Touring Hollywood

Hollywood Day (Part 2)

Hollywood Movie Stars Homes Tour - by LA City Tours

Hollywood Bowl
Music Concert Amphitheatre, not Bowling Alley

With still plenty of time left to use the LA Go Card for the day, I headed over to LA City Tours to see if there was any spaces left on the 'Hollywood Movie Stars Homes Tour'. I wanted to make sure I would be back in time for a different guided tour at 5:10pm, which I was more into than seeing the outside of Celeb homes, but the tour operator said we should be back between 4:40 and 4:55, so I decided to risk it. It was worth $47, so I assumed that it wouldn't be too awful...

View of the Hollywood Sign

We got given little gold stickers and then all got piled into a tour bus (with air con, hooray!), and as the only single passenger, got to sit at the front of the bus. This meant not only a side window view, but a front and door window view too!

Hollywood Overlook Selfie

First thing's first though, a little bit of no-shame-America. Mr Tour Driver/Guide introduced himself in a cheesy way. I believe he was from Boston, but told us all about how he'd been living in LA for several years, bla bla. Get on with the tour. But no. Next it was time for all 20 odd passengers to introduce themselves, where they're from and a bit about their trip. Seriously. Get on with it.

Some celebrity house. Maybe.

Finaaally, the driver/guide sat down and did some driving. We went on a lovely tour along Hollywood Boulevard, heading East, and then headed into the mountains. Within 20-30 minutes we stopped at a great little place on the side of the mountain where we could all see the Hollywood sign and take a selfie. However, all the other tours stop there too so it was basically as crowded as Hollywood Boulevard itself...

It didn't really get much better than that. Especially as another couple apparently felt carsick and so I had to swap seats with them - they were sat at the back. Goodbye fab view, hello left-side window view with very limited right-side window view...

Michael Jackson's 'Death House' *
(*The Gate of...)

We drove around in the mountains, went along Mulholland Drive (apparently one of the most dangerous streets in LA due to the crazy rich kids driving along the very windy mountain-side roads at 160mph. At night. While drunk.)

Beverley Hills Trolley

As I expected, the tour was largely "Look at that white house over there in the distance by that tree. Barbara Streisand lives there" and "Who's this person running with a dog near these houses? Is it a celebrity?" and "We're not allowed to stop by these gates coming up because I'll be chased by the security guards and sued by Britney Spears, but Justin Timberlake, Katy Perry, and Mariah Carey all have homes on the other side of the gate".

Beverley Hills

Broccoli Trees
(Yes. These were part
of the official tour)

To be honest, it just seems a bit strange and stalker-like. If I was a celeb I'd definitely live in a gated community, and probably buy a random different house that I never went to and write "Cate lives here" on the garage door...

Once we'd driven past se
veral famous (and not so famous) people's houses, we headed back to Hollywood via Beverley Hills and Sunset. It was quite a good tour really as I doubt I would have seen Beverley Hills otherwise.

At least the Filipinos enjoyed it...

We got back at 5pm and of course, they expect tips. All dollar bills look the same though, so if you don't fancy giving a whole $5, just roll up some $1 and throw them in. They'll never know.

I had to run off pretty quickly to catch my next tour at 5:10 (especially as I needed a toilet break first!) I arrived, pretty exhausted after a full day, so was looking forward to another sit down on a tour bus, but twas not to be, for this was...

The Behind-the-Scenes Hollywood Movie (walking) Tour - by Redline

This one sounded great so I'd booked it the night before. However, as one so often does, I didn't read the whole text on the webpage, and consequently missed the part in the very last paragraph about this even being a walking tour. I can't say I was that pleased to find that out at the last second.

The guide for this was lovely. I can't remember any of the guides names at all but he was great. There was about 8-10 of us for this tour and the guide had a folder with pics in it to look at. We all got given a little headset which (thankfully) we could turn up and down depending on the noisiness of the traffic and crowds we were standing in.

Lovely Egyptian Hieroglyphics
Apparently these were copied from someone's tomb.
I don't remember whose, but probs King Tut

Mr Guide started by telling us all about Sid Grauman, an American showman who apparently created cinema and 'movie stars' as we know them. He told us some interesting facts about how back in the early 1900's, theatre was for rich people, and 'cinema' was for the poor - basically what Grauman did was to make the world of film both profitable and accessible to all.

