Los Angeles, Arrival + Bus Tour

Small spoiler: the pictures are not in order, I will take care of that soon.

Arrival:

The flight went well and without any problems, I was able to sleep a little. Once arrived at the airport, I took a bus to the passport control, which took about 5 minutes, as the airport is huge. The passport control was a bit complicated, they asked a lot of questions, and due to the large number of people, it took even longer. After finishing with that, I withdrew some money and went to the bus stop. After half an hour, the bus arrived, taking me from the airport to Hollywood where my hostel was located. I reached the hostel around four o'clock in the afternoon. The hostel was completely new to me and more like a short-term shared apartment with many roommates. It is a small house with a small kitchen, dining room, and outdoor area. There are 5 bedrooms, each with 6 beds.

Once I was settled in, I went in search of a grocery store. I found one, but I wasn't satisfied with it. So I went back to the hostel to do my laundry. After finishing that, I went out again to get a power adapter, some food, and take a stroll along the Hollywood Boulevard/Walk of Fame. I didn't find the city very beautiful yet, but that was because of the places I had seen. My hostel was located at the end of the Walk of Fame on a side street, where I returned to.

HOP-ON-HOP-OFF Tour Day 1:

When I was planning the days in Los Angeles, I had to choose between the La Go Card, which takes you to all theme parks and studios, and the Hop-On-Hop-Off 72h Ticket. I chose the Hop-On-Hop-Off Tour because I would be able to see more of LA, although the American parks are probably also very cool.

So on Sunday, I got up around 8 o'clock, had breakfast, and went to the Dolby Theatre on the Walk of Fame, where I took the bus on the Red Route. The buses are open double-deckers that also offer a podcast through headphones. Of course, I sat up top in the sun. The bus took me to Beverly Hills for about an hour, where I switched to the Yellow Route. There, I made my first stop in Century City, at the Westfield Century City Mall, to visit the mall. It is a rather upscale mall and I was fascinated by everything you could see there. There is nothing comparable in Germany, not in such a small space and so modern, at least I haven't experienced it yet. The mall spans two floors and takes up an entire city block with a parking garage. It's interesting to simply walk through the mall and check out the different shops. I was surprised to see that Tesla had a shop where they had three cars on display that you could also sit in. I also thought the Apple store was cool, even though I'm not an Apple fan, but I was impressed by its size. While in Germany you might find one or two devices of each type in stores, here they had large tables set up with 8-10 devices on them. Eventually, I left the mall and walked back to the bus, which took me from Santa Monica Pier back to Beverly Hills to take the Red Line to Hollywood. But before that, I went back to Rodeo Drive, probably the most exclusive shopping street in the world (according to the guide). Arriving in Hollywood, I found a satisfactory grocery store and bought some food. Then I headed back to the hostel. At night, I realized that the guy below me snores so loud that the walls shake, but with headphones on, I was able to sleep well.

HOP-ON-HOP-OFF Tour Day 2:

The next morning, I got up at the same time as the day before. I took the bus on the Red Line to the Sunset Strip and walked along the streets there. But since my actual destination was Santa Monica, I took the next bus right away. I had to transfer again and later arrived at the Santa Monica Pier. I walked around the pier for a while until it got too crowded and then switched to the beach. With the sun burning at 35 degrees, I took off my T-shirt and put on sunscreen. Then I continued walking along the really wide beach south towards Venice Beach. There, I watched the shops and especially the skaters. The people are really relaxed, some of them, in my opinion, a bit too relaxed. There was a smell of marijuana on every corner and I was occasionally approached from the side if I wanted to buy anything.

Eventually, I arrived at Venice Pier where I waited for the bus that took me to a fishing village. The bus stopped there for 20 minutes before heading back to Hollywood. The return trip took almost 3 hours. On the way from the Dolby Theatre to the hostel, a part of the Hollywood Boulevard was closed for filming, so I had to take a detour. They wouldn't tell me what movie was being filmed.

Back at the hostel, I had some food and went to sleep, once again accompanied by a snoring choir.

HOP-ON-HOP-OFF Tour Day 3:

My morning looked the same as the previous two days, except this time I took the bus on the Purple Route to Downtown LA. I first rode through all of Downtown until I got off at the end and planned my route. First, I walked to the Tokyo District and looked around the mall there. Then I continued to Chinatown, where I also checked out the mall. I was hungry and saw a 20-meter line in front of a restaurant, so I queued up there. After an hour, I got my food, 3 chicken wings and some fries. The restaurant is known for its spicy dishes, so I decided to put myself to the test and ordered Hot (4/6 heat level). Actually, I'm not used to spicy food, but I wanted to try it. When it was my turn, I ordered Hot, but the cashier already told me that it wouldn't be for me, so I took Medium twice and Hot once. I sat down at one of the tables with my food and started eating. All the chicken wings looked the same. I tasted a small corner of the crust from one and immediately knew it was the hottest one. So I started with one of the other two. It was pretty spicy and a little bit of a struggle, but I managed. The fries were also very tasty. Then I just took one of the other two and took a bite. I had gotten the hottest one, which was not to be trifled with. I immediately had tears in my eyes, my nose was running, and my mouth burned like hell for about 10 minutes before it got better. I was cheered on by two waiting guys. But then I packed up my stuff because I still wanted to see more and time was running out. I headed towards the Oue Skyspace and stopped by the Walt Disney Concert Hall, but there wasn't much to see without a missed tour. On the way, I also ate the Medium chicken, which went without a problem. When I arrived at Skyspace, I redeemed my ticket and went up to the 70th floor, where you have a 360-degree view of Los Angeles. The tower is the tallest in Downtown LA, so you can see everything and have an incredible view. Later, I went back down and tried to eat the remaining spicy chicken, but it didn't work. I took the bus back to Hollywood, where the boulevard was closed again for filming.