The city of angels

I've officially been there. The place that is idolized in television and films, the mecca of plastic surgery and surfers, la-la land. And let me tell you. It was pretty great. It reminded me of other big cities, like Chicago, there was a lot of traffic and there were a lot of pretty people. But there seemed to be a lot of normal people and I heard tons of non-English speakers (and not much Spanish).
Friday we drove up and got there around 3. We found Santa Monica pretty quickly and our hostile was right where it was supposed to be:-) with a parking lot directly across the street. The hostel was a great experience, relatively inexpensive (we had a private room with 2 twin beds and it was $164 for 2 nights) and very clean. There was a kitchen area where we could buy breakfast ($1.75 for a bowl of cereal but hey - we figured it was the cheapest breakfast in town), a movie room, quite a few open spaces to relax in, and friendly staff (not at all hostile like the guidebook warned).
Friday night we had dinner at Buca di Beppo which was scrumcious! The best green beans and ravioli and tiramisu! Then we walked all along the 3rd Street Promenade (tons of people and great shops) and the Santa Monica mall (not too prosperous on a Friday night). We also rode the ferris wheel (even though it was cloudy) on the pier.
Saturday we took an L.A. bus tour. We left at 9:30 and got to see some stars' homes (Bill Cosby, Steven Spielberg, Drew Barrymore), and then they dropped us off at the Getty museum. The Getty was something, sprawling and beautifully designed. We saw a great photograph exhibit and some Impressionist works and the amazing garden and then laid on the grass a while, and ate what may have been the best sandwich I ever had - ham and brie.
Then the bus picked us back up and took us to Rodeo Drive where we had 40 minutes to window shop, the air even feels expensive there, and buy 3 dollar diet cokes. Then it was onto Sunset Blvd and then Grauman's Chinese Theater and the Hollywood Walk of Fame. We took pictures of Big Bird's star and Penny Marshall's star and then ate gelato across the street. Then we headed up to Mullholand Drive and took photos with the famous Hollywood sign (which I didn't know used to say Hollywood Land, and was a for sale sign, and then they took the Land part off and left the rest! trivia for the day).
All in all a busy day and then we went back to the promenade and paid $10.75 for a ticket to see Man of the Year, which was pretty funny.
All in all, L.A. wasn't too expensive. We managed to eat for about $10 a meal (except for Buca) and most of the sightseeing was free (our tour was $64 and we got a $12 discount for staying at the hostile) and the best part is the ocean is free:-)
I can't wait to go back...and see where the magic happens;-)