Day 27 - Santa Monica 3nd day (our last full day)
Trip Start
Sep 28, 2009
1
27
28
Trip End
Oct 27, 2009
Where I stayed
Santa Monica, California
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Johnnie, our driver was excellent as he took us to many places & explained a whole lot about what we were seeing. In short we did :-
- A good look at Santa Monica & Venice Beach area (including where some canals still exist)
- Driving through Hollywood, Beverly Hills & Bel Air streets spotting homes to the Stars. Some of note : House where Michael Jackson died, The Playboy Mansion (we even saw one of Hugh's playmates out the front), the house from The Osbournes, the $150M Aaron Spelling house, the Sultan of Brunei's house, the Jonas Brothers house (Diddi loved that one), the Beckham's house, Tom Cruise's house and the list just goes on .... It's is just amazing how big & extravagant some of these houses are.
We also drove along Hollywood Boulevard and had around 30 minutes to stretch our legs and do the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It is amazing how many people have their five-pointed stars embedded in the pavement. Hel was very excited when she found a scrawl & the hand prints of her favourite star - Hugh Jackman. As she was drooling, she commented that he had very big hands .....
Other highlights included driving along Rodeo Drive where all the "serious money" shops are (including the Prada shop that cost $40M to build and it doesn't even have it's name on it) and driving past numerous buildings & shops used in various films & shows. We returned at 2.00pm in time for us to swap with the Edmends & farewell them off on the same tour.
Whilst the Edmends were gone, we did some more shopping & spent almost 2 hours enjoying the sunshine & warmth at Santa Monica Beach. In the evening we again had an Italian styled dinner & then went back to the Pier for the kids to enjoy some of the carnival rides we looked at yesterday. Diddi was brave & loved the Pirate Ship ride & was doing some great squealing.
Tomorrow (late arvo) we have to head for home, so we are all very sad about that.
