After a fascinating and sobering visit to Bosnia &
Herzegovina while on a 2012 tour to Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia, we returned
to Croatia to visit its gorgeous Plitvice Lakes National Park. Located in a
very mountainous area, the park consists of roughly sixteen lakes connected by
rivers, streams and loads and loads of waterfalls. The waterfalls mostly flow
over travertine and they are every place you look. Although humans have lived
in the area for thousands of years, the park was never fully conquered by them.
We rode in our tour coach to the edge of one of the lakes and then took a small ferry boat that was pulled across the lake (no motors allowed). From there, you walk on dirt paths next to the rivers, lakes and falls until the paths disappear and you are walking on suspended paths of wooden logs over the water.
At one point on the wooden path, the waterfalls were cascading down towards me on the one side and dropping way below me on the other. With railings being somewhat intermittent at this point, this made me a tad nervous. But I took a deep breath, said a few prayers and kept going. The whole park was incredibly beautiful. I kept taking photos and videos as we continued moving ever further down into the valley.
Finally we reached the valley floor where we were completely
surrounded by the mountains, the waterfalls and the pools of water that then
dove underground. How did we get out? A switchback trail up one of the
mountains. It rose gradually, so it wasn’t too difficult to climb. We also
stopped at several points along the way for more photos. At the top, we were
met by our tour coach and taken to our hotel, which was located within the
park. Unfortunately the restaurant within the park had burned down that
morning, so we needed to leave the park to get some dinner.
The next day we headed for the capitol of Croatia, Zagreb. Settled by the Romans, Zagreb has been continually inhabited ever since. It was quite far inland in a mountainous region. In 1094, the settlement was named Zagreb and its Hungarian ruler began building its cathedral.
We took a walking tour of the Old Town. As we reached the Stone Gate, we found a lovely statue of Saint George and the Dragon. We continued up hill to Saint Mark’s Square. The centerpiece of the square is the 13th century Saint Mark’s Church. The south portal contains several Gothic statues. The roof is decorated in colorful tiles.
The Croatian Parliament building is also located in the square. A short distance away is a plaque dedicated to Nikola Tesla, who was born in a small town in what eventually would become Croatia.
Now we were going downhill again. As we neared the Tower of Lotrscak, we encountered some girls dressed in the Croatian national costume selling flags and other souvenirs. I bought a flag for fun. It was May Day, which is like Labor Day in Europe. The tower dates to the 13th century and was part of the fortified walls that once surrounded the part of the city that was at the top of this hill, including Saint Mark’s Square. A cannon is fired from the top of the tower at noon daily. This was a real cannon, not a recording of one.
From the wall at the foot of the tower, we had a great view of the lower part of the city. Going down some stairs from the wall, we found restaurants below to have some lunch. Then we went on to Jelacic Square where a political rally was taking place. The square was laid out in the 17th century and was the main square of the city.
We spent the night in Zagreb and then headed back to Ljubljana the following morning. That was our last day of the tour.
Next time – the start of another 2012 trip – this time to the Baltics and Scandinavia. 2012 ended up being my last year of taking multiple trips in the same year. I changed jobs at the end of the year and the amount of vacation time I had coming to me each year also changed.
On a 2012 tour to Slovenia, Croatia & Bosnia, once we
left Dubrovnik, we drove to Bosnia. Bosnia traces its first human settlement
back to the Neolithic Age. At that time, its population was mainly Illyrian and
Celtic. Then the Slavic people populated the country from the 6th
century to the 9th century. Bosnia was finally established in the 12th
century and became the Kingdom of Bosnia in the 14th century. At
this point, it was annexed into the Ottoman Empire and became a Muslim country
with strong Turkish influences. Even after becoming part of the Kingdom of
Yugoslavia, Bosnia remained Muslim.
It’s very difficult to summarize the Bosnian War (1992 – 1995), but the way it was explained on the tour was that Serbia wanted the territory that Bosnia occupied and felt that they were entitled to take it because Bosnia was Muslim. So Serbia waged several bombing campaigns and sieges against Bosnia, seriously devastating the entire country and attempted to carry out an ethnic cleansing.
Mostly mountainous, although the country’s formal name is
Bosnia & Herzegovina, it is informally known as just plain Bosnia. The
Neretva Gorges were the first part of the country we encountered. The Neretva
is a major river running through the country.
Only a small part is on the Adriatic. It bisects Croatia, but gives Bosnia a tiny port. The rest of the country is landlocked and still had loads of landmines throughout as of 2012. There were signs all over the place warning people not to just go walking out into the countryside. There were still lots of properties that were abandoned. Not sure if the people just left for better parts and never returned or if they were killed.
