Day 5 - Friday October 6th 2006

After a quick breakfast in the hotel, we set off on our great voyage into the greater LA area.
After looking at some of the tours being offered by the bus companies, we got talking to the reception staff here and they suggested hiring a town car and driver/guide for the day. At $45 an hour and split between the 3 of us, we thought this was a great deal and meant we could see what we wanted to see and go when we wanted to go.
At 9am on the dot a black shiny Lincoln Town Car arrived with our driver Hugo and off we went. We first drove into the centre of LA past the Staples centre where the LA Lakers basketball team play and then up through the court district. Even though we had only been going for 50mins and she went seconds before we left, my mother declared she was desperate for a bathroom stop. Hugo stopped at little mexico, where after the facilities were located and used, we had a look around. Kaylee bought a little guitar which was customised with her name (the guy wrote it on there with a pen) and I brought a mini accordion.
We left little mexico and then drove through china town which looked basically like every other china town I have ever seen. The plan was to drive up into the Hollywood Hills to see the sign when we sort of hit another car. We were at a stop sign and hugo obviously didn't see this last car and went to enter the intersection and we T Boned it. We weren't going fast (having been at a complete stop) but the other car must have been doing at least 60km/hr. Well Hugo basically took off (with us still in the car) and went and hid in the hills for a bit and to check out the damage. Considering how hard we hit, there was basically no damage (yet). Just a bit of a scratch and his front number plate had fallen off. We went back to the scene to try and find the number plate, which we found sitting on the side walk next to the car that he hit. He hi-tailed it out of there and took us down to the Chinese Theatre and the Celebrity Walk of fame.
WHAT-A-DIVE. 2 doors down from the chinese theatre (Which is where they have a lot of the big movie premiers at) is the Kodak Theatre where they have the oscars. It looks nothing like on TV. We wandered around there for about an hour, taking some photos of the 'stars' squares and the old girl went nuts on tacky merchandise. The only highlight of this part of the trip was we did go into a hooters store. Toni was happy as none of the girls in there had much bigger 'hooters' then her and she reckons she could get a gig there. We picked up some stuff for people at home and then we met Hugo to have another go at seeing the Hollywood sign.
This time we didn't run into anything and got some nice shots of the sign from a lookout. We then headed into Beverely Hills where the houses were far too big but at least we felt sort of in place in our big black shiny towncar unlike the transit buses zooming around. We did see Danny Devito's house, sadly he wasn't out the front to greet us with milk and cookies and also some other mansion where the person had 5 ferrari's and 4 porches, alternating red and yellow sitting in his driveway. Its not fair.
We then went down to Rodeo Drive. The girls had a look through the Luis Vuitton store but weren't game enough to ask the prices. The area is very nice and Toni did plenty of window shopping at jewelery stores but really there is nothing there for tourists to do. We did eat at a place called the Cheesecake Factory. This place was magic. I ordered a 'Double the Fun' burger, which is basically a massive double cheeseburger. You know you have come to a happy place when they ask you how you would like the meat on your burger cooked. Toni had a chicken burger and mum had a chicken pizza. The menu at this place was extensive so don't think its just a burger and pizza joint. I also ordered a 'Flat Tire' beer. The waiter warned me that this beer was 20oz (about the size of a tallie) which was just fine by me. It was nice and had a great bottle that I am bringing home with me.
Anyway, the food came out and it was one of those rare occasions where everyone at the table wanted what everyone else had ordered. It was all sooooo good. I was determined to get my burger down and it was hard work but I did it. I didn't eat again all day.
We left there for Venice Beach. If we knew it was going to take over 90mins we wouldnt have bothered. Even though LA has this great free way system, it almost always seems to be either in grid lock or very close to it. Its amazing seeing 14 lane freeways bareley moving.
We finally arrived at Venice Beach. The beach itself looks nice but again its too cold to go anywhere near it today. We watched a couple of guys play basketball so badly I could have gone out there and sucked just as much. Only one guy was using the gym, but this guy was big, black and wearing barely more then a G-String so it certainly was an experience. The rest of the beach area is basically one big wacky market, filled with a mix of very odd people. Even sore one lady who was covered in Tats, changing the nappy of her child who had a big tatto on its back. Sad.
By this stage it was 5pm and time to head back to the hotel. We got about half way there when one of the tyres started making a noise tyres shouldn't make. Hugo pulled over and had a look and said they weren't flat. Anyway about 15miles down the road the tyre let go on the middle of the Interstate 5 freeway. So here we are, on the shouldar of one of the busiest roads in the world, helping Hugo change a tyre. Im note sure if this is related to the earlier accident, its on the opposite side of the car to which was hit. There is also a lot of debry on the shouldars of the freeways here so we could have certainly collected something that had been kicked onto the road.
After this drama we were back at our hotel about 15 mins later. I had a shower and then Toni and I decided to catch another town car to the closest mall while Mum stayed here and did some washing and chat to her husband online. It cost us $12 in the towncar to get to the mall. It wasn't particulary big but we did find a store that had everything in there for $6.98. I bought a pair of chino pants, a pair of denim shorts and a football jersey. Toni got a new top and denim shorts. At another store we got Amy and Zoey each new doogy jackets that were very cute.
It took us 1/2 hour to catch a taxi home and sitting in the back of an old dodgy cab with 2 big african americans in the front with hip-hop blarring was an experience. And it was $3 more expensive then the town car was!!!!!! I think I know how we will be getting around in the future. A man could get use to this type of decadance...
LA is a funny sort of place. The smog is everywhere. Not thick enough that you notice it when you breathe but if you look anywhere in the distance it is always hazy. Everything is made of concrete but with a real spanish inspired archeciture which is really cool. The freeways look awesome but the city is so spread out (but built out as well, there are no open spaces) that it takes forever to get anywhere. I certainly wouldn't want to live here and even though I enjoyed the experience, I would be in no rush to go and see the sights of LA or Hollywood anytime soon. Even though it was an eventful day with the accident and flat tire, I highly recommend getting a town car and driver. We were able to see heaps more then we would have seen on a bus, able to come and go as we please and not have to wait for other people to meander back. Hugo was excellent and its something we will look back on favourably in the future.... as soon as my neck stops hurting