28th December

Today was all about walking and shopping! We decided to see some of the shopping areas of LA today, and must admit we are a little disappointed. There is no main street in downtown LA to find shops, so we had a little hunting to do. We started with Macy's in the centre of town, or should I say infront of Macy's as LA does not awaken until 10am, so being there at 9am was a tad premature. After finding a semi reasonable toy/gift shop and nothing in Macy's we headed straight for Santee Alley with high expectations after recommendations from Adam. In turns out that Santee Alley is LA's version of the Queen Victoria Markets in Melbourne, with plenty of crap and a few gems. Phil took a fancy to a shirt and tie combination and plenty of caps, whilst I found a great new handbag. By mid afternoon we had done Santee Alley, the fashion, flower and toy district with minimal success.

After narrowly avoiding heading to the dodgy areas of town, we were directed to the Beverly Centre in our search for a shopping mall. This turned out to be an upmarket version of Westfield with a Macey's and a Bloomingdales. After hunting many stores, Tabitha finally found two pairs of jeans that she liked and covered all things that should be covered - Cuban's (Santee Alley) don't wear highcut jeans apparantly!

This evening we had dinner at the oldest resteraunt in Hollywood. The meal was delicious and filling, especially with the complimentary half loaf of sourdough bread on the table. We finished off the evening by going to the Hollywood wax museum and the Guiness World Records museum.

Today's highlight: LA locals who are extremely friendly and more than ready to offer assistance to anyone who stands still with a map for longer than 25 seconds.