Day 278: Los Angeles
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Friday May 13th
As I headed out from the hostel this morning to the bus stop, I was stopped in the street by a woman who told me my outfit was cute. Wow - maybe I could fit in here in Los Angeles! (If I lost 30kgs, dyed my hair platinum blonde, got botox, got hair extensions, fake tanned, etc etc). I had made an effort that mornin to wear the nicest outfit in my backpack (a dress with opaque tights and ankle boots) because I was off to Rodeo Drive, the most expensive strip of shopping in the world!
After a 45 minute ride on the hop-on hop-off bus, I arrived at Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills. Before my shopping trip got underway though, I made a detour to the infamous Beverly Hills sign. I managed to score it all to myself, using the timer on my camera to take a photo.
From there, I crossed Santa Monica Boulevard to Rodeo Drive, and was instantly stopped on the street. "Excuse me, do you live around here?", a lady asked me. When I explained I was a tourist (although stoked to think someone else thought I was a local), the woman replied, "That's too bad - I was going to ask you to be my hair model". A hair model! That would have been awesome ... my hair cut/coloured/styled for free!
I then made my way down Rodeo Drive. It really is amazing: much like the rest of Los Angeles, it has wide flower-lined streets, everything clean and sparkling. Except most streets in L.A. don't have Burberry, Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Mui Mui ... should I continue? I popped into Salvatore Ferragamo to ask if they had any jelly shoes - unfortunately they aren't stocking them this spring (oh, what a pity, no shopping for me!) I'm not sure how any of these shops make any money, as there was no one actually in the shops - only tourists taking photos of the amazing displays.
I re-boarded the bus and hopped off at the Beverly Center, another high-fashion shopping destination. I hadn't hopped off to look at the shops here though - located nearby was Robertson Boulevard, another well-known strip in Los Angeles. The Ivy restaurant is located here - this is where celebrities lunch when they want to court the paparazzi. I didn't see anyone famous behind the white picket fence, but the people lunching were so beautiful it was intimidating!
There were numerous clothing shops on this strip, the most famous being Kitson, where Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton are frequent visitors. Surprisingly it wasn't too expensive, but I still walked out empty-handed (I am being so good here in LA!)
It took close to two and a half hours to make it back to Santa Monica on the bus, by which time I was absolutely starving, having not stopped off anywhere for lunch. I made a quick detour to Johnny Rockets for a grilled cheese sandwich - I was considering getting a chocolate milkshake, but when I saw the average calorie intake was 1200 calories (almost a day's worth!), I passed on it for a diet coke.
In the evening, I utiised the washing machine and made a Skype call to Mum and Dad. It's very hard to find privacy for a phone call here - every bed in the hostel is taken, which means in my room alone there are 6 people. Surprisingly, there is a high turnover rate - most people only seem to stay for a night (I'm here for 7!)
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