Petersen Automotive Museum, Beverly Hills & Rodeo Drive

Today's journey takes us to the Petersen Automotive Museum, a fascinating collection, even if you aren't a car enthusiast. The futuristic building on Wilshire Boulevard impresses with its wave-like steel facade from the outside. Inside, we find an exhibition showcasing vehicles from over 100 years of automotive history – and of course, numerous original cars from film and television: the DeLorean from “Back to the Future”, the yellow Bumblebee from “Transformers”, the yellow Fiat 500 from Mission Impossible, and Herbie, the legendary VW Beetle with the number 53.

For our tech-savvy son, the sections about the development of autonomous vehicles are particularly exciting: a prototype of the first Waymo, Google's self-driving car initiative, with many informative displays about sensor technology and the automated recognition of traffic situations. We enjoyed the Petersen Museum – it's exciting, entertaining, and full of iconic vehicles.

After so much technology, we move on to the next contrasting program: a stroll along the palm-lined streets of Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive: designer stores, luxury, and perfectly staged shop windows. To end the day, we head to Hollywood Boulevard and the famous Walk of Fame. Walking along the boulevard with a delivery robot, we see that it was once perhaps a glamorous place, but today it feels rundown, loud, and lacking charm. The stars are still there, but the shine has faded.

Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive showcase the luxurious side of the city and provide a great atmosphere for a walk. The Hollywood Boulevard can confidently be crossed off the list – Los Angeles has a lot to offer, but not every star shines equally bright.