Four Seasons in One

As I have noticed on Facebook lately the weather in Ontario has been quite hot! L.A weather was very nice, breezy but sun all day long. Mark and I got pretty tanned while we were there and Rianna says its crazy how dark we are. The weather here on the other hand is quite unpredictable. I mentioned in my last post that it is winter here and I find it quite chilly. Over the past couple days it is sunny(and kinda warm), then cloudy, then rainy(cold), then sunny again(four seasons). Winter is coming to an end here though and most people have said its not too long before spring weather comes.

The second day here we finally went visit Rianna who is staying at King St. backpackers downtown. It is about a 20 minute walk from our hostel. It was really nice to see her. She is staying with her friend Kendra, who is also teaching here. That night we went out for dinner down an alley at a small cafe restaurant and it was very delicious! It was nice to catch up and hear all about her experiences with teaching thus far.

The next day Mark and I took a stroll through the Queen Victoria Market which is a 2 minute walk from our hotel. It was huge! There was so much to see! We spent a few hours there and we were not even sure if we saw everything. The market is actually built over a grave site and when they do work in and around the area they sometimes find bones!

Saturday nights are quite busy in Melbourne and this night we decided to head to a footy match between two Melbourne teams (Essendon and Carleton) at the MCG stadium. There was an estimated 70,000 fans going to the match so we were even more excited to watch. Me, Mark, Kendra, and Rianna went with a few Melbournian men  from the hostel who knew the game well. They explained the rules to us and acted as personal commentators during the game which was very helpful. The sights and sounds at the game were awesome- there were definetly die hard fans there! Some people got kicked out and apparently its customary to give these people a standing ovation for being kicked out. The footy match was a lot of fun and was a really neat experience.

Hello Melbourne!

After flying 15 hours from L.A. to Melbourne we have finally arrived! The plane ride wasn't as bad as we thought it was going to be. This could possibly be because we departed at midnight and had the whole night to sleep. We slept for 10 hours(not solid hours) but a pretty good eye rest. We awoke in the morning with only 5 more hours to go. Dinner and breakfast on the plane was quite good- We very much enjoyed the Quantas airline!

Making our way through the Melbourne airport was a different story. We had to clear immigration and customs which took nearly 2 hours and from there had to figure out where we would sleep that night. We quickly found an information desk with free calling to hostels. We booked a few nights at the Discovery Hotel (for backpackers) and took the skybus there. It was a pretty nice hostel and we were lucky to get our own private room. The first day we went on a walking tour through Melbourne and had a few drinks with fellow backpackers from Holland who are from Harmelen. They were very fun to talk with.

We also got our banking set up, got a hold of Rianna, who is working at her substitute teaching job, and got a cell phone as well. The shopping here is amazing and kind of reminds me of shopping you find in Holland- very different styles. The atmosphere downtown is very nice and has many little shops, alleys, cafes, and bars. It was quite chilly today (I think its cold because I am so used to the heat). The temperature was about 13 degrees.

We went to bed early (7 o'clock) and plan on doing more sightseeing, meeting up with Rianna, and heading to the bar tomorrow. I didn't take too many shots the first day- it was quite misty out (off and on) and I was kind of tired (aka too lazy) for taking pictures. I've still got lots of time for pictures : )

Santa Monica Pier-Day #3

We had all of day three to do whatever we had liked especially since our plane to Melbourne didn’t leave until 11:30 that night. We planned on having a relaxed beach day in Santa Monica. We packed up all our suitcases so the hotel could store them downstairs for the day. We headed downtown for breakfast at Maria’s Cafe again (we fell in love with their Breakfast) and then headed to Santa Monica. Again, the freeway was packed and took some extra time to get there. We arrived at roughly 10:00 in the morning and the beach was beginning to get busy already. The beach was amazingly beautiful and very big. It was very clean as well. The Pier is a Los Angeles landmark and is apparently the final stop for Route 66. The pier was very busy with fishermen, little shops, food, and Pacific Park is located on the Pier, which is a mini amusement park.

We had noticed there were many bike rental places along the beach so we decided to rent some bikes as the beach has a bike trail all along the beach. It is quite a popular trial with lanes for bikes and pedestrians. People rollerblade, run, walk,  and skateboard along this trial and it was pretty busy. We biked for a couple hours then ate lunch. After lunch we played on some of the beach equipment. Many people come to the beach to work out so along the beach there were many bars, ropes, rings to swing on etc. There were even tight ropes! After monkey-ing around for a bit we found a spot along the beach and relaxed by the water for a few hours. The sun was pretty hot and noticed we were getting a little red so we decided to get dressed and do some more touring. Venice beach or Muscle Beach, connects to the beach at Santa Monica Pier and there are tonnes of little shops along this beach. It was kind of like a boardwalk. We didn’t buy anything but it was very fun to look around.

We returned the bikes not too long after and headed back to the hotel so we could drop off our car and hitch a taxi to the airport. Before arriving at the hotel we stopped at a Mexican restaurant for dinner- which didn’t settle too well in my stomach but overall we really enjoyed the time in Los Angeles and loved the weather. We felt like the three days was enough time to experience it and was a fun mini vacation. We arrived at the airport at about 8:30 so we had tonnes of time until our plane left. At about 10:45 we began to board the plane for the 15 hours to Melbourne, Australia!

