You looking at me?

We touched down in LA in the early morning, found our hotel and promptly set out exploring. With only one day here there was no time to lose. We jumped into a cab to Manhattan Beach, where we watched surfers by the pier. After eating massive cookies and being told that we wouldn't be able to reach Griffith Park via public transport, we walked to the subway, caught a train, connected to another, and walk the last wee while to Griffith Park - easy! The park is the largest urban park in the US and is home to the Hollywood sign. We didn't quite make it to the sign itself, but we climbed Mount Hollywood and gaped at the marvellous views across the city. What astounded me was that the park was empty of people - it's a park in the middle of a vast city and it was deserted. Weird.

Near the Hollywood sign I heard an urgent squeaking. At first I thought it was a bird and trained my camera in the direction of the noise. I was most happy to discover a Californian ground squirrel - hooray for rodents!

We diced with death heading from Griffith Park to Sunset Boulevard. LA has a real pedestrian problem - no pavements. Does no one walk in this city? We had a ludicrous situation at the end of the day - we could see our hotel, but it was far too dangerous to reach it on foot as the road was so busy and there was nowhere to put our feet. We rang for a cab and took the short journey by car. Oh dear.