LA vacay by day - Part I

So I am finally getting round to writing about my holiday to Los Angeles!  There is simply too much to talk about, so I am going to break it down into a few posts separated into our daytime adventures and our nighttime escapades.

Firstly, I have to say that despite visiting LA a couple of times, years ago, I was not left with a lasting impression.  On this trip, however, I pretty much fell in love with the city of Angels, and cannot wait to go back!

Coming from the bitterly cold weather of London (it snowed in London during our time in LA!) it was amazing being in the California sunshine.  Cue short-shorts and iced coffee galore!

Our apartment was very near to Dodger Stadium, which was an ideal location, as we were able to get everywhere very quickly.  Literally, every time we typed an address into the GPS we were 14 minutes away...although that isn't taking traffic into account...

Of all the sight-seeing we did, I will start with my favourite - The Getty Museum.  The architecture is amazing, and the grounds are so beautifully well-maintained, dotted with modern art sculptures and plants.  The Getty Centre is one of two locations for the J. Paul Getty Trust, and opened in Brentwood in 1997.  To get to the Centre, which is up on a hill overlooking LA, you take a little tram, which adds a fun element to the experience.

I kid you not, the hubs probably took around 230948203949502340298340923084 photos of the architecture, from every single angle!  He is very thorough about capturing snaps of places that we visit, I'll give him that...

Of course we did the usual touristy things, such as visiting the Hollywood Walk of Fame, where even though all the stars look the same, you cannot resist taking yet another picture, when it bears the name of someone that you like!

We also went and looked at all the celebrity hand prints and signatures on the forecourt of TCL (formerly Grauman's) Chinese Theatre.  It's amazing how tiny some of those hand prints are!

Give us half a chance, and we cannot resist goofing around with random sculptures of tv and movie characters...

We 'hiked' up to Griffith Observatory, and were probably the only people not wearing hiking gear.  We decided that the only difference between hiking and walking is the outfits that people wear for these activities - so really, we walked up to Griffith Observatory.

We also walked up to the Hollywood Sign, and someone commented that we weren't dressed for hiking - to this we replied 'that is because we are not hiking - we are walking!' 

The two most uttered words on our stay in Los Angeles were probably 'Art Deco' as there is just so much gorgeous 1920s-30s architecture in the city.  From the plethora of theatres and hotels, to City Hall, Union Station and the Bradbury Building - LA is a feast for the eyes to anyone who appreciates art deco design.

It wasn't just the Getty Museum and the art deco buildings that loverboy took a billion, trillion photos of - it was all the other interesting architecture too.  Such as the wonderful Walt Disney Concert Hall, which is truly an impressive sight to behold.

As well as recognising places and buildings from so many movies, there are constant reminders that you are in the historical centre of film-making and celebrities....

The only celebrity I saw (in person) was Louis Theroux, who we walked past on the way up to the Griffith Observatory.  Funny that I went all the way to Los Angeles to spot a tv journalist from London!

Well I think that's more than enough to bombard you with in one post....stay tuned for the next installment of our LA adventure....