I landed in California at what felt like quite an unhealthy time in the morning and proceeded to catch a shuttle over to Santa Monica, where I was staying. As usual, arriving early meant I couldn't check in until later so I dumped my bags and went for a stroll down to the sea and over to the pier. It is apparently the way in this part of the world that it is almost always overcast in the morning but then clears up very nicely in the afternoon, so although my morning stroll wasn't the best, the sun came out while I was eating lunch, which was lovely (and so was lunch, a salmon panini). I also browsed a couple of shops including a Barnes and Noble bookshop which was utter heaven after the extortionate prices down-under. Naturally I ended up buying myself another book because of this. Eventually it was time to go check in before a quiet afternoon and an evening spent catching up on a load of blog-writing, emails and all the exciting things in life (taking advantage of the free wifi) and watching a spot of television. After this it was time for an early-ish night to try and catch up on sleep somewhat.
After a pleasant lie-in I was off on a tour-bus. Now, normally I am not a fan of tour buses, as you end up being herded around like cattle and some really boring person tells you lots of 'interesting' facts about every single building you drive past, but LA is massive and I didn't have a huge amount of time there so I decided to try and see everything in one go. Besides, it was called the RastaBus (and was appropriately decorated). We started off by heading up the coast to see Malibu, which turned out to be less exciting than I had expected and wasn't helped by the usual overcast morning. From there we headed through some of the suburbs such as Beverly Hills and saw the homes (or mansions) of some celebrities. Then it was up to Greystone Mansion which is set in a nice little park and has been used as a set in a large number of movies such as Spiderman, X-Men and Rush Hour. There were some pretty good views out over the city as well. From there we headed over to the Farmer's Market which has what is basically a huge outdoor food court with an incredible range of different cuisines (unsurprisingly this is where we had lunch). On the bus there were 4 of us from the same hostel (Roslyn, Rhys, Joe and I) and it almost felt like we were a walking joke... an Englishman, an Irishman, a Welshman and a Scot walk into a bar... but we all got on well. After filling up on lunch we got back on the bus and went up to Griffith Park where you can get a decent view of the Hollywood Sign (which was actually originally a publicity stunt for a housing development) and the rest of LA. There is also an observatory up there with some interesting displays including a Foucault Pendulum. Next stop was Hollywood itself with the Walk of Fame, Kodak Theatre (where the Oscars are held) and Graumann's Chinese Theatre (with all the handprints outside). After that it was time to head back to the hostel where I finally managed to catch up with this blog and complete a post detailing my time in New Zealand. That night there was the offer of all-you-can-eat burgers at the hostel which we decided to partake in (while they weren't the nicest I've ever had they filled the hole nicely). We also had a few free drinks before heading out on a night out organised by the hostel along with an Aussie and a few Kiwis. It was good fun, including watching a comedy show and going to a bar where they do close-up magic while you drink.
I ended up spending most of the next day trying to organise where I was going to go and stay and basically took it easy with a little bit of a wander around Santa Monica. Then it was time for an earlier night.
Another early morning followed as I checked out and headed down the road to catch a bus to Las Vegas. For convenience's sake I had booked a bus/hotel/tour package with a couple of nights spent in Vegas so after 5 or so hours on the bus I was checking into the Imperial Palace, a hotel/casino on the strip. It's not the fanciest place in Vegas but it still felt pretty damn luxurious to me, especially compared to a hostel. I spent most of that afternoon wandering the strip and seeing all the crazy opulence of it all. There are lots of places that sell cut-price tickets to shows at various hotels so I indulged myself and purchased tickets to see Blue Man Group at the Venetian. I stopped in at a restaurant (which was part of Paris) for a steak dinner before heading over to the box office to collect my tickets. Walking there took a while since all the casinos and hotels are so incredibly huge but it wasn't long before I had my tickets and was taking my seat for the show. For those of you who don't know, Blue Man Group are basically 3 guys (who are blue) who perform a crazy art, music and comedy fusion show. It is hilarious and has some great audience participation moments (including one involving a very large amount of toilet paper), so much so that those of us in the front rows were provided with plastic ponchos to protect ourselves from the possibility of being hit with stuff like paint. It was a great show and afterwards I headed back to my (very big and comfortable) bed to get some sleep before yet another early start.
The next day was the tour portion of my Las Vegas trip. After being picked up at 6:40am I sat on a bus for a crazy long amount of time as we drove into Arizona to the Grand Canyon. What can I say? It certainly is very grand. It was sort of as I had expected from seeing photographs of it except for the fact that no picture can every really convey quite how big something is. It is MASSIVE and a very spectacular sight to behold. After a rather brief visit to the canyon itself it was time to get back on the bus for another (really fun and exciting) long bus journey back to Vegas. Since I would have time for a bit of a lie-in the following morning I decided to head downstairs and have a taste of the main reason people seem to go to Vegas, gambling. I tried a bit of everything from slots to poker, and after losing a bit of money I decided it wasn't really my thing after all and called it a night.
After a bit of a lie-in I repacked (yet again) and checked out before heading out on the strip to find some lunch and explore some of the other casinos I hadn't yet been to. On the way back I purchased a few souvenirs before collecting my bags from the hotel and heading round the corner to await the bus to take me back to LA. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful and I arrived in Venice Beach (just down the coast from where I had stayed in Santa Monica), checked into the hostel and called it a night fairly early.
Venice Beach is quite an interesting place filled with some real characters. It has quite a bohemian feel with quite a lot of street performers and stalls set up next to the beach itself. There was everything from musicians to a ventriloquist to a dog that could skateboard! I basically spent the day exploring the area and taking in the sights and sounds, having lunch in a cheap cafe and dinner in the restaurant/bar beneath the hostel I was staying in.
After a bit of a lie-in I got up, packed (again) and checked out. I headed round the corner to catch a bus up to Santa Monica, back to the hostel I had stayed at before to await my bus up the coast to San Francisco. While waiting outside for the bus to arrive I met Joe who was still there and still looking for a job and I read some more of my book, although I was getting rather close to the end by this point. The bus journey was uneventful although I did end up sitting next to an interesting guy called Doug from Pittsburgh. 8 or so hours later we arrived in San Francisco and I walked the short distance down the street from where I was dropped off to the hostel I was staying at (San Francisco International Hostel). After checking in I had a bit of a relax before partaking in the hostel's main selling point: free beer every night. I met a couple of Italians called Stefano and Gianmarco and after the free beer had all run out (and we had been put to shame by the dancing skills of a young child) we headed round the corner to an Irish pub where there were two guys with pianos taking requests. It was pretty cool to watch and in all quite a fun night.
I had arranged to meet up with the Italians again the next day and after lunch in Chinatown we headed over to Fisherman's Wharf and a pretty interesting museum of arcade games old and new. We wandered around the waterfront for a bit before we decided to head back for a nap. For dinner the Italians had offered to cook some genuine Italian pasta and pesto (from a jar) which we enjoyed along with some local wine. By this point I was pretty shattered and after some free beer I called it a night and left the Italians to go out and party without me.
Today I had a pretty good lie-in before writing and sending some postcards and heading out west along the waterfront through the historical parts. Unfortunately I only arrived at the Maritime Museum 15 minutes before it was going to close so I might have to head back over there at some point. There was also some kind of gig going on which sounded pretty good and also preparations for a triathlon tomorrow. I got a good few photos of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge before walking back through the city to the hostel in order to complete this blog post which will probably end up being my penultimate one as I return to the UK in less than 6 days! Sadface.
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