L.A. Day One.....ummmmm...

Well, it's the end of our week in L.A. well technically we have been staying in San Jaquito and traveling in to L.A. but either which way, it's the end of our week here and it's been one of highs and lows.
We had a list upon arrival of places we wanted to go and see, things we wanted to go and do, the list was broken down into days and it made for four days out, perfect, two days out, a day in, and another two days out, what a great way to break it down.

Day one, Griffith park, The Hollywood sign, Griffith Observatory, Mullholand Drive, Sunset Boulevard, Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive.  It sounds like alot but if you consider the last 4 are 'drive through' it's not that bad (You don't think I was going to stop on Rodeo Drive now do you?)
Griffith Park, yes we appreciate it's there to service the greater L.A. community but, no, I wouldn't bother, it was whilst here we discovered that you can no longer get to the Hollywood sign, and the closest you can get is an hour and a half trek through the park...  OK we will skip that.
On to the observatory for some education and good views of L.A.  It's a wonderful looking building and our first film location of the day, James Deans Rebel without a Cause and Charlie's Angels Full Throttle amongst others.  The views of L.A. and the area were spectacular, and yes we could see the Hollywood sign, although it comes out quite small on the photo's it was a good view.  Going through the observatory was interesting and took longer than we expected but it was well worth it
The driving tour, this is where or impression of L.A. was cemented and was spoilt forever, the divide between those with and those without, Mullholland drive, one of the most expensive areas to live, at the bottom of the hill there is rubbish all over, boarded up shops etc.  At the top of the hill, it's pristine, multi million dollar houses with big gates, a real case of have and have not, this theme continued to be re-enforced as we drive the rest of the route, taking us from one extreme to the other as we drove from one location to another, all in all this made the lavish areas we'd wanted to see less interesting knowing even more that there was the other end of the spectrum just a few blocks away.  And so ended day one, all in all on a low.

The Griffith Observatory

Thats LA that is

Thats us

HOLLYWOOD