After a thrilling and very klassy evening drinking wine in our hotel following our excursion through Universal Studios, we retired for the evening and woke bright and early Sunday morning for our last day in Los Angeles. We began the day with a walk over to the Hollywood and Highland area, stopping along the way for sustenance at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf on Hollywood Boulevard. I would highly recommend their vanilla latte if anyone cares.
Next, we walked along the Walk of Fame towards the two attractions we planned to hit that day - the Kodak Theater tour, and a bus tour of stars' homes. On the way, we passed a long line of children waiting to get in to the Jonas Brothers movie at the El Capitan theater.
We went to the bus tour company to get our tickets for the tour. We chose LA City Tours (http://www.lacitytours.com/) because they offered the very attractive option of ending our tour at the airport for a small additional fee. The very helpful receptionist booked us on a tour leaving at 1:00, which would drop us at the airport around 5:00. However, in order to do that they had to pick up our luggage that morning around 10:45, so Taryn returned to the hotel to meet them while I secured the tickets for our Kodak Theater tour.
That left me alone in the Kodak Theater/Hollywood and Highland area. As you well know, when I am left alone without a book, I tend to take pictures of random things, like the fountain in the courtyard of the Hollywood and Highland shopping center,
the atrium of the Kodak Theater entrance,
and flowers left over from the previous week's Oscar ceremony.
Also, people dressed in costume wander around in front of the Kodak Theater, allowing people to take pictures with them for a price. I discovered that if you stand on the balcony of the theater and look down towards the street, you can take their picture without them noticing. This is how I captured Captain Jack Sparrow texting on what must have been an antique, Colonial-era cellular phone.
It was also during this time that I noticed the Magnificent Multiplying Batmen outside of the theater. First there was one,
then two,
and then a third appeared.
Soon the Joker came by the number went back down to one.
By this time, Taryn had returned and we wandered around the Kodak Theater atrium while we waited for our tour to start at 11:30. The area was decorated with the names of all of the past Best Picture Oscar winners.
We walked up the same stairs that celebrities climb,
and met our tour at the entrance to the Kodak Theater.
We weren't allowed to take pictures on the tour (although don't think that some foreign tourists didn't try and get brutally rebuffed by our tour guide!), but they did give every member of the tour a postcard depicting the view from the stage.
This was extra awesome because, as we were the first day of tours since the Oscars and they hadn't yet started setting up for the next event, we got to walk across the stage! We even got to see the backstage area, including a bathroom that we're pretty sure Hugh Jackman probably used. Or at least, people who got to meet Hugh Jackman.
After the Kodak tour, we ate a quick lunch at a Mexican restaurant on the third floor of the shopping center. A vast improvement over the El Pollo Loco meal on our first day!
Our bus tour was scheduled to depart at 1:00, so we walked across the street to the departure site and boarded the bus with a number of other tourists. Some of them had been touring all morning and were taking a break at the Walk of Fame; others had just joined the tour for the afternoon. We set off towards the Hollywood Bowl,
and over to Mulholland Drive.
We stopped at a lookout point for more pictures, including many of the Hollywood Sign,
as well as a few celebrity houses, including this one that is owned by Ron Howard (although I believe his brother lives there now).
We reboarded the bus and set off up the rest of the mountain. We passed some pretty cool celebrity houses on our way around, including Britney Spears's old house,
Jack Nicholson's house and precariously balanced tennis courts,
and Julia Roberts' fugly striped house.
We also drove through Bel Air, where we saw the house shown in The Fresh Prince of Bel Air
and the gate of Elton John's house.
Next, the tour took us through Beverly Hills,
and to Rodeo Drive.
It was here that we saw the shop where they were mean to Julia Roberts' character in Pretty Woman...as Romy and Michele said, we never get tired of making fun of that movie, and we too are so happy when they finally let her shop.
Finally, we drove along the Sunset Strip to get back to Hollywood, passing such landmarks as the Viper Room
and the Whisky-a-go-go, where Meg Ryan used to be a waitress.
After we returned to the Walk of Fame, the bus took us on a different type of tour - a tour of area hotels on the way to the airport. Fun! I'll let Taryn finish the story with the airport saga, as her trip back was far more complicated than mine...any complaints I have about it pale in comparison to hers! Let's just say that I made it back on time (although not without stress and flight delays!), where she was not so lucky. Stay tuned to The Adventures of Ken and McKenna for details!
***for part 4, visit http://kenandmckenna.blogspot.com/2009/03/bette-davis-eyes-sunday-in-la.html***
No comments:
Post a Comment