Lost in Hollywood

Today was one of my favourite of days ever. Lewis, Manuel, Vanessa, Ludo (French) and I decided we wanted to see the 'Hollywood' sign up close, sweet.

It turned into a much bigger adventure than originally planned, and a much more memorable one also =D But I will let pictures do most of the talking.

Trekking through Hollywood to get to the location of our shuttle bus.

A very classy area.

After catching two trains, then standing at the wrong bus stop for an hour, Vanessa using her Spanish speaking skills to ask for directions, and a 20 minute bus ride later, we finally made it to the starting point of the Hollywood sign walk. Little did I know that there was a Astronomy Observatory up here! Space is one of my favourite topics, so this was a great surprise, and this observatory doubled as a museum. The exhibits were amazing!

The Griffith Observatory, cool!

After spending an hour exploring, it was time to head outside. The views were absolutely breathtaking, there were times when helicopters were flying over the city and we were level with them!

Travel Buddy posing with L.A city in the distance

Travel Buddy just enjoying the sights. He is pretty brave, one strong gust of wind and no more Travel Buddy ha!

Lewis

It was now time to hike up the mountain to get closer to the Hollywood sign, although Ludo decided to head home.

And we're off!

Vanessa looking apprehensive as we debate whether to take one of the risky short cuts

L.A city down far below

You can very faintly make out the Hollywood sign on the distant hill

Finally we made it to the top! Although it turns out the actual Hollywood sign was on a different hill than the one we were on... ha. The views were just so cool, I can't remember the last time I have been up this high.

Travel Buddy enjoying the sights

The sun just about to clear the horizon, cool!

The amazing gang

And before long it started to get dark as we waited for the sun to go down.

Oh, it got really cold, so I've burrowed Lewis's beenie and just put my hat on top as well

Lewis enjoying the sprawling L.A lights below

Now as you can see, it got real dark... and we are still at the top of the mountain obviously. Getting back down in the dark was tough ha! But great fun. Manuel told a story that apparently this mountain got closed to the public a few years ago because a lady got killed by a mountain lion. A plausible story, although I am not sure if it is true, but regardless it scared the hell of out Vanessa so a good laugh was had by all.

Hanging out with these guys was a hell of a lot of fun, it was strange to think that only 2 days ago I was still in Australia!