The Western End of Route 66

Jellyfish tank at the Santa Monica Aquarium

I picked up a cold in LA - probably due to jet-lag, and so decided to take it easy today as I was planning on going to Disney on Monday. At this point I regretted not using my LA City Pass the day before as most of the easy-going stuff I felt like doing was closed or had restricted hours on Sundays, or you had to book in advance.

Santa Monica Beach & Pier - view from Palisades Park

So I decided to go to the beach!

Santa Monica is really beautiful, albeit a bit touristy. There's a very famous pier called the Santa Monica pier which is the last point on the Route 66 trail.

By Santa Monica beach there is also Palisades park - just a stretch of grassy tree area as far as I could tell - and the Santa Monica Aquarium. Apparently there is also the original Muscle Beach here too but I didn't see that (or have any interest to).

The Santa Monica Pier as the sun was starting to drop in  the sky...

Entry to the Aquarium was included on the LA City Pass - it's only $5 (or Free for kids under 12) but I'm not sure I would have bothered if it wasn't included. It's run by "Heal The Bay" - a not-for-profit environmental group who also run bay clean-ups and educational workshops. The Aquarium is great if you're interested in rocks, bones, shells, and fish eggs - not so much if you want to sit and watch fishies and other sea creatures swimming about as there's not really very many to look at. They do have interactive activities like touching seaweed or doing shell rubbings though so probably worth it if you're being accompanied by small people.

Ferris Wheel at Santa Monica Pier

Historic Route 66: The End of the Trail
A little ironic that this is where I started my journey...
One day I intend to drive along the whole thing.

On the pier there is a fun fair - rides all day are also included in the City Pass; again, not a massive save, and something I wouldn't have paid to do separately, but I had a nice time going on the Ferris Wheel and some spinning cups etc.

There are also lots of shops - beach ones selling buckets and spades, touristy ones selling postcards and souvenirs, and then a few stalls with people selling handmade jewellery or driftwood carvings. Plus all the typical fun-fair food stands with hot dogs, churros and candy-floss. Towards land, there are also some restaurants like Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.

Just like everywhere in LA (and probably any major tourist destination or city), there are loads of buskers.

Santa Monica is Beautiful

Overall, I'd recommend visiting. Even if you're like me and completely adverse to all things sand, the views are spectacular!

"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!

Gril de Buffles (Buffalo Grill)

Buffalo Grill

On Friday afternoon, Allison's classes got cancelled. As I also was not working, we thought we'd go for work.

Living with a very French family (unlike the demi-French family I live with), Allison was desperate for non-French food. Ideally she wanted curry. Or chinese. But after a bit of research we realised that few of these places were open for lunch.

A Teenagers Menu??

I decided that as it was rainy, we should drive somewhere as I didn't want to walk into the centre. After yet more googling, we found some restaurants in La Glacerie, a nearby village/town.

French-Style, Famous American Bacon Burger 

We chose... Buffalo Grill! A french take on a western
/american style grill restaurant. It wasn't bad really. The waiter was quite happy to speak to us in English which was nice.

I quite enjoy the being served with salad and bread before you've even ordered in some French restaurants (Courtepaille also being one of those such restaurants).

Dessert Pancakes. Yum.

We went for the Famous All American Bacon Burger (or some
thing to that effect) which they then Frenched up with Dijon mustard and Bearnaise sauce. It was good, but I feel like I might have just preferred a steak.

We were stuffed, but had chosen the 'Chef' Menu (2 courses and a drink for just 14.50) so ordered Pancakes for dessert. Allison was so confused by Pancakes being on the menu for dessert; "but pancakes are a breakfast food!?", she said.

All in all, not a bad meal out. We didn't actually arrive until about 2:30pm, and then sat and talked til nearly 5pm (poor Waiter). I'm pretty sure we were the only people there the whole time!

American-style decor

L'Anniversaire de Theo

Gâteau d'Anniversaire
with a sparkler candle!

Le Pantagruel - Grill Restaurant

This week it was Theo's (one of the language assistants) birthday.

Theo invited me and the language assistants in the area out to dinner to celebrate. There were 8 of us altogether (7 girls and Theo), including a Chilean, two Americans (one of whom was Allison), a German, a Jamaican, a Costa-Rican and an Irish girl. Oh, and English me.

Pommeau Aperitif
(Apple juice
mixed with Calvados)

It was very multicultural gathering. It's a shame this didn't happen before my assessment for my 'Languages and Cultures' module - "discuss a recent Intercultural Encounter".

