lollipops were purchased, success! Finally we were back at the hostel, grabbed our bags and jumped in the car on our way to Escondido to visit Kaity's Aunt and cousins. Thank goodness for Garmin!

Dinner with the family at Rockin' Robins, classic burger and fries (bottomless fries - Elliot downed 3 baskets!), a little family catch up and back to Escondido for bed...Early morning tomorrow with Elliot's cousin for breakfast and a quick tour of San Diego!

Catch you then!

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