Day 12: Sunday 12th September

Hollywood and Santa Monica

First up, to Hollywood Boulevard! We weren't able to park all that close, as they were finishing off a triathlon and the whole of the boulevard, plus a lot of the side streets, were cordoned off. So, a quite long walk from where we parked - and the heat was quite oppressive this morning (not to mention the humidity!). We dragged along Meanie, of course. (See Meanie's Hollywood adventures, starting here). There were cheap souvenir shops all along ... together with those stars set in the pavements, but most of the street was pretty seedy really. Mann's Chinese Theater was a little better and we spent some time looking at all the handprints, footprints and messages from the stars, before going up into the Hollywood and Highland complex, from where there was a view of the Hollywood sign.

Alas, we couldn't find Build-A-Bear. (Though we didn't look too hard - it was too hot - the mall didn't appear to have any air-conditioning!).

From Hollywood, we carefully followed a map printed out for us by the man on front desk (or we would've become hopelessly lost) to Culver City and the "ComputerUSA" shop there. I took the laptop to the 'Technical Desk' and told the guy there the problem. They could actually have fixed it for me - or at least, they could've copied all my data onto CD-ROMS. It would've cost $100. But the real bummer was that it would take 5-6 days, and we were leaving LA in the morning. Oh well, I would have to ration my photo-taking with the camera, as there would be no more downloading possible - and I would hopefully get the laptop fixed when we returned home. A kindly man, whose job it seems was to stand in front of the store and look jolly, gave us instructions on how to get to Santa Monica - and we were away!

We stopped firstly at Marina del Rey, which was exceedingly pleasant. I had thought about booking a hotel here and I think it would have been far more pleasant than staying on Sunset Strip - but never mind.

Then, around the coast to Santa Monica. We were very fortunate and managed to bag a 2-hour parking slot practically on the beach, by the pier!

We headed straight over the sands, and boardwalks, for the Pacific Ocean, where we paddled! It was really warm!! I liked it there immensely! Lots of people were bicycling long the boardwalks - while others jogged or roller-bladed. It was all so 'California'!! Next we bought ices (vanilla tastes so much more vanilla than at home) and I bought a pair of orange flip-flops, decorated with cherries (as I already had ANOTHER blister!) and we walked along the pier for a short way.

clicks, but doesn't get an awful lot bigger

On the beach, at the other side of the pier, there were thousands of wooden crosses. On closer examination, we discovered that these crosses were 'one for each American military man' who had died in Iraq. There was a stars and stripes draped coffin, a 'soldier' standing to attention over it - and a woman reading out every name. This (very elaborate) show was the work of the "Veteran's Peace Mission" - and it certainly made a point - and a point in a very prominent way too. I was surprised that they had been allowed to do it!

click for bigger

Next, we drove around to Malibu. Didn't thnk it was all that special, to be honest. Just a bunch of terraced houses, huddled by the beach (couldn't see the beach, they were so close together) and a whole bunch of (bigger) houses, sprawling over the hills! We stopped for salads in McDonalds! And then we had a look around the Malibu Country Market. There was a Maine Coon cat in the pet shop! I wanted so much to take him home!!

Then we stopped by the ocean. And we saw seals. And what we thought were maybe sharks. And PELICANS!! Wondrous!!

From the Santa Monica road, we turned off onto the very beginning of Sunset Boulevard and we drove past many very splendid villas on our way back to the middle bit on the Strip. On the way, we turned off and parked on Rodeo Drive and peered inside the posh shops! Most were closed, however, which was probably just as well!

that's our balcony, up the top there!

Back to camp then, and an early night, in preparation for our escape from LA and a fairly long drive up to Sequoia National Park.

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[ Introduction ] [ Day 1 ] [ Day 2 ] [ Day 3 ] [ Day 4 ] [ Day 5 ] [ Day 6 ] [ Day 7 ] [ Day 8 ]
[ Day 9 ] [ Day 10 ] [ Day 11 ] [ Day 13 ] [ Day 14 ] [ Day 15 ] [ Day 16 ] [ Day 17 ]
[ Days 18, 19 and 20 ]

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