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Published: December 23rd 2011
Happy days, holidays at last! Finally the day arrived when work finished and the holiday started. I got good news at the airport - I got an upgrade to Premium Economy, yippee! I was very impressed with Air New Zealand's service, and the premium economy seats. I even managed to sleep for about 3 hours or so, almost unheard of for me.
Then at long last we made it to LA. Our hotel, the Custom Hotel, was only ten minutes or so from the airport which was nice and easy. By the time we got in and got settled it was mid afternoon and we were ready to hit the town. We asked at the front desk for some recommendations. The service was fabulous, however that then sparked the conversation with Lucy for the next half hour of what we were supposed to do in regards to tipping. I always find the question of tipping in the States extremely stressful! However thanks to the front desk recommendations Lucy and I were soon booked on a tour, "LA by night". In theory it started at 5.30, went for about 3 or 4 hours, and covered off the main tourist spots. In
The Christmas tree at Universal
I made it to LA. Look closely, Santa's there too.actuality we were picked up at 5.00 and were returned at 10.30 pm, and spent a large amount of time in the famous LA traffic, with Cyril, our driver, pointing out the sights and the places that he couldn't take us. "Up there is where I would take you to Beverly Hills residential if I was in a different van" and "that's where you'd go to see the Hollywood sign....if it had been turned on".
Cyril was an interesting character. He told us he'd been to Auckland 35 years ago on a boat, I assumed with the Navy, and he had a fabulous time. He'd been drunk the entire time. Now he's trying to make ends meet with the tours, and to be honest, I don't think it was his true calling. Every now and again he'd try quite hard, but he didn't quite connect with his audience. I felt quite sorry for him in the end. When he dropped us off he told us that we made his night, and often times tourists fall asleep in the van for the most part, getting bored once they'd been to Hollywood.
All of that said, Lucy and I had
a very enjoyable evening, marvelling at the weird and wonderful. First stop was Universal Studios, where somewhat naively I assumed that the point of this visit was to visit the Studio. Wrong. The studio had closed for the day and we were there to wander about the shopping centre, which was jam packed full of Christmas revellers and chain stores, Christmas lights and of course Santa. After one hour we were back to Cyril, and we had gathered some other tourists, including a dentist from Melbourne. The Kiwi / Aussie contingent naturally drifted together. He was on his way to Costa Rica and Nicaragua, and like us, was killing time between flights.
Next stop was the Hollywood Boulevard, with the walk of fame, the Chinese Theatre, Kodak Theatre (where the Oscars are held) and more junk shops than you could poke a stick at. We had nearly an hour to wander, and I'm not sure if jet lag was setting in or because it was at night, but we all agreed that 30 minutes would have been ample. We looked at the some of the Stars on the pavement, found the hand prints of various stars outside of the
Chinese Theatre and took some obligatory photos.
From there we went to Rodeo Drive. I think that 9.00 pm was the perfect time to go shopping in Rodeo Drive. It was closed and there was nobody around. Our Aussie declared it was just like South Yarra. More or less. We then headed into LA downtown, which at 9.30 pm was kind of weird - a completely deserted city of high rise buildings. Cyril stopped at the LA Opera House, and also pointed out the Walt Disney Theatre, which was a very cool building, or what I saw of it as the van careened around the corner.
By the time we returned to the hotel I was famished, and the hotel restaurant had just closed. They recommended a "cool little bar" across the road, so off we went. It was just as they described, Lucy's description was that it looked just like a movie set for a college bar. It was very cool, with a great bartender, who recommended the "Ultimate Mac and Cheese". It was just what I needed, really delicious. In another sitcom experience Lucy got hit on by a young guy at the bar. She gave
Popcorn anyone?
I couldn't believe that they had dedicated an entire shop just to popcorn. him the cold shoulder, and as he mooched off I said, "I wonder why he decided to go for the old tired ladies, clad in fleece, when there's all these young pretty girls behind us. Maybe he thought it would be easier?" It is to Lucy's great credit that she didn't throw her wine over me or stab with me the fork which is no less than what I deserved - my only excuse is I was very tired. And she must have been too, as she started giggling and soon we were both laughing hysterically. So we finished our wine, sprinted across the six lanes of traffic towards the hotel and made a beeline for bed, ready for the 5.00 am wake up call.
Next stop, Mexico!
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