Hoʻopuka ʻia: 23.10.2016
Today we are a bit late, because yesterday the energy was only enough to turn off the lights and fall into bed exhausted.
Our last day in L.A is coming to an end and we spent it in the city of stars. After two consecutive days at the beach, it was time for some civilization, although we already liked life at Venice Beach.
We left this morning AFTER!!!! 9:30 am and embarked on a busy journey into the city. We followed Kathleen's advice not to rush into the city before that time, and after 5 minutes in the car, we understood why.
The traffic in L.A is so extreme that it took us almost an hour to complete our 20-mile journey, and all of it was in stop and go.
Finally, we reached Hollywood Boulevard and took a stroll on the famous Walk of Fame. However, it was full of tourists and in some places, it was impossible to walk. By the way, Doctor Strange's world premiere set-up was taking place at that time, and the red carpet was already rolled out ;) But it's also just a street full of restaurants and souvenir shops, and after taking a few photos on a star or two, we had enough and moved on.
What would a visit to Los Angeles be without seeing the world-famous HOLLYWOOD Sign? And that's exactly where we went. We took a few shortcuts up the hills to escape the traffic a bit and stopped at one of the viewpoints near the famous white letters to take a souvenir photo. After another 10 minutes, we were glad to get back into our air-conditioned car because the weather here in L.A is currently extremely hot for this time of year, and the thermometer was already showing 40 degrees at noon.
We still had some time, so we drove in our "freezer" to the place with the most famous zip code in the world: Beverly Hills 90210. A must-visit for anyone in L.A because the giant mansions and clean streets lined with huge palm trees are very beautiful to see. But if you want to see the real celebrities like Brangelina and co., you have to go to Bel Air, because this is where the cream of the film industry and society hides. "Hides" is probably the right word because when you drive through the streets of the rich and beautiful, all you see are high hedges, giant walls with security cameras, and tall fences. But still, it was a cool feeling for us to know that behind all those facades, some stars were biting into their breakfast rolls or taking a dip in the pool.
After all the dreaming, we slowly returned to reality via Rodeo Drive, one of the most expensive shopping streets in the world: and that mainly consisted of a lot of traffic and honking cars. In L.A, it feels like almost every one of the nearly 13 million residents is driving a car because public transportation like subways and buses are rarely seen here.
We made a quick stop at a supermarket, bought ourselves two beers and some snacks, and headed to Venice Beach to watch the sunset. And it was truly spectacular, I think the pictures speak for themselves. After a quick walk through the crashing waves and a few rides on the waves, we finally went to bed.
Tomorrow we definitely need a strong stomach.
The MAGIC MOUNTAIN is calling ;)