Malibu After a quick stop in Miami, I had a couple of days in Los Angeles. I stayed in Venice which is near Santa Monica. I arranged an all-day tour of LA which started viewing some of the mansions in Malibu. We were then in the Pacific Palisades where lots of the Hollywood celebrities live. That included the homes of Bill Cosby, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Steven Spielberg to name a few. We also saw a lot of big front gates, fences and hedges!

We passed the Playboy Mansion on our way to the premier shopping strip of Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. Nothing in any of these shops (Gucci, Louis Vuitton, etc) displayed any price tags in a place where clearly money is no object. It didn't take long to spot any plastic people either. We managed to sneak into the luxury Beverly Wilshere hotel where Pretty Woman was filmed. We went up to the Griffith Observatory which offered great views across the city and the famous Hollywood sign. Then it was the weird world of Hollywood Boulevard with the Dolby Theatre and Chinese Theatre. The last part of the tour was past the Sunset Strip. 

Griffith Observatory My second day in LA was spent around Santa Monica. As it was a Sunday morning there were plenty of fitness fanatics on Muscle Beach. Venice Beach was busy too with plenty of skateboarders and sideshows. I was invited to a SuperBowl party where there was more interest in the half time entertainment than the actual game. We ate plenty of chicken wings!

It was then time for the long flight to Sydney but I received an upgrade which helped :-)

All the photos from my trip through LA are in my photo gallery.