Southern Califonia

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Southern California: 1st September 2008

Our first stop back in the States was San Diego, just a short tram ride from the Mexican border. We had booked a hostel in the centre of town for three nights which was right next to the Gas Light district where all the restaurants and bars are. Although San Diego is quite a large city, it never seemed too busy and it was easy to get around. While there we visited the attractions at Ocean Beach, a laidback surfer hangout with lots of bars and surf shops. We also spent a whole day at the very impressive San Diego zoo where we managed to see polar bears swimming in their glass sided pool. We also saw pandas, koalas and even a two headed snake. That evening we headed out with a group from the hostel to a bar where two duelling pianists would play any song requested by the audience for a few dollars (or would even stop playing for a few more!)
We then headed up the coast to Los Angeles on our last ever Greyhound bus (thank goodness). When we arrived in the huge smoggy city, we headed to Hollywood where we stayed in a hostel right on Hollywood Boulevard with the walk of fame passing right by the front door. We walked almost all of the walk of fame checking out all of the famous names on the stars including Elvis, Frank Sinatra and even K.C. and the Sunshine Band! We also saw the famous hand and foot prints outside the chinese theatre. The next day we went downtown to take a look around and saw the stunning Disney concert Hall and strolled around the central market. We tried to find the Neon Art museum but found out it had been turned into a coffee shop. From their we headed out to see the La Brea tar pits, where well preserved remains of prehistoric creatures had been found and then headed to the nearby farmers market for some food and a look around the shops and stalls.
As LA is so big, we decided to move to Venice Beach and a different hostel. There we walked along the beach front with all it's shops, stalls and hippies selling home made crafts. We stopped to watch the bodybuilders at muscle beach and also watched some basketball which featured some very minor celebrities, so minor that we didn't know any of them. We were glad to get free pancakes for breakfast at the hostel as we were going to need a lot of energy to skate up to Santa Monica on the rollerbaldes we hired. After a few wobbles, we were soon cruising up the beach side path just like all the locals. We went to the Santa Monica pier hoping to ride the old wooden rollercoaster but the whole place had been hired out for a private party. We refuelled on pizza before heading back to Venice and were glad to arrive back in one piece even though Richard had a slight fall on the way. Steph would have helped him up but she didn't know how to stop. We returned to the hostel for a much needed rest and to plan our next road trip round California.

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Photos

Baby panda
It's a tough life being a panda.