The surroundings of Los Angeles
After leaving Santa Barbara we went towards the Paramount Ranch. They used to shoot some films over here, and it is free to visit. I think very few people actually come here, as we didn’t see much people paying this “ranch” a visit. You can also do a horseback riding tour here.
We just took a short look around the western village and tried to have a look from above, but although the trail we followed promised us a good view over the western village… we never saw it. I would not come back here. When you’ve seen it, you’ve seen it. it’s very small, smaller than I imagined – and the trail that goes around isn’t so spectacular neither. So if you’re not into westerns and stuff… just go straight towards the beaches and L.A.
Speaking of the beaches… that was our next stop: Santa Monica and Venice Beach. We parked our car in one of the parking lots near Santa Monica. I think we paid $12, which is a lot! It was already somewhere in the afternoon and we weren’t planning on staying that long. But, because of the expensive parking spot, we decided to walk from Santa Monica to Venice Beach and back. Our feet weren’t so happy about it, but are wallets were. I’m not really a “beach person” plus the weather wasn’t cooperating neither, with the grey sky, the wind and so on. So I wasn’t really charmed by the two beaches. Although I kind of liked the Santa Monica Pier, from a distance (too crowed on the pier). But way too many people in both places, everywhere. On the beach, next to the beach, on the pier, near the shops, … We were happy to get out of there after a few hours.
Straight towards our hotel! We stayed in the Knights Inn Los Angeles Central. The location was okay and the hotel had a parking garage. It wasn’t our best hotel, but it wasn’t the worst neither. There was a little shop in front of the hotel and they served a decent breakfast in the morning.
Los Angeles
The next day we didn’t visit Los Angeles. Why not? Because we didn’t hear anything positive about the city, so we decided to use our short time for more important things. That’s why we only stayed for two nights in Los Angeles. The only places we visited were The Universal Studios of Hollywood and – of course – Hollywood.
The Universal Studios of Hollywood are way too expensive for what it is. We pre-booked our tickets and arrived when the park opened. Whatever you do, go to the Harry Potter attraction first! We didn’t do that, we started with the Minions. Because of that we had to wait over two hours to go on the main Harry Potter attraction. Bummer.
My personal top 7 of the attractions: 1- Jurassic Parc-The Ride; 2- The Walking Dead; 3- Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey; 4- Revenge of the Mummy-The Ride; 5-Despicable Me Minion Mayhem; 6- The Simpsons Ride; 7- Flight of the Hippogriff. We also did the Shrek-4D attraction, but let’s not speak of that one ever again.
After the attraction park, we went to the Hollywood Boulevard a.k.a. the Walk of Fame, to search for our stars. And we did find quite a few of them. But after a few meters, you have seen plenty of them. Still we kept on walking – I have no idea why. It’s not the coziest place to walk around. It is a filthy boulevard, very crowded, very touristic and, well, not what I thought it would be. We tried to go to the Griffith Observatory afterwards, to go and take a look over the city and see the Hollywood Sign, but in the evening this place is so crowed! So we made a change of plans and went back the day after, in the morning.
Positive points: we had a parking spot at the top; the parking spot was free (before 10 A.M.), we did see the Hollywood Sign and the view over the city and we saw a coyote. Negative point: the mist. But you can’t have it all!
After seeing the sign and the view, we left Los Angeles behind and went on towards our first national park!
Around the world in a lifetime 