Los Angeles

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We arrived in LA on a hazy morning, and were picked up at the airport by Michael from the hostel. He gave us a quickie description of the sights from the car, then dropped us off at the hostel. We had the only private room, complete with sunken bath tub (jacuzzi too!), fridge and painted glass window with a lion. Classy! Sadly the window above the bed wouldn't close so the nights were pretty cold, but otherwise ok.

After dropping off our bags we headed down to Venice Beach and the (in)famous boardwalk, complete with nutters, street vendors, old hippie types and loads of people on skates. Muscle Beach was quite a disappointment, only one guy there and none of that over-the-top oiled skin seen in movies... No complaining, but we like to see myths proven true! Had some food at the lovely Sidewalk Cafe (Thank you Lonely Planet!), then spent the evening looking for an internet cafe. No luck. You need your own laptop in this country! Crap!!!

Next morning was sightseeing tour on a bus through Venice Beach (again), Santa Monica, Downtown LA, Hollywood, Bevely Hills, etc. Got to see all the must-sees including the Hollywood sign and loads of stars' homes. Bit of window shopping at Rodeo Drive as well.

Next morning was spent at Venice Beach. Bit colder now. Got a car from Hertz. Had booked a Ford Focus, but got upgraded to a big-**s V8 Cadillac DTS, with all the trimmings. Nice! Drove around Hollywood and Beverly Hills the rest of the day. Nice place. Back to the hostel to prepare for our road trip the next morning. More about that in separate posts.

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Back from the road trip (23 December), we returned the car and tried to check into our hostel. Not a soul in sight. We waited for two hours, then just left our bags and ran down to the beach to try to get at least 30min of surfing. We just had to make a detour to the post office to ship stuff that we didn't need anymore back to Sweden. That took another hour, and we had to come to terms with the fact that US wasn't going to give us any ripping on this trip.

We have now made ourselves a promise. We won't do anything at all in Lima (our next stop) until we at least get a couple of good waves.

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Vi kom till LA en disig morgon, och hamtades pa flygplatsen av Michael fran vandrarhemmet. Han gav oss en snabb beskrivning av en del landmarken fran bilen, och slappte av oss pa vandrarhemmet. Vi fick det enda privata rummet, komplett med nedsankt badkar (med jacuzzi!), kylskap och fargat glasfonster med lejon pa. Sa chict sa! Tyvarr gick inte fonstret ovanfor sangen att stanga, sa det var kallt pa natterna, men annars okej.

Nar vi lamnat vaskorna gick vi ner till Venice Beach och den (o)kanda strandpromenaden, med knasbollar, forsaljare, gamla hippies och massor av folk pa rullskridskor. Muscle Beach var en besvikelse, bara en kille dar och inte ett spar av oljeindrankts spannisar man sett pa film... Vi klagar inte dock, men vi vill se att myterna ar sanna! At lite mat pa det trevila Sidewalk Cafe (tack for tipset Lonely Planet!), sen letade vi efter ett internetcafe hela kvallen. Hittade inget. Man behover en egenh laptop i det har landet! Uselt!!!

Nasta morgon akte vi turistbuss genom Venice Beach (igen), Santa Monica, centrala LA, Hollywood, Beverly Hills etc. Sag alla 'masten' inkl Hollywoodskylten och en massa kandisars hus. Fonstershoppade ocksa litegrann pa Rodeo Drive.

Morgonen efter tillbringade vi pa Venice Beach. Lite kallare nu. Hamtade en bil pa Hertz - vi hade bokat en Ford Focyus men blev uppgraderade till ett stort as till Cadillac DTS, V8, med all extrautrustning. Schysst! Korde runt Hollywood och Beverly Hills resten av dagen, trevliga omraden. Sen tillbata till vandrarhemmet for att forbereda for var resa foljande morgon. Mer om det i separata poster.

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Aterkomna fran var biltur (23 december) lamnade vi tillbaka bilen och forsokte checka in pa vandrarhemmet. Dar fanns inte en kotte. Vi vantade i 2 timmar, sen lamnade vi helt enkelt vara vaskor och sprang ner till stranden for att forsoka fa atminstone en halvtimmes surfing. Vi skulle bara ta en liten omvag till posten for att skicka hem lite saker vi inte behovde mer. Det tog over en timme, och vi fick helt enkelt inse att USA inte skulle ge oss nagot rippande pa den har resan.

Vi har nu lovat oss sjalva att inte gora nagot alls i Lima (vart nasta stopp) forran vi fatt atminstone ett par bra vagor.

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Photos

We saw the sign
Hollywoodland. That's what it actually said originally, but the last 4 letters got damaged during a storm decades ago.

Venice Beach
Not so much of a freak show as we expected...

...well there were a couple
One of the resident psychics and her dog.
(Cat: look at the outfit on the poor thing!)

The skaters...
at Venice Beach didn't disappoint.

We like signs
This is where the serious shopping is done

Tired legs...
after a day of (window) shopping at Rodeo Drive.

Someone famous...
lives here, but we won't say who. Have a guess and we'll tell you if you're right.

Melrose Place
Remember the TV show? Couldn't find the house though, surprise surprise.

Hollywood Boulevard
Virgin always grabs the best spots.

Chinese Theatre
The one with the hand prints outside, which is the reason for the stars on the boulevard.

Oscars
It's a lot smaller IRL than what it looks on TV, as is usually the case.

Donald
Hey, I've got my own star on Hollywood Boulevard ;-)

Oil...
makes the world go round (or is it money, hm the same thing?). Loads of them pretty much everywhere in LA.

River Phoenix...
last watering hole on Sunset Boulevard. Johnny Depp owns it and remembers his friend by keeping the place shut every Halloween.