This beach was very nice!

My sweet ride for the day!

The Pacific Park located in the Pier

Rodeo Dr.- Day #2

We were well rested for day two of our L.A. trip and had lots planned (well kind of).  We had heard from many people that if you really wanted to see L.A in the time that we were here then we should rent a car- this turned out to be an excellent idea! That morning we woke up early, went for breakfast at Maria’s cafe which is located downtown and then headed back to the hotel to pick up our rental car.

Today we had planned on making a trip to Rodeo drive in Beverly Hills to do some sightseeing and maybe some shopping and then go see Jay Leno. We hopped into our sweet ride, a Suzuki Z4, and headed to Beverly Hills. The freeway, like the day before, moved pretty quickly for a while but then got very busy very fast.  Although it is only a short drive to Beverly Hills it still took a while to get there. We hit where rodeo drive began and whoa were the houses AMAZING! They were so beautiful and very big, many of them protected by large ornate gates. We followed the road and quickly found all the shopping and I was pretty overwhelmed- it was a pretty beautiful place. It wasn’t as busy as I thought it would be(maybe because it was a Monday) but I also suppose that you only go into a few stores and buy one or two things as everything there was very expensive. I stuck to my usual stores buying a top a lulu lemon and a sweater at Victoria Secret.

We went for lunch at a restaurant called Panini Cafe, just off of Rodeo drive. The food was delicious and we enjoyed the sightseeing as we sat out on the patio. There are very nice (and expensive) cars in L.A and it seems like everyone drives a Mercedes, BMW, Range Rover, or a Porsche. It was odd to see a non-expensive car or a pick-up truck.

Running a tad behind we quickly headed to Jay Leno as we had to be there at 2:45 pm because taping began at 4. We got onto the freeway and BAM dead stop. There was an accident on the freeway (which is very common especially since we noticed that no one here uses their blinkers). We were on the freeway inching our way towards Burbank, California and we eventually reached NBC studios at 3:00 pm. We got to the gate and were told they had reached capacity. Apparently, even though I had tickets they begin letting people in early and nothing is reserved...a little frustrated we decided to not be discouraged and go see the Hollywood sign and have dinner.

We ate at Big Boy which is famous for its hamburger and has been the spot for many movie scenes and is a California place of historical interest. It was built in 1949 and still looked the same, even down to the decor. It was pretty delicious! We then headed to Runyon Canyon to get a view of the Hollywood sign. Runyon Canyon is a popular rugged (and sandy) park that has a few large hiking paths. The sights along the canyon are breathtaking and you can see until forever it seemed. It was an enjoyable hike but pretty hard to as it was very steep in areas and it was very hot out!

After hiking for a few hours we headed back to the hotel and relaxed. We rented a movie, snacked on some candy we had packed from Bulk Barn and then snoozed off!

Rodeo Drive begins!

Me on Rodeo- the palm trees make it look so nice!

One of the many large gated homes

Big Boy!



Mark wanted this truck- he was in love.




Me helping out Big Boy




Hollywood!




The Canyon was very steep






Us, and L.A in the background



 








Rooftop Adventures-Day #1

We have arrived in Los Angeles! Arriving at LAX airport went very smoothly, we recieved our bags quickly, hailed a cab and were on our way to downtown L.A. to our hotel-The Standard. I was smiling from ear to ear as we drove down the freeway with my hair blowing in the wind and the sight of towering palm trees on either side. We quickly noticed the famous L.A. smog and as we were driving I spotted the Hollywood sign far in the distance- wasn't picture worthy at the time but we plan on giving taking a hike to get a good view.

We arrived downtown and it almost appeared like a ghost town. We were told that the so called "carmageddon" was keeping people away from travelling to the downtown area, and plus it was a Sunday-beach day apparently. Our hotel room was not quite ready so we checked our bags and took a tour through the Jewellery District, which was pretty neat to see. We ventured back to our hotel ,The Standard ,which was very modern looking, with glass bowl chairs, mirrors, modern bright colours and accents, very different than anything we have ever seen. The Standard hotel is also found in Hollywood, New York and Miami Beach. Specifically, its downtown location has been a popular area for movie scenes. 'Get Him to the Greek' and an episode of 'Bones' was shot on the rooftop bar. That night we were invited to the rooftop pool party. It was pretty relaxing by the pool for the evening and the music was great!

After enjoying some of the pool party we headed out for a late dinner at 'Louie' which is famous for its macarons(kind of like a macaroon). We didn't try one because we were so stuffed from dinner-which was delicious! We returned to our hotel and rented the movie Fast Five but only made it about half hour until we both passed out. The weather here is very nice, long day of sun with a good breeze but not too cold, pretty hot at time but pretty perfect I would say!

Enjoy some of the pictures below of our first day!

At Pearson International- Off we go!

Touring around the Jewellery District

We were creepers and followed actress, Sara Gilbert, from the T.V. show Big Bang Theory, just to get this shot.

Sara Gilbert as 'Leslie Winkle'

The Standard- Rooftop pool party above

Our room

See through room shower and Mark the shower model

Pool party!

Comfy chairs!

The hotel lobby

'Louie' macaron's