Day 57 – A Return To Hollywood



Monday, October 18, 2010
Miles To Date: 
8 270

After a tiring weekend, we had a well deserved lie in this morning and didn’t actually leave the house until about 1. Well rested, we drove to the Chinese Theatre again, and parked in the handy carpark nearby. Our first stop was Ripley’s Believe It Or Not museum, which is just across the road on Hollywood Boulevard.

It is one of a number worldwide (including a recent addition in Piccadilly Circus), which are devoted to the lifework of Robert Ripley. He is famous for being a cartoonist and world traveller, and the museum showcases a number of artefacts gathered on his travels, as well as information and other oddities such as optical illusions. It was reasonably small but contained a number of interesting rooms. Highlights included a genuine South American shrunken head and strange forms of money used in some cultures. Accompanying each exhibit was information incorporating the phrase ‘Believe It Or Not’, and some things were hard to believe. Apparently during his lifetime, Ripley had a number of challenges to his claims, but managed to prove what he said was true every time.

Next, we left the Hollywood Boulevard area and drove to the Hollywood Hills to get a closer look at the Hollywood sign. The hills is a residential area which contains a whole neighbourhood of houses built on the mountainside. There are also a number of street signs which still proudly display the name ‘Hollywoodland’. The roads leading up to the top were very narrow and winding, and there was no proper carpark at the top – we just had to park outside someone’s house. We got some great close up shots and views over much of the Los Angeles area. Unfortunately it was extremely cloudy (though nothing compared to Yosemite), so we could only just make out the skyscrapers of Downtown in the distance.

This evening we stayed in and had a nice dinner with the family. After, Lindsey made us peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies for dessert which were delicious! Now for an early night before Universal Studios tomorrow.

Photo of the day: the Hollywood sign made it as photo of the day twice!