Travelling with CaRe: April 2013

Sonntag, 28. April 2013

Day 7 – Second day in Los Angeles

Our second day in Los Angeles was dominated by animals and fish of the world. We went to the Los Angeles Zoo as well as the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach.

The Zoo is has a beautiful landscape set up in front of the hills and with a lot of palms and nice flowers as it is a botanical garden at the same time. What we did not like about the zoo was the fact that most of the animals did not have too much of space. That is why a lot of these were alone or in pretty small groups. The zoo seems to be specialised on primates and big apes likes Gorillas and Orang Utans. An interesting side note: We also saw tortoise and Zebra sex.

While driving around in Los Angeles we can always see a lot of young people with skateboards. This seems to be quite normal over here.

After having seen the Aquarium of the Pacific and Long Beach in the afternoon we ended our day on the Hollywood Boulevard at night time. There are a lot of very crazy people on this street during night.

Who is the audience?

Fish and brain

Lobster - Having here or to go?

Aquarium of the Pacific Long Beach

Fisherman's friend

Queen Mary 1

Short man at Long Beach

Los Angeles Zoo

Don't disturb me!

Los Angeles Zoo

Surfin' California

Day 6 – First day in Los Angeles

First of all: Los Angeles is an amazing city. Being in the United States everything feels bigger than what you are used to. That is what we noticed before we came to Los Angeles. Here, everything feels even bigger. It is just huge. You can't believe how rich some of the people are over here until you have seen all the stretch limousines and Porsches, Ferraris, Teslas and Maseratis. Whatever sign of wealth you can imagine - here is where you can find it. And we are still driving our rental car by ourselves...

Having said that we started our first day in Los Angeles with a car tour through Hollywood. Right after that we parked our car directly on the Hollywood Boulevard and walked along the world's famous Walk of Fame with all the stars of movie actors, singers and whoever else is considered as a celebrity. Overall, the Hollywood Boulevard was crowded with people and also with a lot of tour bus companies competing for customers. Walking along this Boulevard felt like a scene of a movie. You think you will never walk this way in your life and in that moment it just feels unreal.

Right next to the Hollywood Boulevard we also found a good photo spot from where we could see the Hollywood signs which are put up in the Hollywood Hills.

Our next stop after that was the Griffith Park. It is a green space which is situated a little above the city so that you have great view of Downtown Los Angeles. Apart from that this park seems to be used by locals mainly. There was a small children's train and pony ride.

After having seen Downtown LA from above we went down to there and made a little car tour through all the sights located over there. We saw historic downtown and the glittering skyscrapers as well as little Tokyo and Chinatown. Chinatown Los Angeles is much bigger than the one in San Francisco.

We ended our day in Santa Monica which is on the Pacific coast of Los Angeles. It is a very lively city and the 3rd street promenade is the place to be if you want to spend an evening with fun and entertainment. There were a lot of street artists and nice little cafes and bars. During sunset we went down to the coastal line and enjoyed the romantic atmosphere.

Beverly Hills sign

Chinatown

Historic Downtown

Modern downtown

Interesting skyscrapers

Los Angeles skyline

Celebrities in Hollywood

Walk of Fame

Hollywood

Some more celebrities

The big "M"

Santa Monica

Pink Hummer

Sunset at Venice Beach

We met Quincy

... and Winnie the Pooh

Samstag, 27. April 2013

Day 5 – Pismo Beach to Los Angeles

Our fifth day in the United States brought us a light breakfast in our hotel room with a stunning view over the Pacific Ocean. It is still unbelievable that we had a place with such a view. These are moments which you will never forget again. You can't take it into pictures, you need to feel it.

After some grocery shopping we continued our way on Highway number 1 until Santa Barbara. This highway feels like being part of a western style movie and having a look behind the scenes. We stopped at a couple of those cities where it would be no suprise to just step into a saloon or the sheriff's office.

In Santa Barbara we could see a lot of villas as this city is known as the town of the millionaires. The downtown area has a southern style shopping area which is nicely arranged.
Further down on Highway number 1 we came across a sand dune at the edge of the rocks. This was a nice photographic spot. Right on the next corner to this we reached the Malibu city limits. This city is on the outskirts of Los Angeles and Highway number 1 changes its face drastically here. There were a lot of houses with private beach access which prevented unauthorized beach access. On those areas where we could not see private houses on the beach you had huge parking lots and long nice sand beaches.
We continued our way to Los Angeles and got a good feeling of how crowded and buzzling this city is. Everything is huge over here. There was traffic jam everywhere even on highways with 5 and more lanes.
Once we reached our hotel we felt a little lost because of all the services offered: Valet parking, baggage boy, explanation of how our room works, etc. Our hotel, the Palomar Westwood, is a luxury hotel in a very nice neighbourhood.
We completed our luxury Los Angeles experience with a tour of Bel Air and Beverly Hills. Actually, we did not see a lot of Bel Air as the access to the areas where all the stars live was pretty restricted. In Beverly Hills we went along the famous Rodeo Drive. We will never be able to afford shopping in the stores which you can find there. These shops were so expensive that they even put away their jewelry when they close the shops during night.

View from hotel room in Los Angeles

Western style village on Highway number 1

Welcome to Los Alamos

Welcome to yesterday

Christmas all year long

Sand dune

Dior opens doors for you

Rodeo Drive

Oldtimer behind

Santa Barbara

Day 4 – Monterey to Pismo Beach

Our day in Monterey started with an American breakfast in the very nice hotel lobby of Hotel Abrego. From there we went to Cannery Row which is on the coastal line of Monterey. This area was an old fish canning plant that had it's best times in the early 20th century. Nowadays, it is a touristic place with a couple of shops and an aquarium. We also discovered the Bubba Gump Shrimps company restaurant which had a Forrest Gump scene in front of it.

Nearby to Monterey is a gated community of rich people in which you can take the 17 Mile Drive. This is a scenic car drive through the hilly forests and along the beaches and golf concourses. There are also a lot of huge villas. It is a wonderful tour including some sea wildlife.
Our next stop along the Highway number 1 was Carmel by the Sea. It is a small and beautiful village right next to Monterey. We saw bright sand beaches and the quiet Pacific Ocean.
Behing Carmel the Highway number 1 turned into a hilly road with thrilling views. The Pacific Ocean showed us all the great variations of blue coloured water. There were so many things which we have never seen before and which we will never forget. The most impressive among those was a beach area full of sea lions. They were lying there just sleeping or bathing in the sand. The quantity was just unbelievable.
Our last stop next to Highway number 1 was Hearst castle. We did not visit it but saw it from the visitor center. We could have taken the bus up to the hill where the castle was built. However, we decided to not take the tour and continue our drive to the hotel in Pismo Beach.
We concluded our day with an eye catching sunset at Pacific Ocean and enjoyed the silence of this place.