Last sunday we left San José and made the five hour journey to Los Angeles.
This is photos from our trip and the first day in Hollywood where we were going to stay for a while.

Sad bridge in San José. Rest in peace Tommy.

Bye Bye San José! Maybe we'll meet again sometime.

It wasn't long before we ended up among hills that made us feel like we were part of a Windows XP wallpaper. Or that Sonic the Hedgehog would roll past us any second.

Kind of breathtaking.
I mean, Brösarps backar in Skåne: Get lost (or "Släng dig i väggen", as we would say in Sweden).

Aaaaah. *sigh*

Ooooooh. *another sigh*

Okay, end of pictures taken through the car window.
Time for roadside diner food!

We made it to a diner that looked exactly like a diner should.

The backlit water glass was the most interesting thing of that meal. The water in the glass tasted horrible, the food was disgusting and the coffee was seethrough. Like, you could see the bottom of the cup.

Kitchen chairs made into bar stools.

We found a machine that promised to tell us our true selves.
Claes was eager to try.

He was not happy to find out that he is both Jealous and Nasty.

So, new day! Monday in Hollywood!
David and I went for a walk to check out the neighbourhood.

Apparently we lived right next to Hollywood Boulevard! That was a nice surprise; we really had no clue.

Love that there's so many bright green trees lining the sidewalks.

Typical Hollywood corner.

Everywhere there's empty lots squeezed in between houses. It's seems so weird that they can remain empty in the middle of such a big city.

Trees hang low over the sidewalks. I really love the many trees everywhere!

All of a sudden a big garden pops up between buildings.

This is a typical Los Angeles sidewalk. I'm not joking. Every sidewalk or road looks more or less like this.
It must be horrible to be a blind person in this country.
Not only are the sidewalks like wobbly patchworks, their bills are exactly the same size so it's impossible to tell the difference of the value.
This is one of the things that's been really apparent during this trip. The roads and buildings are so very worn down and dirty and among this some really fancy houses stand proud and clean and well looked after.
Along every road there's big signs telling people to "Adopt a highway". If the highway has been adopted the sign tells the name of the person giving the money to support the maintenance of that particular road.
For a tax paying swede this seems so wrong.
I really love paying taxes because I know that the roads needs to be clear of pot holes and all the people in the city should be able to walk around freely.
Okay, sorry for ranting but this really makes me upset.

After a few hours of walking around we went home again. This construction site was right next to our street. I love how the cranes stand tall over the large buildings in the backround.

So this was just the start of our LA visit. We had many more days to discover this interesting and exciting town. It really is a mix of all things, good and bad. I'll show you more soon, I promise.

Came to San José last week for the filmfestival Cinequest where David's animated short documentary Ladyboy was screened.
We had a couple of days there and had some time to walk around the city in the lovely sun.
This is mostly photos from our second day in San José. I was too jetlagged to remember my camera on the first day.

Hotel window. Photo taken when waiting for the elevator to arrive.

Love that there's a tree popping up from the sidewalk.

San José Fire Department showed up. Look at the lady to the right; does gravitation not work properly on her?

San Pedro Square sign.

Pretty entrance.

Went to a pastry shop called Bijan bakery and café where they had A LOT of pastries from all over the place. Especially european baked goods.
David looks like an old man in this picture. Can't stop laughing when I look at this.

So many pretty cakes!

Made a friend.

Made another friend.

The streets are so wide in this country!

Colourful bunting by the used car lot.

In the evening we went to California Theatre for the award ceremony. This is one beautiful theatre.

The blurry man by the organ was not blurry in real life. He was playing film music, it was really cool.

All the film makers got to come up on stage for the award ceremony. Sadly David's film didn't win but the screenings were really appreciated and people seemed to love "Ladyboy" so that was fun.

After that David and I went for an evening stroll in search for a convenience store that sold real food. Not just chips, candy and junk that seems to be all they sell everywhere. We found one with fruit and vegetables and it felt like heaven!

And then we came back to our hotel and fell asleep by 8 pm and slept badly for eleven hours. Jetlag is a bitch.