Hollywood - Weird and Wonderful

Time to blog a little about our trip to Los Angeles and our time in Hollywood.

It was indeed wonderful, but honestly it was more weird than wonderful!

We booked a hotel room right around the corner from Hollywood Blvd., which was great because we were just five minutes walk away from all the 'action' and yet far enough away from all the noise that goes along with it!  Hollywood Blvd., is, of course, where the stars have their names engraved in stars in the pavement. You can see them being trampled on by tourists in some of my photos below.

Shopping Centre at Hollywood and Highland, five minutes from our hotel. Just five tourists climbed out of that limo - that's doing Hollywood in style!

Just to the left of centre, you will see people standing on a balcony (click to enlarge). They are facing the Hollywood Hills and taking photos of the famous "Hollywood" sign.

The day we took our photos it was pretty hazy, but we managed to capture it.

Did you know this history of the sign?

"The sign was first erected in 1923 and originally read "HOLLYWOODLAND". Its purpose was to advertise the name of a new housing development in the hills above the Hollywood district of Los Angeles. ...more "

And did you know that the sign is famous as the site of a tragic suicide?

The history makes for interesting reading, and you can find a pictorial history of it here

A close up of the inside of the shopping centre, and the photo-op balcony facing Hollywood Hills

Apparently the complex's courtyard was inspired by the D.W. Griffith film Intolerance - from the Babylon scene - massive elephants included.

Down below, the streets at Hollywood and Highland were the centre of much of the tourist attention: the weird and wonderful, I guess! - no comments really necessary!

She got someone's attention!

We dropped in to see some friends from American Idol, who were hanging out on Hollywood Blvd.,

Simon Cowell, pondering our visit and wondering just how WE talentless people made it to Hollywood

Jennifer Lopez, also not too happy to see us

Ryan Seacrest, always happy to see any contestant

DOTH and I are absolutely sold on Hoppa Buses (hop on/hop off) for sightseeing. We've used them in Toronto, Barcelona, Chester UK and now Hollywood. The absolute best way to see a city. You can buy a one or two day pass and get on and off at will.

My next post will take us on the bus tour of Hollywood Hills and the stars homes, downtown LA (some more weird and wonderful sights) and Santa Monica Beach...so stay tuned!

EVERY INCHIE MONDAY JUNE 25, 2012

There I was, sitting on the patio, pondering how I should interpret this week's inchie theme, when this tiny feather floated down from the sky and landed on the seat right beside my lap - honest! I didn't see a bird - have never noticed a feather this small before - it is exactly an inch long!

Perhaps it fell from a robin's nest, as there seem to be many robins around these days. Maybe I had just never noticed floating feathers before - never took the time to 'smell the roses,' I guess.

There's a lesson to be learned here, I think!

feather

Catching up with Every Inchie Monday

So between vacation and two recent cataract surgeries I've fallen a little behind with my inchies. I'm still not seeing perfectly, but here are my valiant attempts; just couldn't resist the challenge any longer!

May 28 - Number

Needs some explanation: my birthday, coming up in a couple of months, will be my 68th. My inchie represents all that I love, at this stage of my life:

my faith, my family (3 children, 5 grandchildren, 3 great grandchildren - and if you look closely you will see a big tummy representing another one on the way, wonderful son-in-law and grand-son-in-law - and not to forget my sister, brother-in-law, nephews and cousins), home, friends, reading, trees, flowers and birds, music, the blue waves representing the ocean, or at least Lake Ontario, and the thing that looks like a syringe is meant to be the CN Tower, representing my wonderful city of Toronto...and all of these bring peace, love and joy into my life -- most of the time!

June 4 - veil

June 11 - street

June 18th - animal

Because I had my second surgery just over a week ago, I had to take a short cut with this week's theme. It really wasn't possible to see to draw well, so I cropped this from my drawing of a shepherd leading his sheep along snowy Chapel Street in Flamborough Village, Yorkshire - which I copied from a very old postcard of the same, a couple of years ago. I just love the British black-headed sheep (I am sure they have a name, and someone who reads this will tell me!)

This is my original drawing. If you were to follow the street northward and go around the corner you would come to the home where my sister ChrisJ and I lived with our family in the early 1950s - 15 Woodcock Road. This is one of my most favourite Flamborough Village scenes! Oh, and I love the donkeys pulling the cart, too!

It's good to be back with my Every Monday Inchie friends!

Finally, for those who are dying to know what the "What Is It?"s  are in my previous blog, I will post the answer in a comment here.

Happy Monday all!

Spontaneity

I love being spontaneous.

So does DOTH (Daughter of the House).

So when she suggested a last minute trip, I was all for it. Good job TS (The Sister - ChrisJ) and her MOTH (Man Of The House) were willing to join us in our spontaneity, since it involved our 'dropping in' on them in California at the last minute, and just a few days before they were leaving on a trip of their own.

We had a super time with them. As always they were so hospitable and we spent 4 lovely days showing DOTH some of the sights I am already familiar with. DOTH and her aunt, ChrisJ, had not seen each other for over 20 years so it was a great reunion for them.  We spent time walking the beach, touring San Diego harbour and, of course, eating fish and chips, plus shopping in Seaport Village and locally too.

We also got to meet up with one of my nephews and his family over a great dinner together, which was topped up with a tub of Menchies ice cream. Menchies is a bit of an innovation for Canadians - don't think we have one here...it's lots of fun and requires much willpower. The idea is to pick up the size of tub you'd like and then fill it with various flavours of ice cream, choose from zillions of toppings, plus whipped cream, sauces etc., and then take it to the check-out to be weighed and paid for. Yummy!

After a sad farewell to family, DOTH and I traveled back north to Los Angeles, for three days of sightseeing. More about that on another post. But first, here are two "What Is It?" photos taken from our trip for you to try and guess. Bear in mind the locations I've mentioned.

If you are good at these, I may give you some more!