Day 1
I arrived to LA airport at 7am after 2 planes (3.5 and 13.5 hours with 2 hours between) and not very much sleep due to the couple next to me fidgeting with the light and getting up multiple times. Despite this I managed to get through the whole day with only a couple of minor personal earthquakes (dizzy spells).
My first mission was to get to Santa Monica. I managed and it only cost $1. BARGAIN! But it took a while and I had to drag my bag and I thought I was lost soooo many times. When I got to Santa Monica I found Katherine's hostel fairly quickly and she was waiting outside - lovely!! Oh, my ankles had swollen from the plane, especially my bike injured one, so I looked a state. Oh well. We went for breakfast and then a wander down the beach and through town before hopping a bus to Downtown LA. I looked around the oldest house in LA and then we caught a train to Hollywood. We found the hotel fairly easily and it was by far the prettiest thing on the block.
MELISSA arrived with the hire car. HURRAH! We all declared hunger and went for a walk along Hollywood Boulevard to see what we could find. There were stars on the floor from pretty soon after we left, but everyone else was just going about their daily business. It was weird. We found a nice Mexican place and had tequilla cocktails and yummy food. We all thought it was bed time but it turned out to be only 7pm so we walked along some more of the road. Hollywood seems to be made up of people dressed as famous people trying to take photos with you, tourists and homeless people. We had a nice chat with a guy called Earl on the way back to the hotel.
Day 2
We had AMAZING breakfast and then headed off. LA is big and sprawling and gross and it took us ages to get out. So long that by the time we hit the highway and checked the sat nav we were not going to make to Hearst Castle by our booked 3pm tour, so we rescheduled for 9am tomorrow and that meant we could take our time on the journey. Which was good because first thing we did was get lost. We still don't really know how - all we had to do was keep keep the sea on our left. Oh well!!
Stop one was Santa Barbara; we all though that Santa Barbara was exactly what we thought LA should be - pretty and by the sea and clean and with nature. Next we headed up to the mountains and pretty quickly it got windy and HIGH UP! But very, very pretty. In LA you can't see the next hill because of what I reckon is pollution, but once you're out the view is much, much better. Stop two we made in San Luis Obispo. We planned to visit the mission as it is supposed to be amazing, however we got rather distracted by a beautiful sight from the highway: Madonna Inn. It is amazing and beautiful and perfect and the only place Melissa will consider getting married. It was brilliant.
We did the final bit of coast and then found our hotel for the evening, the Sea Otter Inn in Cambria. Only on arrival did I register that there might be SEA OTTERS here!! Blonde. We headed straight to the beach to check it out and discovered hundreds of seals. By then it was rather dark, so we vowed to take breakfast out there the next morning to see what we can see in the daylight. We took a walk along the promenade and checked out a redwood shop with a cool man who used to make film sets and his rescue dog before settling down for dinner. The Moonstone Beach Bar & Grill had an excellent range of seafood and I was brave to go for the seafood pasta with all sorts in it. Lovely. We accidentally bought a third bottle of wine to bring back to the hotel with us to enjoy by the fire in our room. Yum.
Day 3
Sea otters, elephant seals, rain, Hearst Castle, rain, Highway 1, rain, lost, rain, Highway 1, rain, Highway 1, rain, Highway 1, sun, Highway 1, sunset, Highway 1, San Francisco, drink with Jack Kerouac, dinner with Mona Lisa, ice cream and free popcorn.
Day 4
We had an all day walking tour booked but really wanted to see the sea lions at Pier 39 so we headed there first thing (8.30am). This turns out to be a pretty great time as there were no other tourists and the sealions were pretty feisty. We caught a bus/street car over to the tour start and immediately got a cable car up a big hill. The tour was very down to earth, lots of transport up hill and meandering down. We saw LOADS, I really would recommend the tour to anyone (http://www.therealsftour.com). I would like to go back to SF one day and would take the tour again at the beginning of a longer stay to take notes. There's plenty to keep you occupied for a couple of weeks at least.
We did have to duck out slightly early as we were booked on the evening tour of Alcatraz. The tour was massive with a couple of hundred people at least going around at the same time, so there was lots of not being able to see what the audio tour said you should, etc. The island and prison are pretty interesting, but I'll admit it didn't seem quite so awful as I was expecting - however I don't have any prison calibration to judge against. There were some interesting personal stories, etc. We went to the optional talk "Suicide and Murder at Alcatraz Island" which was a pretty interesting story from the island before the days of the prison - it was not as bloody and gory as I wanted though!
When we got back to dock my friend Elspeth and her boyfriend Chris were waiting for us. It was brilliant to have a(nother) friend across the world! The three of us were pretty exhausted after all the day's walking, so picking a place for dinner was trickier that it could have been. We settled for the place right across the street as it was right across the street. Turned out to be a good choice and some of the best food I've had all trip. It was really good to catch up with Elspeth. She's been over there for over 3 years now, having now finished her studies and working at the university.
We got a lift back to the hotel and all had a bit of a sort out ready for the early morning drive to the airport.
