With George humming the ‘Hawaii Five-0’ theme song as we picked up our silver Chevrolet Camaro to cruise around LA in, our honeymoon had well and truly begun. First stop: Los Angeles.
Our first day was spent with the camera around our necks in Los Angeles tourist jaunts. Star-spotting in Hollywood, window-shopping in Beverly Hills (although the woman at Jimmy Choo did try and sell me 4 different pairs of shoes) and strolling in Santa Monica. Although I was sleep-deprived, a cat-nap during the car trip to the hotel made sure that I pushed through the first day, and managed to avoid jet lag completely!
Rodeo Drive was beautiful but exactly what is to be expected – lots of gawking tourists, expensive restaurants and unbelievably overpriced stores with pushy sales-assistants. Obviously the lady in Jimmy Choo knows a shoe-fiend when she sees one, as she did not leave us alone while we browsed the ‘cheaper-than-in-Australia-but-still-need-another-mortgage’ prices of Mr Choo’s beautiful creations.
Next step: A cruise down to the beautiful Santa Monica where the fog was so thick we couldn’t see the pier!
One’s first 24 hours in Los Angeles mandates a trip to Hollywood – so we obliged. And it was at this point that I observed just how ‘grungy’ (read: filthy , small & touristy) Hollywood Boulevard actually is. The Walk of Stars, Chinese Theatre and Dolby Theatre were great to see. However, I was more overwhelmed with the number of grown men in lycra taking photos with tourists for $10-a-pop. More astounding was the number of people actually paying to have photos with them, including the slightly less-than-statuesque Captain America…
To round off our first day in Los Angeles, we took the recommendations of many who have travelled here before us and headed to ‘The Grove’ outdoor shopping centre and entertainment complex. We enjoyed our first dinner at ‘Umami Burger’ (Think: Grill’d with more condiments), and enjoyed the plethora of shops open until late into the evening.
