On our way to LA

After a few days in the desert we drove down to LA yesterday (for a day and a half).



Already along the way we saw some interesting things - ranging from the expected multi-level highways to some slightly less expected sights.



First an attempt by one of the highway service stations to get people to stop; well, it certainly worked with us...supposedly that's the largest dinosaur construction in the world. Ah, and the museum and giftshop are actually inside (!) it.



Second a rather futuristic attempt to capture energy in the Palm Springs valley. These windfarms are everywhere within a few miles radius as one enters/exits the valley. Not that it is my business, but why don't they try solar panels here???!!! There's certainly more than enough sun...

When we finally got into LA we first met up with Kim, Camilla, Andy & Bjoern, some colleagues from the office in London, who are over here in LA on business. Good to see some familiar faces again!

Afterwards we had lunch in an old favourite place of mine on Santa Monica Boulevard, which hadn't changed a bit since the last visit. Given that we only really had 36 hours in LA we decided to concentrate our sightseeing efforts on pretty much one area: Hollywood, where we saw some familiar "faces/names/hand- and footprints etc" - from past and present. After an overnight stay in Hollywood, we spent today at Universal Studios to get another look into the movie industry.

Some photos from our 36 hours in Los Angeles / Hollywood / Unversal Studios are in the attached slideshow:

Los Angeles - Hollywood - Universal Studios

To be honest, we were all somewhat "shell-shocked" by the permanent noise level and image overload, especially at Universal Studios, which apart from its interesting studio tour and one or two other worthwhile attractions is really just another glorified amusement park with rides, souvenirs, loads of people and too much junk food. Perhaps we are getting old? Anyways, the kids loved it. Fiona met Dora and Lucy saw Marilyn in the flesh (...well, kind of).

Still it was good to be back in Palm Desert this evening, where a somewhat quieter hotel with a refreshing pool awaited us.