Sun, Day 2 - Jan 7 - Los Angles

The room is dark and cool so we sleep in. About 9AM we head to breakfast. It is a delightful meal, very well done, again pricey at $96. Carolyn used points to book the first night so there was nothing extra included.

It is turning out to be a pretty day so we decide to take the HOHO bus and see some of Los Angeles. The hotel offers a free car service on a first come first served bases for the area around the hotel. The Hotel is right across from Rodeo Drive, so is right in the heart of the action. We luck out and the car can take us over to the Beverly Hills City Hall area where there is a pick up for two lines of the HOHO Bus.

We are on a roll this morning. The Hollywood tour Bus is just loading so we get an all day ticket and go up top. It is a pleasantly cool day so it is fun riding on the open top deck. The tour is about two hours and we see all the tourist spots, La Brea Tar Pits, The Hollywood sign, the Walk of Fame, the Theaters and some Studios.

We arrive back at Beverly Hills at 12:39PM, just as a HOHO bus is leaving for the Santa Monica Tour so we hop on that one. Our plan is to go to the pier and find a light lunch. Traffic is a mess around Century City and the Fox Studio area with all the blocked streets and security for the Golden Globes tonight. By the time we get to the beach, about 1:30PM the coastal fog has settled in and it is cooler.

We walk over to the pier, take some photos and then find a steak house for some lunch where we share a bowl of hummus, pita bread and yucca chips. It is really tasty and there is a heater on the porch which keeps us warm. We will probably come back here at the end of the trip. The area looks like a fun place to explore. Back on the bus we head back to the drop off point. It is a rather torturous drive due to the traffic jams caused by the Golden Globes.

We get back to Beverly Hills about 3:15, but the hotel car can’t pick us for about 45 minutes.  Dick checks the GPS and it is saying it is 0.6-0,7 miles or about 14 minutes to the Hotel so we decide to walk it. It is a nice walk through a well kept 50ish residential area and then along Rodeo Drive. Window shopping there is a trip in its self!!!

Tonight is the Gala Event kicking off the World Cruise in the Hotel Ballroom. As we arrive we are greeted by some of the staff that will be with us on the cruise and many of the big Wigs of the cruise line. We sit at a table with five people from California and a couple from Australia. The food is good and the entertainment is OK. But mainly we have a great evening of conversation with new found friends!

We learn, much to our delight, that we will be checked in and given key cards in the morning at breakfast, our luggage will be picked up tonight or in the morning, our choice, and that our suite will be ready for us when we arrive at the ship tomorrow. They will be using 10 passenger vans to transfer us to the ship. So it sounds like it will be a very nice start for ourgrand voyage!