We all went to Le Pantegruel Restaurant - a grill restaurant near the centre of Cherbourg on Rue Tour Caree. It was a really nice little place with very friendly owners who all tried to speak English to the English speakers among us.

French Menu (left)
vs. English Menu (right)

Butcher's Choice Steak with Jacket Potato

They had an English Menu, but it just showed a very small selection of the main courses, rather than the whole menu in English so we needed the French menu anyway.

I had 'Onglet' - the butchers choice steak with jacket potato (I was having a potato craving as Fran is actually allergic to potato so we very rarely have it). It was really nice steak - possibly one of the best steaks I've ever had!

Giant bowl of chips!

Most people ordered chips and rather than coming on the individual's plates, they brought a huge bowl of them instead.

In between dinner and dessert, we all tried to inconspicuously sign a birthday card for Theo. It was working quite well behind the dessert menu, but then they took it away so we had to disappear surreptitiously to the bathroom!

The Dessert Menu - lots of choice!

L'Assiette du Pantagruel (Selection of 5 French desserts)

For dessert, I had planned on sharing the 'L'assiette du Pantagruel' (selection plate) with someone, but then ended up having it to myself. Oops. It had a selection of five desserts. When I asked what they were they said 'Ahh, surprise!' so I just risked it and ordered it anyway.



It was very nice. It came with a slice of brownie, apple tart (tarte tatin), pistachio ice cream in raspberry coulis, a creamy mouse and Iles Flottante ('floating island' - little meringues floating in creme anglais). It was really tasty!

Allison had Crème brûlée
I tried some, it was tasty!

The owners were very nice and had a chat with us (in a mix of English and French) about what schools the language assistants were at and what we all want to do 'when we grow up'/after studying etc.

French Border Collie puppy

We had to leave at 9:45pm as one of the other language assistants - Sara, the Irish girl - had to catch a bus as they don't live or work in the centre of Cherbourg like most of the others do.

While we were stood waiting, a man came up to us and asked if we were English (he'd heard us talking) and then showed us his gorgeous border collie puppy! Can't remember what its name was - something French...

The Napoleon Statue at Night

Afore mentioned frenchman came up to us again 10 mins later (we were still waiting for a non-existant bus to turn up for Sara) and asked "J'ai partager une l'eglise avec vous'. Now, my french isn't excellent but I understand 'I have to share a church with you'. I looked at him blankly thinking I'd misheard, when he said 'oh, yes sorry, I forgot. English'. He then preceded to tell us about some Christian retreat him and his wife run in the summer for 18-25 yr olds. Theo interjected with 'Oh, that sounds wonderful but we actually have to leave in April so we won't be here. I'm so sorry.' And then he left. Very odd.

Sara's bus never actually did turn up but she managed to call her supervisor at the school who came to get her instead.

Paris A La Clé De Vos Cœurs

Square Jean XXIII
Beautiful little garden behind Notre-Dame

Not only does adding the word 'Paris' instantly get you blog views (seriously, within minutes of posting 'Un Week-end á Paris' my blog views tripled for the week which I'm either attributing to the added Google clicks, or people have just suddenly realised how fantastic I am... probably Google.) but it's also a wonderful city which I will be more than happy to spend many future weekends in.

It really is a beautiful and enchanting place. No wonder they call it the 'City of Love'.

Pont de l'Archevêché

After visiting Notre-Dame, I spent some time wandering (not gonna lie, this was mainly in search of a toilet - where is the 'Visit Paris by Toilet' app I ask you??) Before public toilets, the first place I found was a really pretty little garden behind the Cathedral. It had a lovely fountain and monument in it, and lots of lovely trees and flowers. Sadly it was packed and there wasn't a free bench to be seen. Coincidentally, it also had a public toilet, however the queue for this was about as long as the one for Notre-Dame itself, so I decided to desert the little garden in search of a café.

Love Lock Bridge - Pont de l'Archevêché

I wandered in what I think was a southerly direction, and almost immediately came across the famous Parisian Lock Bridge - the one on Pont de l'Archevêché, not the original one that had all it's original locks cut off my an Arts student, or the one that partially collapsed due to the weight of romantic metal (I think that these two are the same actually...)

I find these bridges interesting, but they also have an air of depressing wistfulness for the singletons among us, just like the rest of Paris as, let's be honest, it's for all those loved up couples out there. Paris is sadly just one of those cities filled with couples french kissing - and I don't mean the common friendly greeting kind either!

