Los Angeles

The end of my amazing adventure was three days in Los Angeles. I had decided to do LA at the end of the holiday seeing as I had to go back there to fly home anyway. After leaving Ottawa I was fairly tired and this is what I expected. Most people I spoke to about LA had said that it wasn't the most interesting of places and a day would do it. So, I figured three days would allow me to sleep in, potter around, do some sight seeing and head home. 

But, turns out, LA is actually pretty cool. I stayed at a hotel in West Hollywood and had the biggest room, with the biggest bed ( I tested it out - I could sleep lengthwise or widthwise without any limbs hanging off any end). It was a great, central location to stay. About 6 blocks away was a stop on the hop on - hop off sightseeing tour that I booked. The tour was great, stopping at many of the places I wanted to go.

After a sleep in on the first day I ended up packing in a lot of sightseeing and holiday activities before heading home. Heres what I squeezed in:

- A tour around downtown LA, seeing the financial, fashion, jewellery districts. 

- A tour around Hollywood, seeing the hollywood sign, paramount studios, rodeo drive and the sunset strip.

- Lunch at the Farmers Market. Sampling the Gumbo at a Southern stall and the Laksa at the Singaporean stall a second day. 

- A visit to the La Brea Tar Pits. 

- A visit to LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art). 

- A tour around Santa Monica. 

- Walking along Santa Monica pier. 

- Shopped at Tiffany & Co. on Rodeo Drive. 

- A tour through the Hollywood Hills and Beverly Hills to stalk the homes of movie stars. Seeing the homes of Bruce Willis, Katy Perry, Bruno Mars, Christina Aguilera, Sasha Baron Cohen, Jason Statham, Al Pacino and Jackie Collins just to name a few. 

- Had a pamper evening with a manicure and pedicure. 

- Walked the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 

- A movie at a theatre on Hollywood Blvd. 

- Souvenir shopping. 

Thats a long list. 

I was pleased to have the time in LA that I did and would definelty enjoy going back to see more. I didn't get to Disneyland in the end, so thats on the list of things to do next time too. If you're not much of a movie person, or into celebrities, then I can see that LA wouldn't have a heck of a lot to appeal to you. The tours are really focused on it's famous history and celebrities, but it's LA, so you'd kinda expect it. It was a great place to explore on my own and I enjoyed having the wind down (or wind up perhaps) to the holiday. 

I left LA on Thursday night on a 12 hour flight to Auckland. I left knowing that I had done everything, seen everything, and taken full advantage of everything my time in North America had offered me. Not to mention, spent enough money to make a small man cry. My credit card adores me right now.