Day 4: Hooray for Hollywood
After breakfast round the pool (noticing the Klumps had now left yippee) we got in our Jeep and set off for Hollywood, Its just past downtown LA about a 40 min drive away. I was armed with my google maps which were proving a godsend as we hadnt got lost yet, the traffic was a little busier than the sunday but nothing as bad as we imagined or warned of, i took some pics of the scenes on the way as we made our way to our turn off which was Hollywood Blvd, when we got closer to the downtown/tourist area of hollywood we basically parked in the firat car park we saw and dumped the car, job done we had got there !
We got to the intersection of where Hollywood Blvd was and our first impressions were it wasnt as glitzy as they make out, there were tacky tourist shops everwhere and people walking up to you hassleing you to go on tours and buy this and that, we got accosted right away Jayne got suckered into buying some dvd from some comedian so it cost me $5 (when we watched it when we got home it was total cack!) we walked outside the Graumanns Chinese theatre for a while and took photos of names we saw on the walk of the fame and looked at the footprints in front, it was quite impressive and we bogeyed star spotting on the floor, after having our pic taken with a very grubby looking spiderman on top of a bin (which cost me $1 didnt know hollywood you had to pay to have ure pic taken) we got hassled by some guy asking if we wanted a limo tour, me and jayne ummed and aaahed bout it, it was $50 for both of us, but i'd read a good report online before we came here saying that these were quite good so we decided to go on it.
We got in the big black stretched limo and there was only 2 other couples with us, an american and an irish couple, we were told the tour would last about 2 hours, quite a bargain for $25 each really ! first stop we made was up some windy roads into the hollywood hills to get a good vierw and picture opps of the Hollywood sign, we were still quite faraway from it but wasnt too bad (i was determined to get closer) from here we drove back down to sunset blvd and through the streets and into Beverley Hills, wow how the other half live, the driver/guide let us out at Rodeo Drive for a walk round for 20 mins which was nice and we took a stroll down the famous shopping area, wow it was so plush and you could smell the expensiveness of everything, we took some pics and headed back without buying anything hahahaha phew thank god !
From here he drove us round beverley hills some more then up into the Hills itself to where all the stars live, he ryhmed off house after house and who lives here and there it was hard to keep up, a few highlights and ones that i can remember where: The playboy mansion, Richard Gere, Janet Jackson, Fresh Prince, Ozzie Osbourne, Sidney Poitier, Steve Martin, Aaron Spelling, Johnny Weismuller (original tarzan man who had a mile long swimming pool !!!) I asked where Beckhams new house was he showed me the road but couldnt go up it as there was nothing to see. We drove around for some more pointing out more sights and famous spots it was really interesting and we were really in the land of glitz and glamour, we got back to the original spot just under 2hrs later, well worth the money and a good way to see everything, we were glad we did it.
From here we walked a good strecth of the walk of fame back to the Chinese Theatre where we decided to grab lunhc, we got a Quizno's in the Hollywood/Highland centre which is right next door to the Theatre and holds the Kodak theatre in it which is the theatre where the Oscars are held. The shopping centre wasnt that great but the highlight of walking round was i spotted the fat guy from Borat in a coffee shop, i told jayne and she agreed it was him, finally we had seen a star i took a few pics of him it was quite funny how pleased i was.
It was late to mid afternoon now and we decided to walk east towards hollywood and vice for a bit, it was still really hot so we popped in a few tacky gift shops and got some tacky sounvenirs and some some right freaks whilst walking, it really isnt the glitzy part at all ! on our way back to the car we passed a bar that was having happy hour and 34oz beers so we decided to seize the chance and relax for a bit,after all we were on holiday, we ordered and Jayne couldnt believe the size of the beers, they were huge and there was no way she was drinking all of hers with driving back to the hotel on the highway, so i had to help her out, oh dear for me hahaha. We stayed in that bar for a good hour it was nice to watch the freaks go by and see the captain jack character skiving again !
We got to the car around 5ish and decided to get a better pic of the Hollywood sign as we could do this on our way to the highway, or so i thought!?!?! we got a little lost and with help from our map we got quite close up a street where we had to stand in the middle of the road to take a good pic it was quite funny. mission accomplished. We got back on the highway and headed for back to Anaheim by now it was almost 7 and sun was going down but not dark, when we got to Anaheim we decided to check out downtown disney where they had shops and restaurants so we could get something to eat.
It was nice down here, quite busy as all the restaurants seemed to have lines, we decided to check out the Mexican place (Tortilla Joes hahaha) and waited about 20 mins, the food was ok but a little bland, not enough spice was jaynes comment, it was true really. After our meal we went in all the shops and then went to the World of Disney Shop, this place was huge, the biggest disney shop ive ever been in, put it this way if they didnt have it in here they wouldnt have it anywhere ! we didnt get anything as were coming back on thursday.
