Los Angeles July 2013

I've probably been to LA about half a dozen times and always stay with family that's about an hour outside of LA. So this time I decided to stay in a hostel in LA for a few days to be close to everything. I stayed at the Banana Bungalow West Hollywood. It's pretty close to Melrose Avenue and The Grove, which is an outside mall. It's a really good location but the rooms are a bit dated and mine was next to the outside patio so always pretty noisy. It's a good location but that's about it. 

On my first day I did the unthinkable and walked to Hollywood Boulevard as no one walks in LA. You can get a bus to Hollywood Boulevard from across the street but I wanted to walk. It's about a 40-45 minute walk to Hollywood. You instantly see the stars on the ground with several famous people's names. Hollywood Boulevard is full of hotels, hostels, restaurants, bars, the Chinese Theatre, the Kodak Theatre (where the Oscars are filmed) and an outdoor shopping centre. You will undoubtably be harassed by vendors trying to sell you some kind of tour. 

I purchased a famous people's homes tour for $47/£31/€35 as I'd always wanted to do one. I purchased my ticket from Starline Tours, you also get a free tour of Madame Tussads that needs to be used within 2 days. So the famous people's homes tour was 2 hours, if I were you I would take a bottle of water as the mini bus doesn't have a roof. You are given headphones so you can hear the tour guide talking. The tour includes driving down Sunset Boulevard, Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive, Hollywood Hills and Mulholland Drive. We saw several homes including those of Ryan Seacrest, Ellen Degeneres, Larry King, Christina Aguleira, Bruno Mars and Vinnie Jones. The tour guide made a plea at the end of the tour for his tip which is recommended at $10/£6/€7, I only gave $5/£3.30/€3.80 as it was that or $20 and he wasn't that good. 

I'd been out in the sun pretty much all day so after the tour I went back to my hostel, took a nap and relaxed until the next day. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Praha 14th April 2011

Image
Trdelnik We woke up at 8:45 to the sound of drilling as there were some roadworks going on outside our windows :(  Everyone got showered and dressed and we left at 10am to go to the Old Market Square, we saw the Astronomical Clock, walked around the market and had these sugary sweets called trdelnik. There were several stalls selling them. They are the most devine dessert I've ever had and the thing I miss the most about Prague. It is made out of dough and like a pretzel but with a more crispy consistency. It is made by wrapping the dough around a roll pin type device which is then rolled above hot coals to cook the dough. After it's golden brown it is then rolled in a sugar and cinnamon mix. Then you get to wat it! This has to be tried and searched for when you go to Prague as it's delicious! Trdelnik Outside the town hall there are several tour guides waiting to with umbrellas which is a sign that they are tour guides. Some are free and others you need to
Read more

Buenos Aires April 2013

Image
Today I attended my first Spanish class. I was supposed to have group classes but there is nobody else at my beginner level so I am having 1:1 classes at the moment. I currently have 2 hours of lessons per day and if I change to a group classes I will have four hours a day. It was a bit weird at the beginning, kind of like my first day of school. I was introduced to my professor Bruno and was given a textbook and a tour of the school which took no time at all. There are a few computers, wifi throughout and several leaflets with information about Buenos Aires and things to do. The first class was good and I was given homework for the next day so it really felt like I was 14 again. I continued classes for the rest of the week in addition to my own form of studying from reading Spanish books, magazines, watching telenovelas and talking to as many Argentines as possible. One night this week me and Corrie had heard of the round the world party at a bar in Soho. Basically you are given
Read more

Amsterdam 10th December 2010

Image
We woke up at about 8am so that we could leave at 9am to see the house of Anne Frank. We got dressed and went downstairs for our free breakfast which consisted of juice, toast or cereal. We used our map and walked to the Anne Frank House which was on Prinsengract which was about a 20-25 minute walk from our hostel, I would recommend walking as much as you can in Amsterdam as most things are nearby plus you get to see more when you walk. The Anne Frank House costs €9 or €4.50 if you are between 10-17 years, those under 10 only have to pay €0.50. You can buy tickets online and print them or buy them on the day. I would recommend purchasing your tickets in advance if you are visiting Amsterdam in the tourist season and if you are going in the afternoon or if there is a group of you. We went early in the day so there wasn't much of a queue so we didn't buy our tickets online. The House's opening times vary depending on the time of year.  Signpost The House was very in
Read more