Beautiful ornate ceiling in Grauman's Egyptian Theatre

So then off we went over to the Grauman's Hollywood Egyptian Theatre. This is a great theatre as it has a fab courtyard with Egyptian hieroglyphics on the wall and statues etc. Mr Guide had keys and so we were allowed to go in and have a wander. They are famous for having 'film events' where they'll show a film and have a film-related person come and talk to the audience about it - it's supposed to be rather good.

I think these elephants
were originally by
Grauman's Egyptian...

Stairs inside the Dolby Mall
Apparently the shape represents
an Oscar ballgown, with the rest of
the walkway (behind) representing
the train.

We then headed out onto the street, and up towards Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Mr Guide told us loads of fun facts about the Walk of Fame and the different stars we were walking past, occasionally stopping to show us a picture in his folder. The tour is supposed to go inside the Chinese Theatre, like with the Egyptian theatre, and usually Mr Guide tells the tourers all about the different cement hand prints and signatures, but alas, Zac Efron made this not so. So we skipped it. #Not Happy.

Plaques. 

We went over to the Dolby Theatre next (which I toured that morning) and Mr Guide told us all about the shopping mall that it's in. They have columns on either side with plaques showing the film that won an Oscar in each year. Very interesting. And that was the end. My feet were pleased.

So at $25, this one was pretty good. All in all, I'd already got $132 worth out of my $190 Go Card and I still had 2 days left to use... Bargain!


Hard Rock Cafe

Dying from exhaustion was starting to get to me so I popped into the Hard Rock Cafe, Hollywood. It was only about 6pm so the place was pretty empty, but I think this was probably the strangest restaurant experience I've ever had as after being seated, my waitress came along, sat down and told me her life story...

Guiness World
Record Museum
- Floating stone ball...

"A Hurricane"
If only I'd been able to drink it all

I ordered the small version of the Classic burger, and a Hurricane cocktail (No idea. It was fruity). It started filling up just as I got my food. Waitress girl, I think her name was Miranda. Let's call her that. Miranda came along, sat down with me (WHILE I WAS EATING) and told me that if I was feeling a bit full that I could put a napkin over my plate and have a wander around - "when there's a napkin laid over the plate", she said, "the guys know not to clear the plate".

It wasn't a wander I wanted so much as the loo, so I popped the napkin over my plate, as advised, and dashed off to the ladies. 5 minutes later, after a scenic route back to my table, I discovered that they had not only taken away my plate (complete with half eaten food), but also my drink, hat and guide books/maps. I was not impressed.

The Disney Shop
(And Fake Minnie)

Miranda was talking to someone looking upset/anxious? Perhaps they thought I'd left without paying, but as soon as she saw me she came running over to apologise profusely, blaming it all on the other wait staff, naturally. She didn't ask me if I wanted anything else to eat, you know, because I hadn't actually finished my meal, or if she could replace my drink which I'd barely sipped, but instead ran off to get the manager to approve a 50% reduction on my food. Just the food. No apology for my $15 drink (it came with a 'free' hard rock cafe glass) that I'd not had a chance to drink...

Mickey Mouse outside Disney
Far too crowded to get a selfie.
Sad face.

I couldn't be bothered to argue as I was very tired by this point so just paid and left (after collecting my hat and guidebook at the main desk and my free mason jar glass from the gift shop)...

"We Are Your Friends"

So I'm sure I've mentioned that I hate Zac Efron for causing the closure of the Chinese Cinema for the one day I'll probably ever be in Hollywood. He did this because it was the film premiere of "We Are Your Friends". I have no idea what it's about as I've not seen it, but I know it's got Zac Efron in it. And some girl. That's basically all I know.

"We Are Your Friends" Premiere at the Chinese Theatre

I also knew all about how film premieres worked due to my wealth of information from tour guides. So when I stepped out of the Hard Rock Cafe into a hoard of manic, screaming teenage girls, I knew why.

Zac Efron.

Zac Efron is in there somewhere...

