We both fancied a drink, so we went for a wander through the palm covered boulevards. The sight of so many shops, cafes and bars intimidated us, it took all our concentration just to buy a bottle of soda. A whole world of choice had re-opened before our eyes. Did we want cola, lemonade, root beer, cream soda, orange? I was getting a headache from having to think again. I settled on a diet cola, and promptly spilt it on my shirt. Sometimes choice is bad.
We jumped on the metro, found a couple of seats and bedded in. It didn't take long for one of the local crazies to find us. An old lad, his neck in a brace and smelling somewhat dubious, finished scaring a child and sat in front of us. He heard our accents, as I was trying to explain to Gemma what dire neighborhoods we were passing through, and turned around. A big toothy grin glared at us, and without having been asked began explaining what a "bohog" was.
All the way from Transit Mall through to Union Station (a long way) we were treated to such treasures as how to use a bohog to scare children, and what "extra services" were available to paraplegic boys in LA. So we arrived at Union, our minds having been expanded in directions we never anticipated, and changed onto a mercifully more peaceful train towards Hollywood.
Our hostel was located just off Hollywood Boulevard, a strange, alternative, run down and mildly seedy area where Coffee shops and pizza restaurants vied for space with fetish clothing and adult DVD stores. Indeed, if one so desired you could step out in your new size 10 leather high heels and nurses uniform to pick up a happy meal. I joke of course. McDonald's is rank.
Fortunately the hostel, located inside a kind of wooden compound, was actually fine. It was quite a big hostel, so we met some interesting people, There was an outside area, a large air conditioned lounge with bar, and lots of activities going on. In fact, this hostel might have got a glowing review had it not been for their failure to adhere to their own noise policies, which ruined our last night in LA.
On the first full day in the city we decided to get our bearings from the top of a bus, (I may have mentioned before, I become like a child at Disneyland when I see an open top bus tour). Because of the size of LA there were three different routes running, our ticket included all of them so it was quite good value. It was a beautiful day so as we took our seats up top we delved into our bags for the suncream (little did we know)!
The tour took us around Hollywood and through towards Beverley Hills. Just round the corner from Rodeo Drive we jumped off and went for a walk. Rodeo drive has to be one of the most privileged shopping areas in the world. Forget your Armani, Gucci or Versace, one shop here is only open by appointment. The cheapest suit on sale is $15,000, and if you don't buy anything you still get charged $5000 for the pleasure of looking around. Small wonder there is a Bugatti Veyron parked outside (the owners).
We changed bus here, and headed out towards Santa Monica. As we drove out there was a strange haze on the horizon, which we were approaching rapidly. The haze was fog, and as soon as we hit it the temperature dropped noticeably. Within seconds we, and everyone onboard, were shivering and wrapping our arms around ourselves to keep warm. We reached the coast by Santa Monica pier, but couldn't even make out the water. The lifeguards beach huts, so distinctive, appeared empty, with no sign of David Hasslehof or Pamela Anderson. We decided not to get off, it was far too cold for the beach.
Back at Rodeo drive we changed route again, rejoining the Hollywood tour. We spent more time in the luxury areas, at every other stop the commentary would add "so if you want to bump into a celebrity, this might be the stop for you". I have to say, although I might do a double take if I saw Tom Cruise choosing his breakfast cereal, or Julia Roberts deciding between a Granny Smith or a Golden Delicious, neither of us are terribly interested in celebrity culture, so we both found the constant talk about these people a little tedious, and sad.
There are posters I have noticed throughout LA which proclaim that 1 in 6 Americans struggles to feed their family every day. There are charity stores around every other corner, and at night as we walk to a restaurant for dinner the homeless can be seen making their beds in every available doorway. So all the talk about celebrity culture feels a bit crude, shameless. There are reminders at every step that poverty is not far away. One evening a destitute looking man entered the hostel garden whilst I was chatting with a couple, he started talking to us, asking where we were from and if we were having fun. All the while he was rummaging through the hostel bins, taking out bottles and cans and collecting them in a black plastic bag, for recycling.
On our second day in LA we went to Universal Studios, catching the metro one stop and taking a short shuttle ride to the entrance. It wasn't cheap, $71 each in fact which rather blows the backpacking budget and felt like an obscene amount to spend on a days entertainment in a place where so many go hungry. However we had a lot of fun, meeting Homer & Marge, riding around a virtual Krustyland, taking a pleasure boat through Jurassic Park, and being thrown headlong into the lair of the Mummy. The Waterworld show, based loosely on the movie of the same name, was an odd mixture of comically cheesy acting and special effects. After the show, one of the actors started reeling off a list of tv shows that the performers had once been in, the national obsession with fame showing through.
We queued up for an hour to go on the Studio tour. It was quite well done, we were taken around several movie and TV sets including Desperate Housewives, Bruce Almighty, Back to the Future, and my personal favourite the original Bates Motel from Psycho. All the while a tv screen showed us clips from the relevant movies so we could compare the show to the reality. All of which would have been made even better had our tour guide, JJ, shut up for a few minutes. Telling someone that what they are about to see, what they are currently seeing, and what they have seen is amazing doesn't necessarily make it so. Universal have signed a deal with Hasbro to make movies based on board games (battleship, monopoly etc etc) - AMAZING! Amazingly bad I fear.
We went to the Farmers Market on our final day in LA, taking the bus. The market was pleasant enough, but the heat was formidable and we retreated into the shaded eating areas where we discovered some delicious fresh food. And not just for humans, I should add, as there was also a doggy bakery, in case your dachshund fancies a donut. We also saw a fitness video being filmed in the middle of a street, which was arguably the campest thing I have ever seen, and I had trouble holding the camera still from laughing so much.
Later we caught up on a little shopping, some necessities which we had been lacking. I finally have a second pair of jeans, having managed to get through 5 weeks of traveling with just the one pair (don't worry Mum, I alternated with my shorts), and a couple of t-shirts for the hot weather. As we wandered between the shops I noticed a thermometer reading 99 degrees, so we made our way back to the hostel to cool down and begin packing.
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