In Southern California, Los Angeles has plenty of tourist attractions even if you’re not interested in Hollywood. But its dirty, expensive, dangerous in places, and so big walking is a problem.

La-la land is a better name as much of it is far removed from reality.

Star Watching

On Hollywood Boulevard you can go to the front of the  Chinese Theatre to see the hand and footprints of the famous. Then there is the Hollywood Walk of Fame. There are two thousand six hundred stars on the public sidewalk. Most are movie stars but there are five categories. Some stars like Harrison Ford have two but only Gene Autrey has all five. If you have a spare forty thousand dollars you can buy your own subject to approval. After all if Mickey Mouse can have one!

More Interesting Star Watching

Heading towards the Hollywood sign we walked into Griffith park and walked uphill onto Mount Hollywood to the Griffith Observatory. Sunset is the perfect time so arrive as the coloured sky over the city is amazing against the palm trees.

Getty Museum

The Getty is on a hill in Brentwood LA. It started as Getty’s private collection but has grown into a huge collection of Western Art. There are so many world famous paintings, we made a point of seeing Van Gogh’s Irises. You couldn’t possibly see all of it in one visit but the architecture and gardens are an essential. The gardens are beautifully manicured, in places you could be in Italy or even Singapore. Then there are the views over the city. A really good day out and they don’t even charge you.

Catalina Island

Santa Catalina Island is twenty nine miles of the coast from Long Beach and a great place to spend a day. We went parasailing. I did have to be talked into this as I thought it would be very scary. Actually it was brilliant and it felt very peaceful. They pretend they are going to dip you in the sea on the way down but they are very careful not to actually do it so we landed back on deck safely and dry.