Sunday 2nd October

---

Today we did Los Angeles. It was an early start, but everyone was on the bus at 8am prompt and we set off along our old friend the PCH (highway 1). Our guide for the day was Mele, a Santa Monica resident who originally came from Germany. She proved to be an informative and well-organised lady, who was either instructing the bus driver which lane to be in and where to go, or regaling us with facts about LA.

Luckily, as it was early Sunday morning, the traffic into LA was quite light and we were soon at our first stop - the Walt Disney Concert Hall. We walked through the plaza and then around the periphery of the theatre. As we drove through LA we passed many of the famous landmarks including Capitol Records building, the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels and the Staples Centre.

The oldest house in LA was our next stop in the historic district of LA, Pueblo Plaza and Olvera street. As well as looking around the house we browsed a Spanish/Mexican style street market.

Next stop was out of central LA at the Griffith Observatory. From here there were tremendous views of downtown LA and on a nearby hillside, the very iconic Hollywood sign. There were very many German Shepherd dogs with handlers here, many of them sporting coats saying adopt me. Our guide explained that they were all from a rescue centre and volunteers had brought them out for the day, hoping someone will see them and offer them a home.

From here we travelled to Hollywood, which is a suburb of LA. We were soon motoring down Hollywood Boulevard and as our guide predicted, the pavement became black with the famous stars embedded in it. We exited the bus to walk along the pavement spotting the stars for Elton John, Olivia Newton John, Michael Jackson, Glenn Miller and Muhammed Ali to name just a few. Our guide then showed us the venue for the Oscar ceremonies, which is actually a theatre within a shopping centre. The pillars show the best film winner in each year.

Luckily the next was for lunch, as we were all starving, this sight-seeing is hungry work!. This was at the Farmer's Market, which was a huge market area, with very many food stalls selling a very diverse range of foods. We decided to go Mexican and had a very tasty Jambalaya, served with a side of sweet potato with apples and raisins and a bun. It was very good value and very filling.

Next up was Beverley Hills which is a separate city and home to many of the Hollywood stars. Here we walked down the very upscale shopping street of Rodeo Drive, where every shop was a high-end designer store and no prices were on display.

Our final stop of the day was Santa Monica beach, where we had a stroll along the bustling pier, with its solar powered ferris wheel and a sign denoting the end of the famous Route 66.

We finally got back to the campsite at 6pm after a very busy, but very interesting and well-organised tour. It certainly gave us a flavour of LA. Tomorrow is a rest day here in Malibu beach.

Very poor internet connection here - photos to follow.

---