I arrived to LA airport at 7am after 2 planes (3.5 and 13.5 hours with 2 hours between) and not very much sleep due to the couple next to me fidgeting with the light and getting up multiple times. Despite this I managed to get through the whole day with only a couple of minor personal earthquakes (dizzy spells).
My first mission was to get to Santa Monica. I managed and it only cost $1. BARGAIN! But it took a while and I had to drag my bag and I thought I was lost soooo many times. When I got to Santa Monica I found Katherine's hostel fairly quickly and she was waiting outside - lovely!! Oh, my ankles had swollen from the plane, especially my bike injured one, so I looked a state. Oh well. We went for breakfast and then a wander down the beach and through town before hopping a bus to Downtown LA. I looked around the oldest house in LA and then we caught a train to Hollywood. We found the hotel fairly easily and it was by far the prettiest thing on the block.
MELISSA arrived with the hire car. HURRAH! We all declared hunger and went for a walk along Hollywood Boulevard to see what we could find. There were stars on the floor from pretty soon after we left, but everyone else was just going about their daily business. It was weird. We found a nice Mexican place and had tequilla cocktails and yummy food. We all thought it was bed time but it turned out to be only 7pm so we walked along some more of the road. Hollywood seems to be made up of people dressed as famous people trying to take photos with you, tourists and homeless people. We had a nice chat with a guy called Earl on the way back to the hotel.
Day 2
We had AMAZING breakfast and then headed off. LA is big and sprawling and gross and it took us ages to get out. So long that by the time we hit the highway and checked the sat nav we were not going to make to Hearst Castle by our booked 3pm tour, so we rescheduled for 9am tomorrow and that meant we could take our time on the journey. Which was good because first thing we did was get lost. We still don't really know how - all we had to do was keep keep the sea on our left. Oh well!!
Stop one was Santa Barbara; we all though that Santa Barbara was exactly what we thought LA should be - pretty and by the sea and clean and with nature. Next we headed up to the mountains and pretty quickly it got windy and HIGH UP! But very, very pretty. In LA you can't see the next hill because of what I reckon is pollution, but once you're out the view is much, much better. Stop two we made in San Luis Obispo. We planned to visit the mission as it is supposed to be amazing, however we got rather distracted by a beautiful sight from the highway: Madonna Inn. It is amazing and beautiful and perfect and the only place Melissa will consider getting married. It was brilliant.
We did the final bit of coast and then found our hotel for the evening, the Sea Otter Inn in Cambria. Only on arrival did I register that there might be SEA OTTERS here!! Blonde. We headed straight to the beach to check it out and discovered hundreds of seals. By then it was rather dark, so we vowed to take breakfast out there the next morning to see what we can see in the daylight. We took a walk along the promenade and checked out a redwood shop with a cool man who used to make film sets and his rescue dog before settling down for dinner. The Moonstone Beach Bar & Grill had an excellent range of seafood and I was brave to go for the seafood pasta with all sorts in it. Lovely. We accidentally bought a third bottle of wine to bring back to the hotel with us to enjoy by the fire in our room. Yum.
Day 3
Sea otters, elephant seals, rain, Hearst Castle, rain, Highway 1, rain, lost, rain, Highway 1, rain, Highway 1, rain, Highway 1, sun, Highway 1, sunset, Highway 1, San Francisco, drink with Jack Kerouac, dinner with Mona Lisa, ice cream and free popcorn.
Day 4
We had an all day walking tour booked but really wanted to see the sea lions at Pier 39 so we headed there first thing (8.30am). This turns out to be a pretty great time as there were no other tourists and the sealions were pretty feisty. We caught a bus/street car over to the tour start and immediately got a cable car up a big hill. The tour was very down to earth, lots of transport up hill and meandering down. We saw LOADS, I really would recommend the tour to anyone (http://www.therealsftour.com). I would like to go back to SF one day and would take the tour again at the beginning of a longer stay to take notes. There's plenty to keep you occupied for a couple of weeks at least.
We did have to duck out slightly early as we were booked on the evening tour of Alcatraz. The tour was massive with a couple of hundred people at least going around at the same time, so there was lots of not being able to see what the audio tour said you should, etc. The island and prison are pretty interesting, but I'll admit it didn't seem quite so awful as I was expecting - however I don't have any prison calibration to judge against. There were some interesting personal stories, etc. We went to the optional talk "Suicide and Murder at Alcatraz Island" which was a pretty interesting story from the island before the days of the prison - it was not as bloody and gory as I wanted though!
When we got back to dock my friend Elspeth and her boyfriend Chris were waiting for us. It was brilliant to have a(nother) friend across the world! The three of us were pretty exhausted after all the day's walking, so picking a place for dinner was trickier that it could have been. We settled for the place right across the street as it was right across the street. Turned out to be a good choice and some of the best food I've had all trip. It was really good to catch up with Elspeth. She's been over there for over 3 years now, having now finished her studies and working at the university.
We got a lift back to the hotel and all had a bit of a sort out ready for the early morning drive to the airport.
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