"Take my picture, Hollywood! I wanna be a star!"

(Quote from Lady Gaga)

Today was Hollywoodland day!

I was up at 4am (jetlag) so was down for breakfast the second it opened at 7am.

I'm pretty sure I was the first one down so made the most of the freedom and helped myself to the (artificial) array of eggs, bacon, bread, a yoghurt, some fruit, oh, and then a cook-your-own waffle. American food is known for its processed, over-sugared nature and the rumours aren't wrong. I have no idea what they do to their bacon, but whatever it is, it's not quite right. Also, why is the bread sweet!?

American Breakfast

View from the hotel onto
Sunset Boulevard.
I know. What a dump.

By 9am, I'd made it to somewhere near Hollywood. I jumped on the bus from right outside the hotel, needing to go West for a couple of miles, and then North. After the previous day's debacle with the buses, I checked with the driver before deciding to hop on...

[Rather English Moi] "Do you go towards Hollywood Boulevard?"
[Black LA-Native Driver] "To wheeeeere?"
[Me] "Hollywood Boulevard?"
[Native] ... "What'd ya say maaam?"
[Me] ... Oh I give up... [American mimic] "Haaallywud Bulvaaard"
[Native] "Ohhhhh, nuh-uh. But I'm close"
[Me] *Rolling Eyes*

I hopped off "close" and spotted the first few celebrity stars in the Walk of Fame - which apparently isn't just a straight line along the 'sidewalk' on both sides of Hollywood Boulevard, but instead darts off along several linking roads. Maybe we have too many celebrities.

Aspiring Celeb slash American superhero icon...

There are hundreds of 'aspiring celebrities' just hanging out in the street around Hollywood. Some of them are dressed as characters or other crazy things and try to lure you in to have a photograph with them - however when you do, they then won't let you leave until you pay them money for their 'service'. There are also loads of young people who kindly hand you a seemingly free CD of their (apparently) fantastic hip new vibes, compliment you, and then make you pay for the CD. I got stopped by one of these creative minds, who forced a disc into my hand, and then preceded to snatch it back again when I told him I had no cash... strange place.

Our tour guide.
He was quite pleasant to listen to
so probs not an LA native...

Tom Hanks
on the Wall

I got myself something called the "LA Go Card" for my time in LA - which I highly recommend. I bought the 3 day pass for $190 and on day one of using it alone, I saved a huge amount of money.

The Dolby Theatre

After a wander up and down the boulevard, the first thing I did was the Dolby Theatre tour at 10:30am. I didn't really know what the Dolby Theatre was, other than that logo you sometimes see in film credits, so wasn't really sure what to expect... Turns out it's 'The Home of the Oscars'. The tour guide was full of fun facts which he must spout around 10 times a day. I feel a bit sorry for him - especially as I'm not sure I actually remember any of the fun facts...

Here I am in the Dolby Theatre.
No one else is here so
that means I've won right?
"I'd like to thank..."

There's not a huge amount to see in all honesty - it's basically just a large theatre, with pictures of previous Oscars Awards on display. It was interesting to hear about the logistics of the Oscars though - for example, there is a connecting corridor to the hotel next door where the celebs get whisked off to do a post-award interview before their allowed to go back to their seat. Also, there are so many people nominated and related to the films nominated, that there are no extra seats for celebs - so basically, heaven forbid there will ever be a year where Meryl Streep isn't nominated, but if she wasn't, she couldn't go (unless she managed to blag one as Tom Cruise's Plus one).

Me with my Oscar.
You saw it coming.

Dolby Theatre Tour Tickets are sold for $20, and the tour is only 30 mins long, so it's definitely not something I would suggest is worth doing without the Go Card.

Shopping in Hollywood
(through those two bridges is supposed to be the best view
of the Hollywood sign because it's 'frame' makes it look so big)

The Hollywood Museum
(The Old Max Factor Building)

The Hollywood Museum

Marilyn Statue

Next, the plan was to go to Madame Tussauds, but I found the Hollywood Museum first. It's in the old Max Factor building and there are a huge amount of make-up related exibits - I think the whole of the ground floor was in tribute to Mr Max Factor. He had a make-up room for each type of leading hollywood actress; e.g. The Pink Room for Brunettes, the Green Room for Blondes, each labelled "For Brunettes Only". I'm not really that interested in fashion and make up, so I didn't find it that interesting.

They had a whole floor dedicated to "Monsters, Mummies & Mayhem" in the basement, which I wasn't planning on going down into, but then I was told Harry Potter was down there.
So off I went. Plenty of creepy 80's horror film memorabilia, but there in the middle of it, Harry Potter. And also the Walking Dead, Phantom of the Opera, Shawshank Redemption and Sweeney Todd - also all excellent.

