Advertisement
Published: August 3rd 2008
Edit Blog Post
Today we were due to go on a ‘beaches and shopping’ tour so had to get up at the crack of dawn. It didn’t matter as we’ve been waking up at 5am since arriving in LA and today was no different. We grabbed a McDonalds breakfast as there wasn't time for anything else (which was horrible) and then headed back to the hostel to wait for the coach. When one arrived we went to see if it was ours and the driver (who wasn’t English) told us to get in. We tried asking again if it was the right coach and he just kept telling us to get in, so we did. The trip was supposed to start from a place called ‘The Grove’ but the driver drove around the city and then started driving to LAX. We started panicking thinking we were on the wrong coach but neither of us wanted to look stupid by asking any of the other passengers or trying to talk to the driver. We started imagining what if it was a long trip to somewhere like Las Vagas and how we’d get back. After half an hour, the coach finally turned into a coach depot
around the airport and we were asked to change coaches. The depot must have moved from 'The Grove' since the brochure was written. We were seriously relieved.
We went to Venice Beach first and it wasn’t what we expected. The area looked rough, the shops and stalls looked dodgy and even the lamp posts were (professionally) graffitied. We strolled down to Muscle Beach which is basically a work out area on the beach that Arnie used to go to. Luckily we only spent 20 mins there and it was time to go to Santa Monica Beach and Pier. This was much nicer. The pier here was used in lots of films like Forest Gump and there was a Bubba Gump Shrimp Co Restaurant there to commemorate it (although these are everywhere too) . We had a stroll around and then lay on the beach for an hour or so. Even though we were wearing high factor sunblock we both got a bit sunburnt.
We headed back to the coach and went to Rodeo Drive where I was determined to buy some Jimmy Choo shoes. But unfortunately despite my best efforts I couldn’t find a pair of shoes I
liked enough to warrant spending £400 so Matt left very pleased.
Then we headed to a shopping centre for the rest of the afternoon. We weren’t really in the mood for shopping but browsed around a bit anyway and came across a pet shop with glass cabinets full of puppies. It was horrible to see - as they were in such a confined space all they could do was lay and sleep. I wanted to buy them all and have them shipped home but I know they’d just be replaced by more, plus they cost £400 upwards each.
Waiting for the coach back outside a very posh hotel, a bunch of paparazzi suddenly appeared and ran to a blacked out car that had just arrived. As they took their place, a tall, glamorous blonde lady got out and did a pout for them before walking into the hotel. It was all very well orchestrated and had obviously been set up. We had no idea who she was though which was a shame.
In the evening we decided to treat ourselves to a really nice meal out and ended up in a French restaurant recommended by our guide
book called Café des Artistes The service was fantastic and the food really good too but it did blow our budget completely. Matt had snails in pesto which seemed an odd combination and we sat in a conservatory type thing that had a tent roof. It got really dark and each table was only lit with one candle so seeing to pay wasn’t easy. Fillet steak for £15 in a posh restaurant - bargain!
Mariah Carey was playing a free live gig outside the Kodak Theatre (where the Oscars take place) for the Jimmy Kimmel show which was close by so the streets were filled with security and there was a helicopter that hovered above all night long which got quite annoying. By the time we’d finished our meal she’d just finished so the streets went back to usual. That meant they were really busy with tourists, and all around the Chinese Theatre there were the usual random people dressed up as famous film characters like Captain Jack Sparrow, Spiderman, Batman and Marilyn Monroe. They just hang out there and have pictures taken with tourists all day long. Every few feet there are stalls set up by normal people
with a little cooking tray and a gas stove selling hot dogs, and people busking and trying to sell you their latest cd.
We headed back to the hostel very full after a great dinner and collapsed after another long day.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.057s; Tpl: 0.027s; cc: 6; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0188s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb