Los Angeles

Start of adventure, part 2!

Finally the day arrives to set off to the States on the second part of our travels. We fly to LA, rather conveniently, from Manchester so we start with a lift to Salford Crescent (thanks Pat!) to jump on a train to the airport. Unfortunately it's also commuter time and because of our bags we can't fit on the train when it arrives, but lucky for us the Platform Controller sees, takes pity on us and promises to get us on the next one. Sure enough when it arrives he pushes us to the front of the queue and orders everyone to make room so we can squeeze on. It's a shame we didn't get his name but big thanks to him or we'd have been waiting at the platform until forever! Our flight is a bit delayed so we have plenty of time for the constitutional airport drink courtesy of Christine's mum (thanks Pat!) before we board and leave the UK. Again.

Having just decided that we'll watch Last Vegas together on the plane (Christine's happy as it's got DeNiro in!) James finds that some plonker has snapped off his headphone plug in the socket of his chair...argh! Maybe we'll get to change to first class seats? No chance, but at least we get to move; to a window seat with no window! Time to settle down? No...this socket is busted too but we're far too British to complain again and make do with sharing Christine's. Hope we didn't miss out on an upgrade. After another film, a couple of meals and a few glasses of free wine, we land in Philadelphia for our connection. Too bad this plane is a normal domestic flight so no films or food for this 5 hour flight. It is the evening when we fly into LA so we get to see the city lit up at night. It goes on and on and on and on and on... scary!

Customs is pretty painless. Christine goes first so she gets asked all the questions about our plans and then we go to find our car. After being quizzed by the rental assistant about why we're not married after 2+ years together (awkward!) James picks a sickly green Kia (great choice James!) because "it's a bit higher and might not get lost in between all the trucks". Time to navigate around a strange, massive city in an unfamiliar car at what seems to be the tail end of rush hour. Eek. James must have done OK though as we arrive safely at our home for the next couple of days and meet our host, Mario.

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Poor Mario has been stuck in a wheelchair for a few months since being attacked by a drugged up madman on his way home one night but he assures his it wasn't anywhere near his neighbourhood. He's obviously glad to have visitors because he is very chatty, and when he runs out of things to say he just starts over! He is full of good advice about how to get around in the city though.

We know that jet lag will hit sooner or later but figure that we should do as much as possible before it does so we decide to hit Hollywood straight away. Universal Studios looks like fun so that's our first stop but when we see the price ($85 each) we decide that having our picture taken in front of the sign and with King Kong will be enough for now.

It's star spotting on the Walk of Fame next, which starts off with us not really knowing anyone until we get further towards the centre of town and see the really famous names, Woody Woodpecker, Kermit, Bugs Bunny and other slightly less legendary names! James gets all giddy every time he sees someone from Star Trek while Christine says "Who?".

As we get to the centre of Hollywood and the crowds get bigger James is picked out by the worlds worst look a like team as 'Captain America' points and says "You've got me on your shirt!" Soon we're joined by a miniature Avatar alien and; a black Marilyn Monroe too who insist on having countless pictures before asking for money. "Err, we've not got any cash at the moment mate", that's no problem for these guys who give us very specific directions to a cash point but thankfully stop short of marching us round there so we seize our chance and make a run for it!

Our next stop is the Chinese theater with all the celebrity hand/foot prints in concrete. We have great fun searching for our favourites and then, in Christine's case getting very excited because "DeNiro has the same size hands as me!!!"

All the excitement and heat has made us tired so we head for a bar (Irish of course!) to take advantage of happy hour, watch the crazy people walk along Hollywood Boulevard, and share a starter portion of cheesy chips that fills both of us up. So by now we're ready to head back and give in to the jet lag and as we make our way back to the train we are asked to spare some change, replying that we don't have any the man very loudly shouts "Nothing?! What did you spend it all on?! Are you on crack? You crackheads ain't choo?!" Ahhhh Hollywood you are classy.

We decide to get off the train a stop early to see what Olvera Street is like. It's a lively, colourful Mexican street full of stalls, restaurants and colourful displays. At the end of the street we hear music and see lots of people having a good ol' bop to fun music. Christine instantly falls in love with Olvera street and James has to drag her back to the apartment!

The next morning we're up early and find the nice surprise of a parking ticket. Why? Because we didn't turn our wheels on a hill, arghh! How were we to know that? Oh well you live and learn so we put it to the back of our minds and go to explore downtown L.A. There's not much to report about that really, we saw the Walt Disney concert hall and a few funny signs before getting on the train to go to Venice beach. It's a long journey but we finally get there and stop to eat our butties under the watchful eyes of some hungry seagulls. Time to walk along the front where there are stalls and a few street entertainers; the dog dressed in a bikini with dollar bills shoved in it's bottoms was a bit disturbing. Back on the train we stop at the science centre but it is only open for another hour so we settle for watching the squirrels in the rose garden before facing the long journey home via another stop at Olvera street (Christine can't get enough!)

Today we are joining a group of people to do a hike up to the Hollywood sign. It's free to join in as it's a local man who just wants to show people around and meet new friends (There are lots of group activities like this for all around the world, Couchsurfing.org and meetup.com are the websites to look at). To get there we drive down the famous Sunset Boulevard which contains part of Route 66! Stupidly Christine hasn't got her camera to hand so misses her chance to get a picture of the sign, doh! Meeting up with the group the hike starts with a trip to the Batcave which James is very excited about, the leader seems to be in a rush so its a few quick pictures before starting the 'sign' hike. It's a very hot day but also very clear which is lucky for us as apparently it's usually very foggy over the city. The group stops at a big tree which is supposed to be the tree from the famous story of The Giving Tree. There are lots of notes in the tree from people asking for their wishes to come true. Moving on we reach the top of the mountain and are above and behind the Hollywood Sign. It's surrounded by a fence so we can't touch it but we get great views of the city and a very nice man takes our photo for us.

Making our way back down the leader starts to walk back the way we came, but we want to see the front of the sign! We're not the the only ones and a small group breaks off and heads in the direction of the sign. We get a few obligatory photos with the sign before heading back down with the rebel group. It's nice to chat to the other people in the group and we get some tips for our travels. By the time the hike is over we've been invited to go for a meal and drinks which we'd love to do but we're already late for our next stop, the horse ranch in Tehachapi.