Weeeho!

So, West Hollywood! Where the streets are lined with pharmacies selling nutrition, tanning studios, nail salons, dog hotels and there's a gym on every street corner. Who'd thought we could find peace here? Ramada Plaza is a quite decent hotel located on Santa Monica Boulevard, right where the action is. Swimming pool - yaay! And you can't hear the neighbor snoring (unlike the last hotel we stayed in in Santa Monica). The hotel is a few blocks from the Sunset Strip, a short taxi ride from Hollywood Avenue's Walk of Fame and a shuttle bus ride from Universal Studios we learned today.

Universal's theme park built around various block busters of dubious quality (whoever remembers Waterworld?) was surprisingly enough a quite laid-back affair compared to Disneyland. Easily do-able in one day. The attractions were close to each other and there were just enough of them to keep us busy for the entire time the park was open. On a Thursday in late September it wasn't crowded at all. A fastpass to get past the queues would have been a waste of money here, where as for my next visit to Disneyland it would have been a must. Even on a less busy day in the middle of the week. That said, Disneyland still was more impressive. That might have something to do with me appreciating the Disney universe a whole lot more than Terminator, The Mummy, King Kong and the likes. Universal's Studio Tour was a hit though, showing off some cool movie sets, props and visual effects. Today's moment of joy: Surviving the House of Horror in one piece. Those actors lurking in the dark, sneaking up from behind with a knife in hand sure works hard for the money.

Those creepy events still didn't keep up from going out after dark. The evening was spent exploring the nightlife in the neighborhood. Spent most part of the time at The Abbey, where even Elizabeth Taylor was said to have popped her head in from time to time. Closing time for bars in California is as early as 2 am. We learned that already in San Fransisco. A late night here is not the same as a late night in Vegas.

Eco America

There are not enough hours in the day for me to find time to update this blog. 19th day of travel and this will be my first post. Hopefully I will find time later to fill you in on our San Francisco and Las Vegas experiences, but I'll start with where we are now: Baywatch Land.

I guess this goes for the whole of California, but Santa Monica surprised me by being all I didn't expect the US to be. By first impression it has a small town feel, it is very clean, new, well organized and most of all green. The closest supermarket is all back-to-nature with a truly impressive fruit desk. I even bought  organic toothpaste  Downtown looks like it was built just yesterday and the center is pedestrian only! Drinking age in California is 21 in and they are extremely strict about it. Having to show an ID absolutely all the time can seem like a bit of a hassle, but the people here are so service minded it's really not a bother at all. They easily put the swedes to shame. Plastic bags are banned, smoking laws are even tighter than in Norway (no smoking on or near bus stops allowed) and it seems public transport is existent here, although we haven't tried it yet. I missed an easy-to-find and easy-to-understand way of getting from the airport though.  In the end a shuttle van did the job. It's actually a taxi you share with others going in the same direction, for a fixed price. Brought us straight to the hotel door.

Santa Monica is said to be, alongside the likes of Sydney, Barcelona and Rio, one of the top beach cities in the world, and I can't wait to explore more of what it has to offer. Today we're hitting the beach. Gotta check out what Muscle Beach is all about and maybe we'll even spot a lifeguard or two. Also got to see the world famous Santa Monica Pier. The big, sparkly ferris wheel sitting on top of it, is, of course, solar driven.