Hollywood

After the excitement of the Grand Canyon we made our way back to California. For the last few days of our holiday we had decided to stay in LA. Even though we had chosen against hiring a car we stayed in a motel (when we checked in, we got a very funny look when we said we didn't need a parking space). I wanted to stay in a motel for two reasons, firstly motels seemed cheaper than a hotel or B&B and secondly, perhaps most importantly, after watching season after season of Supernatural I wanted to experience a motel like the Winchester brothers! When we booked we looked on the map, and the motel seemed relatively close to Venice Beach, perhaps a 30 minute walk, what we didn't realise was how big, long and boring roads are in LA. They're not really made for a leisurely walk, the roads are busy (because everyone drives) and there were no interesting shops or scenery to distract us whilst we walked. Everywhere was just another drive-through or massive supermarket. Therefore we decided to grab a ticket for one of my favourite tourist experience - the open top bus!

For us, this was the best way to get around and see lots of different areas in only a short time. First things first though, we headed to Hollywood.

The open top buses all converge at the Chinese theatre on Hollywood Boulevard where you can change to get on different routes. We jumped off and decided to explore the area a little, but in all honesty apart from a few handprints and stars, there's not all that much to see. It's very much like a bigger version of Leicester square with street performers, but the performers are just someone who's found a spiderman costume and wants you to pay to take a photo with him. These kind of 'performers' annoy the hell out of me in London, and it was no different in Hollywood (there's no skill in wearing a Yoda mask and targeting people with kids to pay to take a photo!) We did get to see some Star Trek hand prints though so Stuart was happy.

Included with our open top bus ticket was free entry into Madame Tussauds on Hollywood Boulevard, not one to turn down a freebie we decided to embrace the ridiculousness of Hollywood and take some photos with the stars... (warning the rest of this post is just photo after photos of Stuart and I arsing around)

Trying to tell Ryan Reynolds my feelings on Green Lantern

I haven't quite got the Hollywood pose down

Stuart finally meets his rap idol - this wax work was freaky, if you stood in a certain place he looked real.

Stuart finally gets to tell Justin Beiber what he thinks of him

Ready for a flight with Howard Hughes

Make it so!

I like the detail of his hairy chest popping out of his t-shirt!

Stuart has the Hollywood pose down

                      

Definitely my favourite wax work!

Stuart finds out what happens when you take on one of the X-Men

Despite myself I really enjoyed Madame Tussauds, it certainly helped that our tickets were free, but I liked the fact they left props so you could just mess around. It wasn't too busy so we didn't have to wait if we wanted to photo a particular wax work and we didn't feel like we were in anyones way if we spent a little longer messing around. All in all, a fun day, if a little surreal (and spoiler for the rest of the US posts, it was the closest we got to seeing anyone famous in California!)