Our Remarkable Holiday to the USA. Part 7

Hollywood and Home.

Leaving Pismo Beach and the crafty Kraut behind, we ventured off, yet again in the coach, for pastures new. Only this time we knew this would be the last trip.

First port of call was the County of Santa Barbara and more specifically the small city of Solvang. Solvang actually means “sunny meadows” in Danish. Having a Danish name is not surprising really when you consider that the city was originally established as a colony by Danish settlers back in 1911.

Over the years it expanded and as a result the city is now just like a mini Denmark, with its Danish lifestyle and architecture. It is also a very popular stop on the Californian tourist trail.

The weather was superb again and the sun was shining down on us, which made the last day more bearable.

Next stop, clearly another hit with the tourists was; Santa Barbara Mission. We stopped here for a photo session, with its beautiful architecture, pretty gardens and picturesque setting.

It also provided us with the opportunity, for the whole coach to sit on the front steps of the Mission for a group photo.

It was a fun moment when a coach-load of cameras was placed on the ground and we took it in turns to take photo’s with each others’ camera.

It just proved another point, of what made this holiday so special for us. Originally the thought of coach load of strangers seemed daunting, but this bunch were just so friendly, they really made our time there extra special.

Next stop was Santa Barbara itself and the first real opportunity to do the one thing we had to do whilst on the west coast and that was to have a paddle in the Pacific Ocean!

There’s a lovely beach down by Stearns Wharf, which gave us the ideal opportunity to throw off our shoes and have a paddle. OK so the ocean was cold, but it was the Pacific!

After which, we walked along Stearns Wharf, which is a big pier and picked up the obligatory ice cream and enjoyed the bright sunshine and the wonderful coastal views. Followed by a trip into the local Subway store for lunch, then; “everybody back on the coach”!!

We then took Highway 101 east towards Los Angeles and Hollywood our last stop before the tour ended.

We rolled in to Hollywood and parked up just around the corner to Hollywood Boulevard. So it was just short walk to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Grauman's Chinese Theatre and the Kodak Centre, where you can get great views of the Hollywood hillside sign.

It was really hot as we strolled along the Walk of Fame spotting all the stars’ stars. We took the opportunity to go up in the Kodak Centre to take photo’s of the Hollywood sign, then back to Grauman's Chinese Theatre, to look through the various hand prints outside on the sidewalk (see, I didn’t say pavement).

Little Miss Dave found the Harry Potter cast, which made her day, I had to settle for Tom Hanks. Mrs Dave was content with the Elton John star.

Then it was back to the coach, but we did manage to squeeze in one last gift shop for some more souvenirs.

From Hollywood, we toured around Beverly Hills, but they have banned the Tour Bus’s from most of the private roads, so we didn’t get chance to see Posh hanging out Becks’ smalls on the line.

And that’s it! The coach took us back to the hotel, from where we caught the shuttle bus to LAX airport and our flight home………….