By now it was 10pm so we headed back to the hotel and got our table and chairs back around the pool and chilled out with a few smirnoff ice before hitting the hayafter another tiring day in the hot hot hot sun !
We got to the intersection of where Hollywood Blvd was and our first impressions were it wasnt as glitzy as they make out, there were tacky tourist shops everwhere and people walking up to you hassleing you to go on tours and buy this and that, we got accosted right away Jayne got suckered into buying some dvd from some comedian so it cost me $5 (when we watched it when we got home it was total cack!) we walked outside the Graumanns Chinese theatre for a while and took photos of names we saw on the walk of the fame and looked at the footprints in front, it was quite impressive and we bogeyed star spotting on the floor, after having our pic taken with a very grubby looking spiderman on top of a bin (which cost me $1 didnt know hollywood you had to pay to have ure pic taken) we got hassled by some guy asking if we wanted a limo tour, me and jayne ummed and aaahed bout it, it was $50 for both of us, but i'd read a good report online before we came here saying that these were quite good so we decided to go on it.
We got in the big black stretched limo and there was only 2 other couples with us, an american and an irish couple, we were told the tour would last about 2 hours, quite a bargain for $25 each really ! first stop we made was up some windy roads into the hollywood hills to get a good vierw and picture opps of the Hollywood sign, we were still quite faraway from it but wasnt too bad (i was determined to get closer) from here we drove back down to sunset blvd and through the streets and into Beverley Hills, wow how the other half live, the driver/guide let us out at Rodeo Drive for a walk round for 20 mins which was nice and we took a stroll down the famous shopping area, wow it was so plush and you could smell the expensiveness of everything, we took some pics and headed back without buying anything hahahaha phew thank god !
From here he drove us round beverley hills some more then up into the Hills itself to where all the stars live, he ryhmed off house after house and who lives here and there it was hard to keep up, a few highlights and ones that i can remember where: The playboy mansion, Richard Gere, Janet Jackson, Fresh Prince, Ozzie Osbourne, Sidney Poitier, Steve Martin, Aaron Spelling, Johnny Weismuller (original tarzan man who had a mile long swimming pool !!!) I asked where Beckhams new house was he showed me the road but couldnt go up it as there was nothing to see. We drove around for some more pointing out more sights and famous spots it was really interesting and we were really in the land of glitz and glamour, we got back to the original spot just under 2hrs later, well worth the money and a good way to see everything, we were glad we did it.
From here we walked a good strecth of the walk of fame back to the Chinese Theatre where we decided to grab lunhc, we got a Quizno's in the Hollywood/Highland centre which is right next door to the Theatre and holds the Kodak theatre in it which is the theatre where the Oscars are held. The shopping centre wasnt that great but the highlight of walking round was i spotted the fat guy from Borat in a coffee shop, i told jayne and she agreed it was him, finally we had seen a star i took a few pics of him it was quite funny how pleased i was.
It was late to mid afternoon now and we decided to walk east towards hollywood and vice for a bit, it was still really hot so we popped in a few tacky gift shops and got some tacky sounvenirs and some some right freaks whilst walking, it really isnt the glitzy part at all ! on our way back to the car we passed a bar that was having happy hour and 34oz beers so we decided to seize the chance and relax for a bit,after all we were on holiday, we ordered and Jayne couldnt believe the size of the beers, they were huge and there was no way she was drinking all of hers with driving back to the hotel on the highway, so i had to help her out, oh dear for me hahaha. We stayed in that bar for a good hour it was nice to watch the freaks go by and see the captain jack character skiving again !
We got to the car around 5ish and decided to get a better pic of the Hollywood sign as we could do this on our way to the highway, or so i thought!?!?! we got a little lost and with help from our map we got quite close up a street where we had to stand in the middle of the road to take a good pic it was quite funny. mission accomplished. We got back on the highway and headed for back to Anaheim by now it was almost 7 and sun was going down but not dark, when we got to Anaheim we decided to check out downtown disney where they had shops and restaurants so we could get something to eat.
It was nice down here, quite busy as all the restaurants seemed to have lines, we decided to check out the Mexican place (Tortilla Joes hahaha) and waited about 20 mins, the food was ok but a little bland, not enough spice was jaynes comment, it was true really. After our meal we went in all the shops and then went to the World of Disney Shop, this place was huge, the biggest disney shop ive ever been in, put it this way if they didnt have it in here they wouldnt have it anywhere ! we didnt get anything as were coming back on thursday.
By now it was 10pm so we headed back to the hotel and got our table and chairs back around the pool and chilled out with a few smirnoff ice before hitting the hayafter another tiring day in the hot hot hot sun !
posted by joeintoronto at
11:15 PM
