Los Angeles – Part 2

My 3rd day in LA, was February 25th. My workshops ended early, so I had time to book a tour of the LA area. Being near the airport is super crappy because there really isn’t anything nearby and you don’t really want to walk anywhere.

I booked a tour that would go all over the city an would last about 5 hours. It would keep me busy for most of the afternoon and into the evening. If I got back in time I thought I’d take the trolley back to Manhattan Beach.

The tour company was scheduled to pick me up around 2:45PM. Another girl from the hotel was waiting for the same tour. I wasn’t really interested in chatting, but we ended up talking anyway. She was in the middle of a voluntary leave of absence from her job as a lawyer in New York City and was spending the year traveling the world.  She was from New Jersey and had to unexpectedly stay in LA fo about a week because she had gotten sick on her flight home from Peru (I think it was Peru). 

We were taken from our hotel to the tour company headquarters where we boarded the main tour bus. I tend to be antisocial on trips because I just prefer to be on my own, but we ended up chatting and hanging out during the whole tour.

The guide was pretty good, but he had a funny “heh-heh” type laugh and he REALLY cracked himself up telling jokes. He laughed a lot.

First stop on the tour was Venice Beach. We got to get out and walk around a bit. It was really beautiful.

There were only one or two people lifting weights at the muscle beach but there were a lot people playing basketball.

There were men advertising medical pot shops nearby, and a guy wearing nothing but a speedo and tennis shoes.

There was a section of the beach where people with a permit could graffiti and paint art.

And there was a magnificent steel sculpture standing among the palm trees.

 After boarding the bus again, we drove what seemed like a long way. We zoomed past Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive (as evidence by the blurry pics), 

From the bus we saw the Beverly Hills Hotel, Fox Television Studios, the Sunset Strip, Steven Spielberg’s house, the Viper Room, and some restaurants owned by Johnny Depp.

After many minutes in traffic on the freeway, we finally we got to stop near the Walk of Fame.  

Before checking out any of the stars, we rushed to the spot our bus driver told us we could best see the Hollywood sign. Allegedly, the Hollywood sign is possibly going to be gone in the next couple years, so our bus driver really wanted us to be able to see it.

 

I didn’t take too many pictures of the Walk of Fame because there are just too many stars to choose from. I did get Michael Jackson, who died while I was in California on my honeymoon last June.

 Grauman’s Chinese Theater was really cool to see.

It got dark while we were at the Walk of Fame, and soon it was time to get back on the bus. Our last stop was the Farmer’s Market. There were tons of restaurants and shops, but there wasn’t too much time to browse. I ended up with a bottle of wine  for me (2007 PETS Petite Syrah, a portion of sales goes to animal shelters) and a few souvenir chocolate bars for Taylor. (Dark Chocolate with bacon anyone?)

Finally, it was time to head back to the hotel, where I grabbed a cheese pizza from the hotel bar/restaurant and called it a night.

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