Visiting LA

Well here we are in the land of bright lights and traffic. We arrived at 6.30 am and must say that I hope never to catch the flight again that goes via Auckland.....just too tiring. Got through customs and immigration very fast and found our shuttle bus waiting. We took off with a half full bus then we realized that the bus driver had just circled around and arrived back where he picked us up from and waited for a couple more people to arrive. When all the seats were filled we headed out to Santa Monica. The hotel is right by the pier and easy walking to the shops. The only thing about the shops in Santa Monica is that they are the big name shops and as I am hoping for some cheaper than Australia type of shopping we will wait till we get to Nashville..

Yesterday we did a bus tour of LA. They picked us up at the hotel and off we drove and around the block we went and arrived right back where we started .......twice..... Whats with that???
   I am very glad we did the tour because we now know that we prefer to find our own way around the tourist sights. Some things it was a case of \'blink and you miss it\' and other times it was \' I would love to show you that but the tour busses are not allowed to go there anymore\'.

 We go to Nashville today and once again I can say I am very glad to be leaving LA. Sort of a shame that I feel so strongly about the city of my birth. Just a country girl at heart.