The first larger settlement we encountered was Mostar in the region of Herzegovina. There were a lot of pockmarked and bombed out buildings in town. A public park had been turned into a cemetery when the city was under siege (normally cemeteries are outside of town). The year on most of the graves was 1993. This was so sad, as was the fact that so many of the people in the graves were relatively young.
We visited a Turkish house dating to the 1600s. The entrance was through a very plain, unassuming gate into a lovely courtyard. Some of the upstairs rooms were open to the elements and the courtyard. After leaving the house, we visited the Karagoz Bey Mosque – a relatively small mosque built in 1557.
The Stari Most, literally “old bridge”, also dates to 1557 (when it replaced an earlier wooden bridge). It looks like a smaller, plainer version of the Rialto Bridge in Venice. It was damaged during World War II and destroyed in the Bosnian War, but it had been fully restored by the time we saw it in 2012. People would dive from the middle. During free time, we had lunch in the area next to the bridge. I also explored a nearby bazaar.
On our way to Sarajevo (which means “palace in the park”), we saw a bridge that had been blown up in World War II and left as it was when it collapsed. We also saw several teepees made of hay. These were used by shepherds and/or farmers when they sometimes stayed overnight out in the fields.
We had a walking tour of the old town of Sarajevo, which was
founded by the Ottoman Turks in the 1400s. The old town is dominated by a very
large bazaar. I ended up getting a single-handed Turkish-style sword with a
curved blade, a horse-head pommel on the handle, and a red tassel. It currently
hangs above the built-in glassware cabinet in my dining room.
We visited the Emperor’s Mosque from the 1400s. It was the first mosque to be built in Bosnia after it was conquered by the Ottomans.
Although Muslim, Sarajevo became home to a number of Sephardic Jews who were invited to relocate there after being expelled from Spain at the end of the 15th century. They had a thriving community in the part of town near where the bazaar is located up until the Nazis overran the city during World War II and sent 85% of the the Jewish population to their deaths in concentration camps.
We also visited the place where Archduke Ferdinand and his wife were killed by a 19-year-old Bosnian Serb in 1914, beginning World War I. There were a couple attempts with bombs by some of the other conspirators while the Archduke was on his way to the City Hall to give a speech. But one bomb didn’t even go off and the other damaged the wrong car. It was on the way back from City Hall that the car containing the Archduke and his wife stopped to turn around (it was going the wrong way) when the assassin stepped onto the running board of the open car and shot them both point blank.
The hotel we were staying in had been destroyed during the Bosnian War and rebuilt. At dinner time, we visited a “han”, which is the city version of a caravanserai (a Middle Eastern roadside inn), built in the 16th century. It could accommodate 300 people and 70 horses at one time back in its day. It had a restaurant where we had our dinner.
When leaving town the next morning, we went by the Olympic Park from the 1984 Winter Olympics. Very sadly, it had been turned into a massive cemetery during the Siege of Sarajevo.
Next time –we return to Croatia to see Plitvice National Park and Croatia’s capitol city, Zagreb.
Bombed out buildings in Mostar
Cemetery in former park
Courtyard of Turkish house
Upstairs room in Turkish house
Mosque in Mostar
Inside of mosque
Stari Most Bridge
WWII rail bridge
Hay teepee
Old Town of Sarajevo
Part of the bazaar
Oldest mosque in Bosnia
Plaque marking assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Fans of “Game of Thrones” might recognize Dubrovnik as
King’s Landing, a stronghold of the Lannisters. However there are many, many
reasons for someone who has never seen “Game of Thrones” to love Dubrovnik.
Founded as Ragusa in the 7th century by Greeks, what eventually
became Dubrovnik was under Byzantine rule, Venetian rule, and Austrian Hapsburg
rule (as part of the Kingdom of Dalmatia) before Croatia became part of
Yugoslavia.
Somewhere in there, it was briefly the Kingdom of Dubrovnik.
In addition to its own city walls, it also built what was the second longest
wall in the world after the Great Wall of China as a territorial wall out in
the country. I managed a photo of that wall as we left Dubrovnik after spending
a couple of days in that beautiful, old city.
We arrived in the afternoon and checked into our hotel a short distance from the walled old town. After touring the larger city of 42,000 that comprises Dubrovnik now, we went on an optional dinner to a farm up in the mountains. Everything that was served to us was grown on the farm, including the brandy and wine. They had what was known as a “black kitchen” which was separate from the other buildings and had an open fire in the middle. The smoke would go up through the thatched roof. We ate our dinner in a 200 year old stone cellar.
