August 27, Day 3 - Hollywood & Beverly Hills

On Saturday we will leave the hotel at 7:30 am, breakfast will be served on the bus again. Today we are heading to Hollywood, where we have booked a hop-on-hop-off bus tour. We start right at the Walk of Fame - the only problem is finding a parking space for our two school buses.

At 9:15 am, everyone including the driver will be in the tourist bus and we can start driving on Hollywood Boulevard towards Sunset Boulevard. Our guide tells us that the Walk of Fame has been around since 1956 and now has over 2700 stars. Each year, 24 stars are added - which means people who are nominated and then accepted by the Walk of Fame committee. It also costs $50,000 and you are obligated to show up - apparently Bruce Springsteen didn't do that.

The tradition originated at the Hollywood Hotel and Cafe, where stars signed a wall. Eventually, it was moved to the stars on the sidewalk.

We continue our journey, passing by the Dolby Theatre, where the annual Oscars take place, the El Capitan, and the Chinese Theatre, where the hand and footprints of various stars are immortalized in the concrete on the forecourt.

Our guide tells us about the Roosevelt Hotel, where Marilyn Monroe supposedly met President Kennedy and other stars like Miley Cyrus were guests, and where Guns N' Roses reportedly bought their alcohol at the Consumers Liquor Store, potentially keeping the store alive. Also noticeable are the number of liquor stores. On seemingly every other corner, you'll find a large sign saying 'Liquor'.

In the meantime, you can see the Hollywood Hills above the roofs of the 'ordinary people', where the stars live.

Los Angeles was founded in 1781 and at that time had 44 inhabitants sent by the Spanish crown. Today, almost 4 million people live in Los Angeles.

We arrive in West Hollywood, where we immediately notice the many colorful pride flags. We are now in the 'Gay Neighbourhood' of L.A. West Hollywood used to be separated from Los Angeles, non-heterosexuals moved there because they were not welcome in the city.

Then we come to Beverly Hills, the place with the most expensive real estate in America. In the flatter area, a house costs around $3 million, but the higher up the hill you go, the more expensive the houses and the wealthier the residents.

We make a short stop and take a group photo at the Beverly Hills sign before continuing with the tourist bus. We drive past the Wilshire Hotel, where the Obama family always stays when they are in L.A., and the Rodeo Drive, the most expensive shopping street in L.A. - some stores can only be entered with a personal invitation - and eventually arrive at an artwork called 'Urban Light': Basically a pile of street lamps lined up in a row. We can't really get excited about it, following the motto 'is this art or can it go away?'.

Somewhat shocking to us is the sight of the many homeless people, some of whom simply camp on the sidewalk or under the bridge, and their belongings are limited to the contents of a fully loaded shopping cart. One of the reasons for the high homelessness is the hardly affordable costs for larger medical treatments.

At 10:30 am, we make a stop at the Farmers Market, where everyone can individually buy something to eat before continuing our tour.

The tour takes us past the CBS Studios, the Fairfax High School where the Red Hot Chili Peppers were founded, and the Paramount Pictures. In between, we catch glimpses of the famous Hollywood Sign, which was erected in 1928 and originally read 'Hollywood Land'.

At around 1:45 pm, we finally end our city tour again at the Walk of Fame and have a short time to explore before continuing with our school buses at 2:30 pm.

Originally, a hike was planned for the afternoon, but in the morning we decided to go to the beach instead. So we set off for the famous Santa Monica Pier. However, it turns out that there is nowhere to park our bus, so we finally decide to go back to the hotel and refresh ourselves in the pool.

For dinner, we have made a reservation at an all-you-can-eat Asian restaurant within walking distance of the hotel, where our vegans also have a decent selection.

The rest of the evening will be spent individually, some will go to the pool, others will start packing because tomorrow we will continue to San Francisco.