Day 25: Los Angeles

This morning at 5:30 am the alarm clock rang. The night was quiet despite the drive-thru opposite, but I couldn't sleep properly because I was afraid of oversleeping, as usual when I have something planned before getting up. To counter the traffic a bit, we should meet today for the LA city tour at 7 am. The tour lasted about 8 hours, 4 of which we were sitting in a minibus.

How should I put it? First the positive. This tour was very informative and not too intrusive, held in German, and the 'tour guide' was a nice guy. Now the negative - Los Angeles itself ;-) I was warned by important people and today I was able to experience it myself. No, I'm not going to completely diss LA now, but I think one day is enough to see the most important things, maybe even a second day, but then you've seen everything.

The tour started after the meeting point in downtown LA. There, Dennis, the tour guide, showed us 3 buildings:

Building 1: the main train station, Union Square - smaller than the one in Cottbus with 10 tracks

Building 2: the first fire station in LA

Building 3: the Pico House, the first house with separate toilets on each floor

Those were the highlights of downtown. I wasn't shocked by that, but rather by the many homeless people on every corner. There are officially 50,000 homeless people in LA (the actual number is probably double), and on the other hand, there are 100,000 millionaires - isn't that schizophrenic? We also learned that a one-room apartment in LA costs around $1,400 per month with approximately the same income as in Germany. That's why most people commute from the affordable areas (on average, everyone in LA spends 3 hours a day in the car). Those who can't pay end up on the streets. In Germany, you mostly see homeless people walking without or with a small bag. But here, they always drag a basket with mountains of trash behind them. They look so beaten down, as if they haven't showered for months. How a country treats people who are no longer integrated into the social fabric is simply a disgrace, really embarrassing!

The next stop was Chinatown, which wasn't worth a photo, and then we went up to Griffith Observatory. From here you have a nice view of LA and the Hollywood Sign. - It's still quite far away, but no wonder, LA has always been built horizontally due to the earthquake situation. Yeah, it was nice, but it didn't impress me. I think it's worth going there again in the dark when everything is illuminated.

Then we went to the famous Walk of Fame. By the way, it is 3 km long, with the busy part in front of the Chinese Theatre only about 250 m long. By the way, the stars are not simply awarded. You have to 'apply' for them if you have been 'in the business' for 5 years and pay $30,000 for it. Only the handprints in front of the Chinese Theatre are officially awarded. I learned something again, and that took away the last little glimmer for the Walk of Fame from me. If I ever go back to LA, I would comfortably walk the 3 km-long Walk of Fame to see who has bought their star ;-)

A short drive took us past Broadway in LA. Unfortunately, it doesn't have a nice story here. There were 10 buildings, none of which are regularly used nowadays. It looks really run-down.

Next, we went to the Farmers Market - I was so shocked here that I didn't take a photo. It wasn't worth a photo, really! Uli just said, 'I was also disappointed. There was the same food that you can get here normally' (Hehe)

Then we drove through Beverly Hills, Sunset Boulevard, and Rodeo Drive. I learned that houses in Beverly Hills can still be bought at bargain prices starting from $5 million. More expensive are the houses in Bel Air (starting from about $25 million) - you can drive through here, but you're not allowed to stop and linger. The most expensive area is Holmby Hills, where you are separated from the stars and celebrities by gates. I would also like to live there if I were a star in the USA, as it seems that you don't have a right to privacy here.

Now we have seen all the highlights of LA and drove to Santa Monica and made our last stop at Venice Beach. We saw it yesterday, but it's good to see it again.

So that was Los Angeles, which actually once belonged to Mexico and was bought by the USA for a mere $15 million, shortly after the first gold was found. Poor Mexico, and now Trump blatantly discriminates against Mexicans in the election campaign!

Today I was glad to have seen LA in this way. It was super interesting to see everything, but I wonder what the appeal of this city is supposed to be? There is currently a lot of construction going on to offer more to tourists. Maybe it will be worth a visit again in 10 years. However, I don't want to miss this day in LA. I'm glad I got to see this city.

Well, and that was the last day of our 3 and a half week trip through parts of the USA. I will definitely write a summary, maybe even tomorrow on the plane because I can never sleep there anyway. On the one hand, I'm sad that the beautiful part of the year will be over and that hard work will begin again next week. On the other hand, I couldn't take in any more new impressions now. I'm looking forward to Germany and my life there again.