On the other side of the Pont de l'Archevêché was lots of painters and stalls with touristy gifts, art and postcards to sell. It was here that I found what I was looking for - cafés/restaurants with toilets!

View of Notre-Dame from Pont de l'Archevêché

I used my lovely 'Visit Paris' tripadvisor app to pick out a suitable venue. Most of them looked lovely but some had been rated with bad comments about food/service/facilities, and others had been given 'lovely, but will cost €€€'. In the end I gave up with Tripadvisor and stopped at what looked like a pleasant, reasonably priced cafe/restaurant called 'Cafe Panis'.

The restaurant was quite nice. I thought it would be a good chance to practise my french, but all the waiters just spoke to me in English regardless. They were even speaking to french people in English! It was very strange. Perhaps, as they were busy, it was just quicker for them to talk in English than to wait for me to struggle on in French...

It took me a little while to get served as the place was packed but once I did everything was great.

French Onion Soup
topped with Croutons and Cheese

I had been sat in the dark inside but as soon as some girls left, I asked if I could move to their spot so I could sit by the open patio windows. This was good for views, but people kept using it as a door and squeezing past me while I was eating. There was a door like 5 feet right so this was extremely rude in my opinion! The other bad thing about Paris is that everyone is smoking all the time. Gross.

Chicken Escalope on a bed of rocket, served with Ratatouille

I was starving (it was nearly 3pm) so ordered French Onion Soup to start, and Chicken Escalope with Ratatouille for my mains. It took a while for my soup to arrive but it was tasty - a proper soup with bits of onion in it, and with croutons and cheese on top! My main was also really tasty. The chicken was marinated in a lemony garlic sauce, and served on a bed of rocket leaves. The ratatouille came in a funny little pot.

L'Hôtel-de-Ville

I had planned to get a dessert, but I was due to meet Fran & Co. at about 4:30pm and was running out of time, so didn't (just as well though really as my Fitness Pal app tells me that meal alone added up to almost 1400 calories by itself!! For those not au fait with calorie counting correlations and the like, this is 200 over my net calorie intake goal...)

These two courses were a little expensive, but pretty reasonable for Paris - around 30€ for those two courses and a drink.

At about 4ish, Fran rang to say that they were at the Jardin Palais Royal and to walk over to meet them. I didn't realise it at the time, but this was actually quite a trek, and I definitely would have hopped on the metro had I known!!

Lovely buildings

On the plus side, I did see lots of interesting things on my way over there.

I walked past the Hôtel-de-Ville which was pretty impressive, and towards lots of shops. The buildings in Paris are gorgeous and a large number were built in the Renaissance, Baroque, Neoclassicism and Rococo eras, between 16th and 19th centuries. Some buildings look similar to those in English towns such as Bath but it all still has a distinctly French feel about it!

For anyone else moderately obsessed with Harry Potter... I found 'Rue Nicolas Flamel'! To be honest, this was really exciting for me. I later discovered that Nicolas Flamel was actually a real person! Back in the 14th Century, he was known for being a scholar, author, etc. and married a woman called Perenelle (10 points to Gryffindor for accuracy J.K!) They were also known for their wealth and philanthropy, according to the omnipotent and authoritative source of Wikipedia, and financially contributed to churches and building of sculptures. After he died, there were rumours of him dabbling in alchemy, and around 1700's (300yrs after he died) he apparently appeared at a descendants funeral, ergo beginning rumours that he didn't actually die and in fact had created the Philosopher's Stone, which as we all know, produces the Elixir of Life which gives the drinker immortality.

I didn't quite make it all the way to the Jardin Palais Royal as Fran, Charly & Kids were ready to leave by 5pm (I was only 5 mins away at this point) so I just waited in the Jardin Nelson Mandela instead.

The Jardin Nelson Mandela had a really cool, brand new play area which Fran has decided they'll go back to another time as Marc would probably really enjoy it.

We headed back on the tube, arriving back at the house in Le Vésinet at around 6:30pm. We were all exhausted by this point. I went upstairs to put my phone on charge and fell asleep straight away!

That was all for Saturday. I'll post all about my trip to L'eglise Madeleine next!

Syndicat Général de la Bourse de Commerce de Paris
To the West of Jardin Nelson Mandela

Eglise Saint Eustache,
just to the north of Jardin Nelson Mandela