Hurry, hurry...we have to see it all!

How to do LA in 1 day, that's the question. We got off to a good start by getting up by 6 AM (or before that if you were jet-lagged as Mr. M. I mostly woke up that early since I spent the last hours in my travelling sheet on the floor since it felt like Bjorne was climbing a mountain and then jumping down from the mountain every time he turned around on his side of the bed which he did a lot after 4 AM (Jaimie, I know what it feels like now referring to my twisting and turning in Megan's bed).

We had breakfast and left the hotel just around 8 AM. Mr. M and Bjorne had prepared some things for us to do back in Sweden which didn't include any admission fee sightseeing targets (like Universal Studios) since those kinds of things would take all day on their own. Since we were out early we decided to begin the day with Hollywood Walk of Fame which probably was a good decision since the walk wasn't that crowded when we got there. We could only park for a hour so that was how long we spent walking along the stars. Most names were unknown to us but we found quite a few that we recognised as well like Ingrid Bergman and Donald Duck. I bought one LA-themed Starbucks mug. It was like the New York one with the yellow taxi but instead of a taxi and the NY-skyline this one had the LA-skyline and a woman driving a red cabriolet. I will always see that woman in that cabriolet as me even though I never drove our cabriolet downtown LA. My collection of Starbucks mugs actually began in LA four years ago on my way back from the excursion to New Zealand. Back then I bought two of the then "standard" mugs (now I never buy two of the same, but I didn't know then that I would start a collection).



On our way to Hollywood Blvd.


Arriving at Hollywood Blvd.


High jump for Ingrid Bergman.


A little less high jump for Greta Garbo.


Our favourite star was this one.


Starbucks on Hollywood Bldv. where I bought my latest mug.


A picture of this globe was necessary.

Maybe I should mention that we rented a GPS along with the car. I do not know how we would have been able to last without it even though the voice was quite annoying especially when we thought for ourselves and didn't follow her instructions to a 100%.

Our next stop was I think it was called the Griffith Observatory or something similar. The beautiful building was up on a hill anyway overlooking both parts of the city as well as the Hollywood sign. I don't think we could have found a better spot to enjoy the view from in such short amount of time. Up there we decided that our next stop needed to be were there was air condition. We ended up in a mall of course where we both could have lunch and do some shopping. Thanks again GPS for leading the way! The guys bought shoes, clothes and presents. I walked out of the mall with four new pairs of earrings from Macy's summer sale (one pair broke though when was using them for the first time).



Griffith Observatory.


A really nice building.


A map to help you to figure out where we were.


The Hollywood sign in the background.


Close-up of the sign.


Jumping in front of the sign.


Bjorne doing the same.


Quatchi trying to get loose.


Quatchi and Globe in front of some part of LA.


Globe with the Hollywood sign.


Globe's new friend.


At the shopping mall we really liked this solution for moving carts between floors.

Ready for some more sun hopefully combined with a breeze and maybe Pamela Anderson our next stop was the beach in Santa Monica. We were not the only one wanting to spend Friday afternoon on the beach but we were lucky finding a parking spot on our first try even though it said that the lot was full.



Pamela, where are you?


Regulations, regulations!


The walk, running and bike lane along the beach.


I mostly love the shadows in this and the jumping picture below.





Surfing under water.


No Pamela here unfortunately.


To lazy guys.


Sand everywhere.

This beach was way nicer than the one in Santa Barbara even though there were still a bit of sea weeds and a lot of sand circulating in the shallow parts. The waves were higher than the day before so i couldn't prevent my hair from becoming wet. But that also meant that I could go all in and play around in the water as much as I wanted. :)

We spent about two hours on the beach think that life is pretty good! Even though Bjorne and Mr. M didn't see Pamela. We saw the towers though. :)The traffic jam we ended up in trying to get to our last stop of the day was not as nice as the time spent on the beach. We did about 5 kilometers in an hour. It was so worth it though. Our last stop was the restaurant Duke's in Malibu (Hawaii surf themed restaurant). Bjorne and I had tuna while Mr. M had really delicious lobster (I think that was what it was). We enjoyed the food so much so we missed out on another sunset. We got to see some parts of Malibu though while it was still a bit light out on our back towards our hotel. I got the funniest question buying chocolate at the gas station where we got gas on the way back. The 20-something guy behind the cash desk first looked really long on the cover of the Lindh (I think I spelled that incorrectly) Chocolate with 70% cocoa. Then he asked me what cocoa meant and why all chocolate had cocoa mentioned among the ingredients. I barely knew what to answer but could after a few moments give him an answer. I guess he learnt something that day.


The cool place to be, Duke's.


Bjorne was hour designated driver so this yummy drink is non-alcoholic.

Back at the hotel Bjorne and I went for another jacuzzi experience waiting for the Ice Wine that I bought at Summerland Winery on the Rocky Mountain Tour to get chilled. I was excited to introduce the sweet and expensive dessert wine to Bjorne and Mr. M. They both seemed to enjoy it. :) What an ending to three fantastic vacation weeks on the western side of North America and to a great day in LA! Difficult to understand that they almost are over :( Still a few days left before reality hits me again though!


Quatchi having a serious talk with the Ice Wine.


Ice Wine-tasting/drinking on the balcony.