LA pitstop

Robert Young with his star on Hollywood Bvd (LA, USA 6 July 07)
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After the tour of possibly all the second hand car garages in Vancouver, it was good to have LA to look forward to...

Well, to look forward to may not have been entirely true, as many people we knew who had visited this city before had warned us off staying too long, citing urban sprawl, pollution and cars ruling as some of the many reasons not to hang around.

However, we could not have been more suprised with our arrival.

Having arrived late at night and thus staying at a hotel near to the airport, we moved more central the next day to stay at the Orbit Hotel, a hip place in the far-too-cool-for-us West Hollywood district, that was incredibly friendly, offering advice and specially made maps to every guest of the areas of interest, plus the bus routes to get us there.

Robert Young's star on Hollywood Bvd (LA, USA 6 July 07)
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We spent the first day around the Hollywood Blvd, managing to track down the "Robert Young" star on the street, and taking a glimpse at the famous Hollywood sign. That evening we wandered into a Comedy club, and had a great night viewing a host of hilarious up and coming Latino American stars.

The next day was one of the highlights of the adventure so far for V, who met her cousin Kate for the first time. They got on hugely well, sharing photos of various family members. whilst Kate's husband Oliver could have spent the whole weekend talking to Rob about his new found favourite sport, Cricket. Plans are being made to catch up again when the rellies hit the UK for Christmas. The great day was rounded off by an evening at "the ballgame" where we watched the LA Dodgers get beaten by the Marlins - the enormous cups of cold beer lubricated our efforts to join in with the "Charge Dodgers!" chants nicely.

The Hollywood sign in the mist from Hollywood Bvd (LA, USA 6 July 07)
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Our last day in LA was spent in the place to go when the sun shines - on the beach. We hired chopper bikes on Santa Monica and cycled along the boardwalks and cycleways to Venice Beach to watch the basketball players and musclemen. All in all, a great few days.

V&R