Max Factor Make Up Room
"For Blondes Only"

#PotterObsessed

Another whole floor was dedicated to Marilyn Monroe. Her clothes, films, dolls, photographs, map showing every house she'd ever lived in, every quote on plaques on the walls and more! Surely no one normal is that obsessed with her...?!

Up to the top (and final) floor, and this one was dedicated to all things LGBT(Q?). I found it a little strange that they felt the need to separate any film/tv show with anything related to homosexuality isolated up there. Surely the aim of the LGBTQ community is for integration and non-discrimination, but I felt like by having their own special floor, it just added to the perceived separation...

Marilyn Barbies. Anyone?

Tickets for this are $15 and while it had a couple of interesting things in it, I'm not sure this is worth it without the Go Card either. There are much better places in LA to spend your money.

Madame Tussauds

Next was Madame Tussauds. I got this confused with the Hollywood Wax Museum - which is basically the same thing, but not as good (or so I've heard), which is why I couldn't find it earlier. The Hollywood Museum seemed to be at the completely opposite end to Madame Tussauds so off I headed.

The Chinese Theatre.
It's probs great,
but who gets to know
other than Zac Efron?
I'm not bitter.

"John Travolta was here"

I walked past the Chinese Theatre (something else on my list) and discovered that they'd just blocked the whole of the courtyard area around the theatre (all of the bits with the concrete hand prints) thanks to Zac Efron's new film premiere. I was not happy - although I did get a shot of John Travolta's stone (not as good as Harry, Ron & Hermione's though. Grr).

I waited in line for around 15 mins to get into Madame Tussauds. It was pretty good, but I found the layout a bit strange. It was on several levels, and so from the entrance, you had to get on the lift which gave you no option but floor 5. Then on Floor 4, you get directed round to a staircase, and on floor 3, to a lift which takes you to floor 1, and then up some stairs to the exit (or something like that).

#MarilynEverywhere

Some statues were better/more life-like than others. I'm not sure how I felt about it though. It was quite clever, but also a bit creepy. There were several times that I thought someone was stood behind me, only to turn round and realise it was a wax statue... Weird. It was also pretty tricky to take selfies with the statues as it's hard to fit you both in, and most of them aren't looking at the camera (surprised?) so they look a bit odd.

I quite liked the section about how they're all made. It takes around 800 hours (approx 66 x 12 hour days) to complete a figure. Mental! Still, a bit weird. Who even came up with that as a viable idea?

Me and my BFFs, Brangelina

Madame Tussauds Hollywood is $30 usually. That is probably something I would recommend, if that's your thing. But it's much more cost effective with the Go Card.

So by 2pm, I'd done $60 worth of stuff, and still had until 5:30pm to do more!

Notre-Dame de Paris

Our Lady of Paris

West View of Notre-Dame

Welcome Sign

Definitely worth a visit if you're going to Paris, and even better, it's free! (Technically. See below for my comments on the catholic money trap...)

I arrived at Notre Dame to a queue longer than the one at the Oblivion Ride at Alton Towers on my visit in 2006 (we had that fast-track queue jump there though). Ultimately I don't mind, there's not a huge amount of queuing going on in France and queues make the British feel at home; we do love a good queue!

Archway at Notre-Dame Entrance

Thankfully this one was moving relatively quickly, and was entertained by a variety of street performers including a female duo singing covers, a mime artist, painters, and street sellers with knock-off key rings and 3D paper cuts of the Notre-Dame.

There were also lots of people advertising guided group tours around Notre-Dame and the surrounding area in English, French, German, Japanese, Russian... These, however, would set you back between 20-30€  if you chose to follow around a dude with a bow/flag-topped stick.

Give a expected discretionary 2€ donation 

and light a symbolic tealight...

Personally, I chose to go for the individual audio tour in English. This costs you just 5€ and the hostage of some form of ID (to encourage the safe return of the audio device). On the plus side, they do take 50€ notes here, in case you were wondering! Unless you want to get arm ache by carrying it around like a telephone the whole time, thus meaning you can't listen to the audio and watch any video clips at the same time, you can turn it right up. This tends to lead to a few disgruntled looks and 'husssh' noises in your direction - it is a place of worship after all! If you want to spare yourself the arm ache, be able to watch and listen at the same time, and avoid the wrath of god-fearing Catholics, take headphones! (which I happened to have on me. Phew!)