Our walking tour of the old town, the next morning, began at the Pile Gate. Parts of the walls surrounding the old town date as far back as the 8th century. In the 9th century, the city survived a 15 month siege by the Saracens, which showed how well fortified they were.
The Pile Gate is really a series of gates with twists and turns. The idea is to make it not entirely easy to just walk into the city. We encountered Big Onofrio’s Fountain just inside the final part of the gate. It was built in the 15th century as an outlet for the water from the aqueduct. From there, we visited the Franciscan Monastery Museum, which included one of the oldest apothecaries in the world (in use since the 13th century). They had some pills on display that made the giant pills that we have now look almost miniscule. I didn’t see how anyone could have swallowed them.
The monastery was on the Placa, which was one of the main
streets. We took a side street (called Od Puca) to see Saint Blaise Church,
built in the 18th century. Next was Gundulic’s Square with a smaller
version of the Spanish Steps in Rome.
The Rector’s Palace was built in the Venetian style in the
13th century as the offices and residence of the Rector, who was the
ruler of Dubrovnik. We weren’t allowed to take any photos inside of the palace,
but I managed a photo of nearby Assumption Cathedral through an open window and
one of the courtyard of the palace from the walkway above. We finished up our
tour with the 15th century Bell Tower, the 15th century Orlando’s
Column, and the Old Port before having about three hours of free time.
It was a very hot day and most of the group immediately headed for food and drink. I wanted to make sure that I did a boat ride and the wall walk. So, since we were at the Old Port, just steps from the ticket office, I bought a ticket for a boat ride for a panoramic tour of the Old Town and a nearby island. Then I bought a gelato to cool me down until we could get on the boat (which had another group on it and would be back in about five minutes).
There was a nude beach on the far side of the island.
Interestingly enough, there wasn’t a single decent body in the group. They
definitely weren’t there to show off, unless they had seriously flawed images
of themselves. When I got back to the port, I didn’t see any of the group
around, so I picked a place in the harbor that had seafood and settled in for a
light lunch that had been caught in the vicinity of Dubrovnik.
It turned out that, due to the heat, most of the group had
opted to return to the square with the replica of the Spanish Steps and had
spent most of their time having a long meal and drinks while not moving around
much. There were a few others who did the wall walk for a short distance,
mostly downhill, and only one couple that did a boat ride. I was determined to
do the wall walk, so I just bought some extra bottles of water and paced
myself. I also started with the part that went uphill so I would get the worst
part over first.
There was no shade on the wall either. Fortunately I had my
archeologist hat, long-sleeved, gauze shirt and tan-colored jeans. I also
slathered extra sunblock on any part of my body that might see the sun – such as
my face, neck, ears, and the backs of my hands and fingers. Didn’t want to take
the chance on getting any nasty sunburns.
I mounted the steps up to the wall at the Old Port, paid the
fee and was on my way. All the way to the round Minceta Tower was uphill. The
views were amazing, however, so every time I stopped to catch my breath, drink
some water, etcetera, I also took some photos and marveled at the beauty of the
city. The tower was built in the 15th century at the height of the
Turkish threat. The interior provided some much needed shade (even though it
meant I had to climb even more stairs to get inside), so I lingered there for a
while, eating a couple pieces of melting chocolate and drinking a few swigs of
water before making my way back downhill toward the Pile Gate.
I went about three quarters of the way around the
circumference of the walls. The trip was about half way uphill and half
downhill. I was really glad I went uphill first. I checked my watch
periodically to make sure that I wasn’t running late and could continue to pace
myself in the heat. I had allowed plenty of time, taking in to account the need
to stop every once in a while to take in the gorgeous views and take photos in
addition to keep from passing out in the heat.
After descending at the Pile Gate and leaving the old town
of Dubrovnik, I stopped off at a place that served fresh-squeezed orange juice.
I was actually about fifteen minutes early for our rendezvous with the tour
coach, so I sat down at a picnic table in the shade and had a chat with a local
whose dog highly resembled my Miniature Schnauzer/Miniature Poodle mix at home.
The human knew English quite well. The dog acted as if he did too, but was
likely just reacting to my tone of voice. He was quite open to being petted by
a stranger speaking a different language who was a little homesick for her own
dog.
Once we reached the hotel, I stopped off at the mini market next door to buy some food for dinner. Then I took a long bubble bath (without wine as alcohol and heat don’t work that well together when a person is already on the edge of dehydration). Then I watched a movie and had dinner before turning in for the night.
Next time – we venture in to Bosnia & Herzegovina, which still had lots of war damage.
