The End

Our flight from LA didn't leave until 11pm on Wednesday 4th January, so we had to fill in a whole day. As Sam was still feeling poorly, Jason and I booked a studio tour at Paramount movies. These studios were just a 30 minute walk from where we were staying.

We really enjoyed this tour, it was more personal, only having 6 or 7 in the group, and the guide tailored the tour to what the participants wanted out of it. We would recommend this tour over the Warner Brothers studio tour.

Oscars at Paramount studios

Water tower

Sound studios at Paramount

Lucille Ball's dressing rooms

Entry

Paramount's historic movie theatre

This tour was 3 hours long bringing us to the time of checkout. We drove up to Mulholland Drive for a panoramic look over LA for the last time.

View from Mulholland Drive

The original intention was to drive to Santa Monica, but we just ran out of time, as we still wanted a last look at Universal Studios to make the most of those annual passes. Alex went on a couple of rides and we saw a couple of shows, however, it is now school holidays in California, so wait times were at least tripled and the extra crowds took the shine off it a bit.

By this time it was 6pm and time to return the hire car. Thank goodness we allowed plenty of time as it took almost an hour through the crawling traffic to get to our destination. Jason then had a dispute with the car hire people, which took another 45 minutes and I believe is still not resolved, but that's another story.

When we got to the check in, Jason asked if we could be seated with spare seats so that Sam could lie down (by this stage she was a little better, but we wanted more space!). They actually bumped us to an earlier flight so we could have bulkhead seats, though this meant we had to forgo the Qantas lounge and it's showers as it was boarding in 40 minutes of our arrival. THEN we had to go through the whole process of declaring those duelling pistols and that had them scratching their heads. And that's yet another story. 

We didn't fair too badly on the long 16 hour flight to Melbourne which arrived at 9am. Another discussion about those pistols and we did then in fact make it to the Qantas business lounge this time. Arrived to a mildly humid Brisbane day at 1pm where our housesitter picked us up in the Subaru "beast".

We are now unpacked, grocery shopping done, and wondering where those 5 weeks went!

Thanks for following our journey, hope you enjoyed the ride!

Lying low in LA

Sam woke feeling unwell, starting yesterday with a sore throat and developing fevers last night. We were actually pretty happy to lay low today as we wind down at the end of our trip (which is NOT a holiday I might add).

No Photos!

 So we spent the day relaxing and finalising packing of bags for our departure at 11pm tomorrow night.

View from window to Hollywood sign

View from window to Griffith Observatory

Jason and I finally got cabin fever and went to nearby Hollywood Boulevard for a look. It's just the same as always! Touristy and a little bit tacky.

Shrine to Carrie Fisher

 We went in to the historic Roosevelt hotel lobby which looked at bit like some of Hearst Castle. Gorgeous art deco details.

Then we went home again, not much to tell. Hopefully Sam will be well enough to be on the move again tomorrow for a last visit to Universal Studios.

Hearst Castle

The day dawned grey and rainy. We can't really complain, as we have been so fortunate with the weather to date. Luckily we had planned to be indoors today anyway.

I did live to tell the tale of us all sharing one hotel room, however, it did not end well. Just ask the girls how sympathetic they are of me now with Jason's snoring. They claimed to have had "NO SLEEP" at all!

We drove the short 6 miles to Hearst Castle and paid the exorbitant entry fee to see 4 rooms of the 'castle'. The term "castle" should be taken fairly loosely here to describe what is essentially a really big house. We as a family have been very spoilt and seen actual castles and treasures around the world.

William Randolph Hearst built it in the 30's, taking 15 years to complete it as he kept changing his mind about details. What is just as remarkable to me, is that it was designed by a female Julia Morgan, and the first female to complete a degree in architecture from Paris. It was a place of pure indulgence and a little egocentric in my opinion.

However, it can't be argued that it does present as a wonderful museum for art and artefacts from all over the world. It almost sent him and the family bankrupt. Mr Hearst loved to entertain here, and would often hold exuberant weekends with other people of note and high society of the era.

Outside photos:

The entrance

Inside:

Sitting room and entry

Fireplace in the sitting room

Dining room

Smoking Room

 My favourite:

Roman pool with real gold leaf tiles

Diving board of the Roman Pool

Mr Hearst had a zoo on site which included Polar Bears, Giraffes, Kangaroos and Zebras. Apparently some of the Zebras escaped, and their ascendants can still be seen today grazing along side the beef cattle on the Hearst ranch.

Our view from the top of the hill showing the road up to the castle

We had a late lunch back in Cambria which turned out to be a quaint touristy seaside village. Much to Jason's delight there were plenty of antique shops and he found a long sought after Beatles record which he said has been a highlight of the trip!

The first part of the journey was wet, but then we had dry roads which was good for the four hour drive to LA. We are now ensconced in our Airbnb apartment in West Hollywood planning our day for tomorrow.

Big Sur,Yes Sir!

This is not my  photo, but is better than the one I took.

We woke up to a tired and timid San Francisco this morning after the previous nights' revelries. This enabled us to get out of our hotel and on the road surprisingly easily. Our first stop was Lombard St, the "crookedest street in the world". It is hard to see in the photo below, but there are 8 hairpin turns in a short distance. Yes we did drive down it.

Lombard St

 The next photo is just another shot of the streets of San Francisco, it's just so photogenic I couldn't stop taking photos.

Streets of San Fran

 We wanted to drive through Silicone Valley on our way south and so checked out the headquarters of Facebook, Google, Apple and ebay.

 Next stop was Monteray to get us highway 1 and the "Big Sur".This is a stretch of coastline known for it's sweeping coastal views, rugged cliffs and mountains. I imagine the Great Ocean Road would be similar to this. We travelled on this mostly windy road for a couple hours and have found ourselves staying at a place called Cumbria. This is the first time we have all shared the same hotel room, so I hope I live to tell the tale.Tomorrow we are going to see Hearst Castle and then on for our last two nights in LA before flying home.

Goodbye 2016

We had a bit of a sleep in and then headed to the shops. The girls and I looked at the sales while Jason opted for antique shops and vinyl record shops. That took us hours..

View to Union Square from our room

After lunch, I walked 45 minutes through some pretty shady San Francisco streets to meet Jason at Alamo square to see the "Paineted ladies".

The painted ladies

View down the street to City Hall

More houses of San Fran

City Hall

Not  sure if the walk back was any more comfortable with Jason in tow, at 4pm the homeless people were claiming their stakes on the footpath, and I'm pretty sure the pimps and drug pushers were on many corners. We came across some funky smelling cigarettes and funky smelling people too. I was relieved to get back to Union Square.

Inside Sears resturant

We had an early dinner at Sears restaurant next door where we had seen many people wait in a queue to get into. Apparently it is world famous. We ate simply but well, the food serving sizes living up to their reputation of being large.

 We had a stroll around the block and had a quick look in the foyers of the Sir Francis Drake Hotel and the Westin, both glamorous and elegant.

Christmas Tree in Union Square.

Huge cake in the foyer of the Westin

Union Square

We are still undecided and uncommitted to see the fireworks down at the bay. We've had a big day, it's cold outside and we're on the move tomorrow.