For your 5€, you will also be given a very 'informative' bit of paper with a 'map' and numbers on it, detailing where you need to press the corresponding number for the audio tour. Until I got to about 6 I couldn't work out what it was telling me to look at. 'Look to your left and you will see a stunning example of one of the largest cathedral organs. This organ, known as the great organ, was built in....' *cue a confused me looking about wildly to see where this organ is, frustratedly walking backwards and then forwards to see if I've missed it or pushed the button too early* (N.B. I still have no idea where the organ was, or when the organ was built! Edit. The Notre-Dame Website tells me there's three, and that the great one is above you on the west entrance - so you have to turn around and look up).

Notre-Dame is a hulking great money trap for the Roman Catholic Church though, and is clearly desperate to get a minimum of 5€ from each and every one of the 13 million people that visit it each year (estimated annual income of €65 million+). There are donation boxes every few metres, tours, and even a shop (in the actual cathedral, very strange). They encourage donations for lighting tealights (2€), a mini candle (5€), large candle (15€) or a candlestick (4-10€), plus there are lots of other donation boxes too.

-

Rose Stained-Glass Window
(Probably the North)

The architecture of the Notre-Dame is really beautiful. Reminds me a bit of the gothic architecture at Hogwarts in Harry Potter (part filmed in Gloucester Cathedral).

The stained-glass windows are also very beautiful, and there are stained-glass windows everywhere. The stained-glass windows of Notre-Dame are regarded as some of the most intricate and most impressive masterpieces in architectural christian art. These were probably my favourite bit. They are so pretty and colourful!

The Cathedral of Notre-Dame is also home to some really impressive statues, and paintings. There are statues of various saints all the way around, including Saint Denis (first Bishop of Paris), Thomas Aquinas, and Joan of Arc. Some of these statues are lovely - I quite liked the one of Joan of Arc - but others are a bit odd. Saint Denis, for example, seems to always be portrayed with his head in his hands (like, detached). This does have some meaning though, Denis is said to have been martyred (by decapitation) and then to have picked up his head and walked 6 miles while preaching a sermon. Lovely...

Another very nice part of the Notre-Dame Cathedral are the choir walls which are decorated with artistic statues on both sides. One side depicting five scenes of the post-Resurrection Easter story of Jesus, called 'The Apparitions of Christ' (particularly him visiting the disciples after he rose from the dead), and the other with nine scenes of the Nativity Story and Jesus' childhood. These are really pretty and according to the audio guide have not been changed at all since they were built in the middle-ages, other than being repainted. There apparently also used to be a wall portraying the rest of Jesus' life, particularly his crucifixion but that isn't there anymore.

Rose Stained-Glass Window
(Maybe South?)

At the rear of Notre-Dame there are lots of interesting displays, my favourite of which was the little model of the Cathedral so you could see the architecture close up. There was also another little chapel which had a red glass case, supposedly protecting a thorn crown.

More Stained-Glass windows

Choir Wall with sculptures of "The Apparitions of Christ" 

Statue of St. Joan of Arc (1412-1431)
Born in Domrémy, burned alive in Rouen
as a heretic and a witch.
The decision to rehabilitate her reputation
was made at Notre-Dame Cathedral.

Thorn Crown encased in Red Glass
(Not sure exactly why...)

Statue of a Pope

 The Models of the Notre-Dame

Other Photos

North Stained-Glass Rose Window

Ornate gold box

Another little chapel - there are loads of these all
around the outside of the Knave and Aisles.

Another Shrine for Mary, the Mother of Jesus

Light one of these candles and be strongly encouraged
to fork out 5euros for the privilege.
It is a candle in Notre Dame after all...

Notre-Dame's Main Baptistry

Ornate decoration of the Saints (Entrance)
Saint Denis is the third from the left, holding his head...

Statue of the Mary and Jesus
under the arch between the entrance and exit

View of the side of Notre Dame

The Bells of Notre Dame

"Morning in Paris, the City awakes, to the Bells of Notre Dame..."

Outside the Notre-Dame, if you turn right and go around to the north side, you can see the four big bells of Notre-Dame. These are the newer bells of Notre-Dame which were made around 1850's to replace the ones melted down during the revolution. The largest bell, called Emmanuel, was spared and still rings in the South Tower.

The Bells are huge but aren't really mentioned in the audio guide or anywhere else (until you just happen to walk past them on your desperate hunt for a toilet).

           
Strangely, one of Paris' most famous novels by Victor Hugo (thanks Disney for adding to the fame), 'The Hunchback of Notre-Dame', was only mentioned once, in the introduction of the audio guide - "the Cathedral has always been a subject of much interest, and was even featured in the novel by the French author, Victor Hugo, which captured the hearts of many..."

Anyway, if you get a chance, Fran is right. It's a must-see.