View from hotel
Black Kitchen
Dining Cellar
Big Onofrio’s Fountain seen through final part of Pile Gate
After leaving Ljubljana on a 2012 trip to Slovenia, Croatia & Bosnia, we drove along the Adriatic Coast in Croatia to get to the town of Zadar. I had been intrigued by Croatia because it was mostly along the coast and had a long history which was pretty much intact.
Although the area had been inhabited since the Paleolithic Age, the Croats themselves didn’t arrive until the 6th century. In the meantime, prior to the advent of the Croats, the area that became Croatia underwent both Greek and Roman rule. When faced with possible Ottoman conquest in the 16th century, Croatia asked Ferdinand I of Austria to come and be their king. Shortly after World War I, Croatia became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats & Slovenes. Then, after World War II, it became part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In 1991, came the Croatian War of Independence.
Founded in the 9th century BC and located in the part of Croatia known as Dalmatia, Zadar is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Croatia. At different times it had been under Roman control and then Venetian control. The traces of both can still be seen. During its Roman era, the town was fortified with walls and gates, which are still partially there. The Venetians did quite a bit of building. Several of the houses and other structures they built are still there.
Our walking tour began at the 12th century
Cathedral of Saint Anastasia. Just outside of the church some children were
using inline skates. The tour director made a comment about Rollerblade being a
US company. Their headquarters originated in Minneapolis. Although the
cathedral seemed kind of plain to me on the outside, but was quite lovely
inside.
Nearby were the remains of a large Roman Forum. Some of the columns were still standing. But some of the columns had been incorporated in the base of the 9th century church of Saint Donatus. It is a tall, circular church which is the largest pre-Romanesque church in Croatia and very simple in its design. Once upon a time it had a dome.
We came upon a house with a Venetian balcony on our way to the Sea Gate. Venetian-style balconies tend to jut out from the building and are fairly ornate. At some point, owners of this particular one had it enclosed.
We spent the night in Zadar and then left the following
morning for Split. On the way to Split, we passed a very old castle perched on
top of a rather steep mountain.
The second largest city in Croatia, Split was originally a
Greek colony in the 3rd or 2nd century BC. Roman Emperor
Diocletian built a palace there in the 4th century AD. It later became
a Byzantine city and still later a Venetian city.
Although called a palace, Diocletian’s residence is much
more of a fortress. Originally it was right next to the Adriatic. But it is now
set back a bit with a lovely beach between and a few restaurants. We began our
tour by entering through the Coppur Gate (which used to be on the sea) and
immediately went to the cellars of the palace, which were completely original.
Other parts of the palace had some changes made to it over the centuries. Some
of Game of Thrones was filmed there.
Diocletian had been a major persecutor of the early
Christians and had put many of them to death. When he died in 312 AD, he was
buried in a mausoleum in his palace in Split. We weren’t allowed to take photos
in the mausoleum, which was quite tiny. I did very much enjoy the irony that
his body was still there and that the mausoleum was turned into a church not too
terribly long after Diocletian died. So, for centuries now, Christian services
have been performed right in the presence of his body.
We exited through the Golden Gate. There was a dramatic, modern statue (1929) of Bishop Gregory of Nin (who lived in the 10th century and was quite the revolutionary) outside of the gate in a park. A tower in the northeast corner of the structure is the most intact from Diocletian’s time. Over the centuries, people moved into parts of the palace. There are still multiple apartments in existence in the walls, towers and other parts of the building.
Walking around the outside of the palace, we saw the Iron
Gate with a clock tower that I really liked. It was such a mix of original,
medieval, and several other periods. The gate is still being used. Originally
it was the military gate.
We walked to the 14th century Narodni trg Pjaca
(square), which looks very Venetian. Another nearby square, Vocini trg Pjaca,
was 16th century. In our free time, one of the Australian couples
and I wandered through the market and bought some items for lunch. Then we sat
next to the sea in a shaded area and ate lunch before we needed to get back on
the tour coach.
Next time – beautiful, medieval, walled Dubrovnik.
In spring of 2012, I took a tour to Slovenia, Croatia & Bosnia. Wence, the tour director Mom and I had back when we were on the Central Europe tour in 2008 (which ended up being her last tour) was from Croatia and talked about his country with great fondness. So, once we got home, I started researching what there was to see in Croatia. My usual tour company (Globus/Cosmos) had this trip to Slovenia, Croatia & Bosnia. It looked perfect to me, so I booked it.
One of the things that appealed to me was that, although all three countries had once been part of Yugoslavia, they were very different. Bosnia was Muslim and highly Turkish in style. Croatia was much more Mediterranean as a very large percentage of the country bordered the Adriatic. Their influences were Venetian. Slovenia, on the other hand, was mostly mountainous, with an Alpine feel – more like Austria.
