Hollywood & Santa Monica

1st October

With the iPad set to direct us to Hollywood, we set off in a hire car to find the stars! It was a very warm day and Hollywood Boulevard was thick with people - half were tourists and the other half were tour operators trying to sell seats on their celebrity homes tours. We had great fun reading the names on the stars but Peter was keen to find the TCL Chinese Theatre, set up by Sid Grauman and famous for its concrete pave stones containing the hand and footprints of many legends.

Not that you can read the name, but this is Russell Crowe's star. It was the first Australian name we saw.

Peter is standing next to Cary Grant's signature.

A legend...Robin Williams.

Apparently Marilyn Monroe used to visit the theatre and stand in the footprints of the movie stars and dream.

Inside the theatre, which seats 975 people, is this amazing ceiling which is made of carved wood. The artists created it 'Michaelangelo style' ...on their backs on scaffolding.

The 'curtain dress' from Gone With The Wind.

This carpet is exactly the same as the original carpet in the theatre, but it had to be replaced after the Star Wars film which was a sell out for 18 months. The volume of people walking through the doors wore out the carpet.

Look in the distance and you can see the Hollywood sign. We thought this was good enough and didn't feel the need to get closer to it!

The outside of the Chinese Theatre. Sid built 4 theatres in L.A. And each one had a different theme. AnoTher one in Hollywood had an Egyptian theme. His theory was that people needed to escape and experience different things, and of course world travel was not common back then.

This Cadillac is called Elvis II. It was custom made and was the first car to cost $1,000,000. 

Santa Monica, down near the beach. Is that a gum tree I see?!

Looking to the pier. The carnival operated during the day but not at night because Summer was over. The water was fantastic!

The pier looks great lit up at night.

Parks and Gardens

29th September

Having spied a lot of green areas at the northern end of Manhattan Island when we were on the boat trip, we decided to take the subway to the end of the line and investigate. The lush parklands of New York are in stark contrast to the rest of the island and were a welcome relief to us after a week in the city.

You wouldn't know that you were in New York! This is part of Inwood Hill Park, at the norther end of the island.

A beach on the Hudson River.

This convenient walking track and bike path 

headed south so we happily followed it.

After 2 km, the path ended with this sign, stating 'No 

Public Access'. We were slightly peeved that there was no indication of this when we started out in the path. Also, 2 bike riders and 3 joggers passed us and hadn't turned back. Where had they gone? Needing to investigate, we pressed on. Needless to say, we soon found out why the sign said what it did as it led us onto the railway track! Without going into detail, we found a way out and returned to the safety of the streets. We definitely saw something that most tourists don't see!

A taxi shot near Times Square. We thought this would be a normal scene but, surprisingly it wasn't. There were so many private cars that the taxis were usually spread out.

This is the downtown end of Central Park, away from where we stayed and walked last week. I'm not sure what this castle is...must google it!

A rare shot of the Alice In Wonderland sculpture without kids and tourists climbing and posing all over it!

This shallow lake is used for sailing model yachts and Peter recognised it as a movie location.

The day ended with a visit to the Rockefeller centre and a trip to the Top of the Roc to see the view. New York certainly improves in looks at night!

The blue spire on the left is the Empire State Building.