Boulevard of Broken Dreams
The sun is shining, the grass is green
The orange and palm trees sway
There's never been such a day in Beverley Hills, LA
We were so scarred by yesterday's coffee experience that this morning was water and a banana before setting off on the first Tourist Adventure of our holiday - the hop on hop off bus around LA. Like every good tourist, we brandished maps, iPhones and no sense of direction and we promptly got lost trying to find the very first stop. An hour later and several strained silences later, we were on the double decker, plugged in awaiting the imminent commencement of informative commentary on all things LA. What we got was highly important facts such as the location of the corner that Brad Pitt once stood in a chicken suit as an out of work actor. What we didn't get was any comment on architecture, history or points of interest that didn't include something about someone famous. I guess kind of to be expected given it was 4 hours trundling around Santa Monica, Hollywood and Beverley Hills. Most upsetting was that the commentary missed telling us the stop for the La Brea Tarpits so the one thing I really wanted to see didn't actually happen.
As for the rest, it's ticked off the list of Things One Should Do but I wouldn't bother with it again. Hollywood in particular was not nearly as glittery and shiny as we expected - rather it was kinda grungy and grubby. And it didn't feel as affluent as we expected.
Anyhoo - there were two good highlights: the RuPaul exhibit tucked away in some shop three stories up the Chinese theatre that we found by accident and the 15 minutes I spent listening to the ISUPK being educated on the black tribes of Israel. Note that I did this listening from an unobtrusive spot as these guys were very shouty. And slightly scary. But interesting nonetheless.
Antoine’s Content Corner
The Hop on hop off bus was riveting. The cheapest gas price I saw was $3.75 a gallon.
