L.A was the final stop on our USA leg of the trip, and we arrived on a sunny day. On the outskirts of L.A. is Malibu, a seaside town where a lot of celebrities have houses. Driving through we spotted some very nice homes perched on the hills overlooking the ocean, though we didnt actually see any famous people.....yet, anyway. After Malibu, we now had a view of L.A, looming ahead along the coast, and when we reached Santa Monica we were properly on the outskirts. Santa Monica was nice, and we parked up and had a stroll along the Santa Monica Pier, taking in the view, and people watching. The beach was nice too. Santa Monica Pier is at the end of Route 66, the famous highway that stretches along the USA from Chicago to Santa Monica. So we can say that we have been on Route 66!

After our stop in Santa Monica, we started the 30 minute drive on the motorway to get to our hotel in Hollywood - L.A is really huge, and there are motorways everywhere. Jeff handled the driving well considering we were travelling in rush hour on a Friday.

For our first night we chose something low-key to keep us amused, so we drove up to the Griffiths Observatory to see the amazing views of L.A and the Hollywood sign. Whilst up there we saw a camera crew filming something, but didn't know what it was for. Then Jeff said " that guy over there looks like that bloke off the telly, Alex Zane." It was Alex Zane! Judging by the movie props around he must have been filming a tv show relating to movies.

After a good nights sleep we started our day with a visit to Hollywood Boulevard to see the Grauman's Chinese Theatre, which is where the handprints and footprints of the stars are, and the walk of fame where you can see the stars on the sidewalk. It was was quite bizarre to see the handprints and footprints of the movie stars who have passed away, Jeff thought it was almost like looking at a gravestone - there were some handprints there that had been left in the 1930's and 40's, and the messages written by the stars underneath them were very of their time.

We then decided on doing a bus tour of Beverly Hills and movie stars' homes, which kept us entertained for a few hours. Our tour guide was quite funny, and fed us with lots of tacky movie star trivia as we were driving around Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive. The streets of Beverly Hills are immaculate, and we got to see some gorgeous houses, including Simon Cowell's, Jennifer Aniston's, Tom Cruise's and Michael Jackson's among many. We also had a brief drive along Rodeo Drive, where the designer shops are. On the way back to Hollywood Boulevard Jeff spotted a range rover with the license plate UK VIN...it was Vinnie Jones! Our tour bus pulled up alongside his, and probably due to the gawping he was getting from everyone he waved at us briefly, then sped off to his house.

After another quick wander up Hollywood Boulevard to see some more movie stars on the sidewalk we had pretty much done all we wanted to do in L.A. Pretty much all the sights revolve around the film industry, and the city itself seemed quite dirty and run down compared to New York and San Francisco. Overall though we have had a great time in the U.S, and we would definitely return to both New York and California.