Los Angeles 2011
November 1 - 2 2011
KEEP TRACK OF JERRY
Jerry writes on the ‘Jerry’s News’ page.
The News page is not functioning - apologies.
back to AMERICA 2011 - ITINERARY
Report for each city
ITINERARY AMERICA 2011
October 19, 2011 (Wednesday)
Dublin - London - New York
October 20 - 21, 2011
NEW YORK REPORT click for more
October 22 - 23, 2011
WASHINGTON REPORT click for more
October 24 - 25 - 26, 2011
CHICAGO REPORT click for more
October 26 - 27, 2011
DENVER REPORT click for more
October 28, 2011
GRAND JUNCTION click for more
October 29, 2011
DURANGO click for more
October 30 - 31 Nov 1, 2011
FLAGSTAFF click for more
November 1 - 2, 2011
LOS ANGELES click for more
November 3 - 4 - 5, 2011
SAN FRANCISCO click for more
November 5, 2011
San Francisco - London - Dublin
November 6, 2011
Return to Dublin
LOS ANGELES
2nd November 2010, Los Angeles, California
Arrived into Los Angeles after a fairly painless overnight train journey.
A funny incident on the train when we got on. There was a guy in the sleeping compartment who had been ‘imbibing’ and who, when he found out we were Irish insisted that we have a drink with him.
His name was Reilly, and his ancestors came from Ireland by the way! This soon developed into a party with bottles of wine and bottles of brandy being opened and songs being sung. I sang, amongst others, ‘The Spoons Murder’ which he thought was “awesome” and wouldn’t stop shaking my hand and telling me how great it was. A nice guy though!
Slept reasonably well on the train, which arrived into LA 45 minutes ahead of schedule. That’s the first time on the trip that the train was on time or ahead of time. Initial impression of LA is that it seems to be a very dirty, untidy city. Litter everywhere and graffiti on a lot of buildings.
Jerry somewhere in America - Los Angeles, I think
It’s just after 12.45pm and I’m back from a stroll around the locality of the hotel, The Wilshire, a very nice one, by the way. It’s on 7th street in the jewellery district and there are lots of Mexican shops also in the area. I fact I heard more Spanish being spoken than English.
We’re off on a guided tour of LA and Hollywood at 2.00pm. The Hollywood celebrity thing does nothing for me, so we’ll see how I react to it. More later maybe!
Jerry
3rd November 2010, Los Angeles, California
Hollywood and Beverly Hills report:
I’ m sorry but I just don’ t get the Hollywood and Beverly Hills thing!
We were picked up by the coach and taken on the LA tour. A long drive along Wilshire Boulevard first with our guide pointing out various buildings was reasonably interesting.
We had a stop at the La Brea tar pit which has huge amounts of methane coming to the surface from the depths of the earth. Lots of fossils from Mastodons and other prehistoric creatures were found in this pit and the museum close by has an interesting exhibition, which is worth seeing.
A further drive along the boulevard brings us to Rodeo Drive which has lots of places where people with too much money can be separated from it by world conglomerates who can convince them that they really need something they can well do without.
A drive along Sunset Boulevard followed with our guide pointing out the hangouts of the “rich and famous”. Then to Hollywood Boulevard and a stop at Graumans Chinese restaurant which did nothing for me at all.
I’d have to say that LA has been the least interesting US city I’ve been in so far. It has certainly been the dirtiest. The general feeling amongst the others on the trip is that Chicago has been the most interesting city we’ve seen.
We’re on the train again today for a long trip up along the coast to San Francisco, where we’ll be staying for a couple of nights!
Jerry
Prehistoric Mastadons -
Models at La Brea park
Funicular car
Funicular cars
and more
1st November 2010, Sedona, Arizona
Well, we had a leisurely start this morning and left the hotel at 10.00am. It was nice to have a little ‘lie in’ for a change.
Cave dwellings
We headed out to Walnut Canyon to see some cave dwellings that date from 1150. Quite late by cave dwellers standards, when you think of the caves in Lascaux in the south west of France, but, very impressive nevertheless.
The Sinagua were a tribe of Native Americans who occupied these caves for about 500 hundred years until the white men came. The descent to the canyon floor was easy but that can’t be said about the climb back up.
My quadriceps were letting me know how steep it was by the time I got back to the canyon rim.
Wild West Town
Then we arrived into the wild west town of Sedona. You may not know the name, but, when I say that The Magnificent Seven and other western movies were made here you’ll know what I’m saying.
Stopped briefly at a viewpoint called Oak Creek which was pretty impressive. One the young lads on the trip says he’s ‘cannoned out’ , if he sees another hole in the ground he’ll jump into it.
I’m sure he won’t, but I can see where he’s coming from. We’re back to Flagstaff in the afternoon to pick up the overnight train to Los Angeles which will mark another phase of the trip in California.
More to come tomorrow from there!
Jerry
Folk Leads Publications 2008