We
arrived in Hollywood, California in the late afternoon....had dinner at T.G.I.
Friday's and then we went to see some sights. Hollywood was wonderful. It
almost had the excitement and energy of New York City. I loved it. In this
picture you can barely make out the famous Hollywood
sign in the background. I did the best I could....the low-level clouds
made it difficult to get a decent picture of it.
We
parked the van and then went to Mann's Chinese Theatre to see the famous foot
prints and hand prints of some of Hollywood's biggest stars. This picture was
taken in the parking lot right next to Mann's
Chinese Theatre. The parking lot charged us $8.00 for a little over 15
minutes of parking. Outrageous! But, that was the only way to get to where we
wanted to go. Forget about sidewalk parking....this place is crazy.
I
will never forget the wonderful feeling I had standing and looking at this
historical place.....look at the history....think of the stars who have been
here. I mean....Marilyn Monroe put her 'signature' here in
1953....three years before I was born...and it's still in pristine condition.
And, of course, I was taking pictures.
I could not believe how rude people
could be when they know you are trying to take a picture on the square they
are standing on. They would look right at you....and not move a
muscle...taking their time. I would mention who they were...but all the 'politically correct people' would get bent out of shape....thinking
me 'unfair' to notice what these people do. It sure is hard to
ignore it when you have someone shoving you and you can lose your balance real
easy.
Well, I can say this much....every place I have ever been to visit, from
California to Paris, France....they were all the same way...and it was the
talk of the tour bus when we were at The Grand Canyon, so, I know it's not
just me. They are aggressive and shove and bully their way to where they want
to go. There was a handicap woman on the tour bus and these 'people'
made it so difficult for her to get around that she quit going to some of the
look-out points at The Grand Canyon. They nearly knocked her down a flight of
stairs. So, those of you who travel will know exactly which group of people
I'm talking about...and those of you who don't, you'll just have to guess.
These two are from Marilyn Monroe and
Jane Russell. They had their footprints done on the same day, side by side.
Jane's was really hard to pick up with the camera. She has a much lighter
etching.
After seeing all the footprints that I
was interested in at the theatre, we stepped back out onto the side walk and
there was a 'gold' black man...lol...coolest thing I saw. I asked
him if I could take his picture and he said I could....he had money sticking
up out of his pocket. I didn't even think to offer him any money for the
picture. He probably thought I was some dumb hick and just let me slide on
that one. We walked across the street to the gift shop and I picked up some
post cards and such. We were walking along the Walk
Of Fame....stars everywhere on the side walks. I only took pictures of two
of the stars...we were too busy trying to get from point A to point B. The sun
was setting and we wanted to try to make it to the Pacific Ocean before
sunset. So, we left.
This completed all the things we planned
and talked about...we did all the big stuff we dreamed of. Now we were to go
back to the camper...rest up...and the next day we would begin our journey
back home....completely by-passing Akan-hell....
