Day 28 - Los Angeles

On the third last day of our trip, we had various sights of Los Angeles on our agenda. After getting some much-needed rest, we first went to the district of Beverly Hills.

In this renowned neighborhood (known from movies like Beverly Hills Cop or Pretty Woman) one finds oneself in a completely different world compared to the rest of LA that we have seen so far. This is where the high society of LA lives, and you can never be sure if you just passed a celebrity on the street or not. Due to the very proud prices in the luxury boutiques, shopping was not a priority today (fortunately). :-) But Beverly Hills is definitely worth a visit to get a feeling of what it must be like to be a movie star.

But a nice lunch in Beverly Hills was mandatory before we took another LYFT ride up to the Griffith Observatory. And our driver and I knew the way to the destination very well, even though we had never been there before. Thanks to many hours playing GTA V, one knows Los Angeles very well! :-)

The Griffith Observatory is located on the south side of Mount Hollywood in Griffith Park at an altitude of 300 meters and offers a unique view over the city.

Inside, there are various exhibitions about astronomy as well as a huge telescope. The exhibition is absolutely worth seeing and interesting. For someone like me who is a big Star Trek fan, you can also visit the Leonard Nimoy Event Horizon Theater there. :-)

But the highlight of today was definitely our evening program. Before our trip ends, we definitely had to attend a baseball game. So off to Dodgers Stadium to watch the Dodgers play against the Colorado Rockies. But first, we had to quickly refresh our knowledge of the rules of baseball so that we wouldn't stand out too much as tourists. :-)

Together with about 50,000 other Dodgers fans, we cheered on the home team, and of course, the Dodgers won 5:2!

But between us, baseball is not as exciting as football (soccer). :-) There are long periods where nothing happens and accordingly, the audience is often a bit absent or occupied with other things. Since 'All-You-Can-Eat' was included in the ticket price in our section, we stocked up on hot dogs, nachos, and other goodies.

The game was secondary today because the Dodgers celebrated the farewell of a certain Vin Scully. Do you know who that is? No? Then you're in the same boat as us... :-) But we soon found out that the 89-year-old Vin is one of the most famous American sports commentators and has been commenting on every Dodgers game for 67 years. And today was his farewell party before he finally gets to enjoy a well-deserved retirement at the age of 89.

The farewell party was very impressive, with several very moving speeches, including one by Kevin Costner!

Of course, every baseball game also includes the playing of the American national anthem. But even that was very special today, as it was performed by representatives of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. And today, they were conducted by none other than John Williams!!!

If you want to hear it, you can check it out here:

Finally, there was a very nice fireworks display. So our conclusion is: the baseball game was a bit boring, but the atmosphere, the food, and the show before and after the game were great!