Lovely Los Angeles

We visited Los Angeles just to do the Hollywood thing and as this was part of a multi-centre itinerary we didn’t have time to do the beaches too. But we will be going back as I loved Los Angeles and would love to visit the beaches and have some time to relax and soak up the atmosphere.

We flew in from New York and arrived at our hotel and were greeted by some lovely staff and treated to a free room upgrade. The hotel was fantastic, the weather was even better so this was an opportunity to get the shorts out of the suitcase!

The hotel we stayed in was 5 minutes from the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Chinese Theatre, Sunset Boulevard and all the celebrity houses. It was only 5 minutes from Universal Studios and had a complimentary shuttle bus running to and from the park. This part of the trip was included because my partner is a real movie buff, so we only stayed for two days do the celebrity houses tour before moving on to our next city.

The next morning we were taken round all the celebrity houses to see who lived where and what kind of house they lived in, we even caught sight of the famous Hollywood Sign. We went down Rodeo Drive and on to Farmers Market, which has lots of fresh meat and seafood stalls and plenty of shops if you fancied a stroll.

We stopped at the Chinese Theatre and saw the stars in the pavement on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, of which there are 3,500!

In the afternoon we sunbathed around the pool in the blistering heat and took the opportunity to grab some much needed rest from our previous stop in New York. The hotel was spotless and had a modern gym, the staff were friendly and the food was amazing! It ranked with us well above its 3.5 star rating!

We both love Theme Parks so we took an excursion to the Six Flags Magic Mountain Park, which was about a 20 minute drive from our hotel. We bought ourselves a Platinum flash pass which meant we went straight on the rides without queuing and I have to say that of all the Theme Parks I have been to, there are two rides here called X2 and Déjà Vu, which were the best I have ever been on! If you find the time to spend a day at this park, you won’t be disappointed.

In the evening we went to Sunset Boulevard and revisited the Hollywood Walk of Fame to do a bit of souvenir shopping before our drive to San Francisco in the morning. I liked Los Angeles, the people were friendly and as I said I will go back and visit the coast, such as Santa Monica and relax in the sunshine!