I crossed over the road so I could get a better look at what was going on (a lot of flashing lights, that's what). I asked one of the screaming teenagers if he'd arrived yet. "We've been here since 5:30pm", she said. "He's not arrived yet but he has to be here in the next 40 minutes as the premiere starts at 8pm".

Nev Schulman Selfie
#WhoAreYou

Naturally the rule is that if you wait for someone for nearly 2 hours, they won't arrive until you leave. So when the girl turned to her mother a couple of minutes later and said she didn't care anymore, let's go get food, Zac Efron got in his car from a hotel somewhere nearby and started the drive over.

Zac arrived in a shiny looking black jeep about 10 minutes after the girl left. I don't know why I hadn't left to be honest. Probably because I couldn't, being stuck in the crowds of crazy adolescents. I can't say I got a good view. He walked across the road 100ft along from where I was, signed some autographs, took a few selfies and then walked back over.

I did get one celeb selfie though. Some guy I don't even know called Nev Schulman. Then I went back to the hotel.

Musée de la Libération

On Friday afternoon I took a trip to the World War II Liberation Museum of Cherbourg. It's at the top of the mountain in what was used as a military Fort. Like with my trip to Caen, I took hundreds of pictures so I'll just stick them all here with captions rather than just writing.

The view across Cherbourg and out to sea from the top of the mountain

The sign on the way in. Free for under 26 year olds! 

More views

The outside of the museum

Fort de Rolle

More views across Cherbourg and out to sea
You can see the harbour forts here (the ones that were built to keep out the English)

 

Inside the museum...

The coat of a Jewish woman

I had no idea until very recently that France was even occupied by the Germans in WW2, and knew even less about their occupation in Normandy. I did know that the D-Day landings happened in Normandy, but for some reason, never put two and two together. I feel like this is a huge flaw in the British education system for History pre-GCSE. I think they must have focused on stuff like the Battle of Britain and evacuation of children more than what actually happened in France.

A Wartime Radio set

I don't actually know what this was. It didn't have a plaque or label
(although even it did I don't know that I'd have been able to identify it - 85% of the labels were all in French!)

There was a whole section about the German and French (not Free-France, the other one) propoganda. There were posters that they made saying that the British were damaging France with their bombings (this was first I actually heard that the British actually bombed German occupied France...) and that Winston Churchill was a fat and greedy monster. Most of my pictures were really bad from this section though as there was that 'low lighting' thing they do in Museums - either to protect the exhibits or just for effect.

The poster about how the British bombings were destroying France

"A sad story about Winston Churchill"
I didn't understand much more than that!

A poster depicting Winston Churchill as a
greedy Octopus trying to take over the world...

The Germans in Cherbourg

A Cinema ticket that was reserved for German Soldiers

A messenger bag, belt and hat and bayonette
that had been made into a dagger (I think belonging to the French)

Items found on the beaches of the D-Day landings

The pictures (above and below) show the defenses the Germans put in place along the Normandy beaches to prevent an invasion by sea.

A hand drawn map for the soldiers of the D-Day landings

There were big displays about French and German children - and particularly highlighting the differences between them.

A Scout Guide for French Children

Francs (the former French currency)

Stockings

Gas Masks (I think this was a French one)

German children display. There were lots of Nazi clothes, gas suit, signs, Nazi propaganda books etc.

More about the D-Day Landings

Photograph of Americans disembarking

Photograph of an un-named Parachutist

Armory

A parachute (not sure if this was a replica or an original...)

A US Military Backpack and French Language Guide

Victory Postcards
Charly thought it was crazy that I didn't recognise the USSR flag - bottom right.
I'm going to blame that on the British Education System too.

It's a good museum. Not really that good for kids - just stuff to look at and read. I found it really
interesting though. I'm learning a lot about WW2 History here.

When I got back, Marc wanted to see my photos of the museum and was asking what they were. I tried explaining that the Germans had taken over some bits of France like Cherbourg, and that the British and Americans came to rescue them (a statement which Charly got super offended by as there was apparently also some French Naval ships involved in the D-Day landings too - which I didn't actually know about...). Marc now keeps saying that 'we have to break the Germans when they're cross'. Never try to explain anything to a 3 year old!

An evening view across the town of Cherbourg