Written by: NAVEENA ISRANI

Photos by: SATYAN ISRANI

In my previous post, I gave you a virtual tour of Sin City, Las Vegas. We now move on to celebrity paradise, Los Angeles. LA, the pulse of Southern California, conjures up countless images, from palm trees and Beverly Hills, to Hollywood and Disneyland. Here, nothing is as it seems. In fact, illusion and misdirection are intrinsic to LA.

LA, the pulse of Southern California

We landed half asleep at the LA airport….after a good 16 hour flight what more do you expect. After a long wait at the immigration booth we managed to gather our luggage and head off straight to the Rent- a-car centre. We were out with a decent car in half and hour and on our way to Hollywood….The first things that I liked about L.A….the weather, the trees….and coming from the desert these are the first things that you notice….:). We got our first taste of LA traffic right-a-away and it good us a good one hour to reach Hollywood, Sunset Boulevard. We reached Quality Inn Suites by 1:30 pm. We had our first IHop meals. IHOP is a very popular chain of restaurant for quick, sumptuous food….:) After a small nap in the afternoon we were quite excited to  explore Hollywood….:)

Our First destination was Hollywood Walk-of-Fame. I personally felt it is a very highly overrated place. We saw the Gruman’s Chinese theatre, Kodak theatre, Final destination was being premiered and hence the walk was full of paparazzi and the roads were filled with limousines. People were yelling on the streets as the stars came out of the cars….No we did not stop to look by….we wouldn’t have recognized any of the actors….:P. The road was filled with people….tourists I must say…..trying to find their favorite superstars name on the walk-of -fame….All the Best!…..there are 2 parallel roads that are filled with the names of the stars, so its a very small stretch that contains souvenir shops, celebrity impersonators.  We did go inside the highland mall, boy am I glad we did…..it has got beautiful views of the hollywood streets and the famous Hollywood sign. Well then there is Wax Museum, Ripley’s believe it or not, Guinness Book Records, you can buy an entry ticket for any or all of these attractions. We ended up buying for all….and I wasn’t impressed to be honest….and if you have seen Madam Tussad’s museum in London….do not even think of buying the Wax museum tickets…:P. But as they say when you are in L.A, you want to do everything…..:)

Hollywood Sign