The tour was to begin in Slovenia, so I needed to learn how
to pronounce the city into which I would be flying (since they always ask where
you are going when you check in at the airport). I found that Ljubljana was
pronounced along the lines of LOO-blee-aw-nah. I was quite pleased with myself
when Ljubljana, Slovenia slid easily off of my tongue. Not that it made any
difference. The person on the other side of the counter responded, “huh?” So I
still needed to show them my boarding pass so they could read the destination
from that. Oh well.
My first flight was from Minneapolis to Paris. I then had
several hours in Paris before my flight to Ljubljana. The Charles de Gaulle
Airport has numerous terminals with buses that travel between them. So a couple
of hours between flights can be very helpful to allow for going through the
European Union passport entry and getting to whatever terminal is needed for
the next flight. I think this time though I had about four hours between
flights.
There was a couple from Woodbury (a Twin Cities suburb) who
sat next to me on my flight to Paris. We had stayed together through the entry
process and on the bus to the next terminal, so we had lunch together before
going off to our separate gates to catch our next flights. After lunch, I still
had over an hour, so I read a book until boarding the plane.
On the plane, I sat next to a very nice woman from Peru. Although her destination was the same as mine, she was not going on the tour. At the airport, I met two couples from Australia who were on my tour. We were all picked up by our tour company and taken to our hotel. Mindful of the time difference, I gave Mom a call and repacked for the tour itself. I met the tour director and the rest of the group for drinks at 7pm and dinner at 7:30pm.
Slovenia has had people living there since prehistoric times. They have bounced around a lot between various ruling entities. After the Romans and some Germanic tribes (such as Huns and Lombards) the Slavics appeared in the 6th century and Charlemagne conquered them in the 9th century. It changed hands many more times with the Slovenes (some descendants of the early Slavics) eventually emerged as the main group. They joined with the Serbs and Croats to form Yugoslavia in 1918. This was short-lived and the Slovenian portion was annexed into Austria. During World War II, they bounced back and forth between Germany and Italy and ended up as a Nazi puppet state. After the war, Yugoslavia was re-established and became socialist under the Soviet Union.
The following morning, we headed out of the city to the Postojna Caves. These are natural caves, carved out by a river. When the caves were “discovered “ in the 17th century, there was graffiti found dating to 1213. We took a small train two kilometers (1.24 miles) into the caves and then walked another kilometer (0.62 miles) in. Here and there we had some pretty decent light to get a good photo. But there were a lot of people in there, so getting a good photo without other people’s heads and such was a adventure for a vertically challenged person like myself. I have to say it was quite the cave – very expansive. On the way out, I was on the correct side of the little train to get a photo of the river and some waterfalls inside of the cave.
In the city itself (which became the capitol after World War
II), the main square was called Congress Square. It was built on the ruins of a
Capuchin monastery and is used mainly for ceremonial purposes. Ljubljana Castle
overlooks the city. The promontory it sits upon has evidence of being settled
as far back as 1200BC. In fact, the marshes upon which the main part of the
town sits have signs of settlement as far back as 2000BC. The oldest wooden
wheel in the world was discovered there.
The castle was built originally in the 11th
century and has been rebuilt and refurbished several times since. Ljubljana
University (originally founded in 1810, dissolved and then re-founded in 1918)
is centered around Congress Square.
The city straddles the Ljubljanica River with the older part of the city (mainly 15th century) on one side of the river and the newer part (mostly 17th & 18th century) on the other side. The Town Hall is on the older side. It was built in 1484 with a major renovation in 1717 to 1719. Just outside of the Town Hall is a lovely fountain call the Robba Fountain, which was built in 1751. We took some time to explore inside of the Town Hall, which is now a museum.
One of the coolest bridges over the river is the Dragon
Bridge, which was built in 1819, but needed a major renovation after a severe
earthquake in 1895. The dragon is the symbol of Ljubljana. It is based on a
legend that says that Jason & the Argonauts founded the city after slaying
a dragon there.
In Preseren Square, which was laid out in the 17th century, sits a lovely Franciscan church, which was built in the 17th century and then had a Baroque façade added in the 18th century. The square was originally named for the church, but was later renamed for 19th century Slovenian poet laureate, France Preseren. A statue of him sits in the square, which acts as a gateway to the medieval part of town.
In my determination not to miss anything or have any regrets
on my 2011 fall tour to the Canadian Rockies, I not only upgraded my hotel
rooms at Chateau Lake Louise and Banff Springs Hotel to have the best views,
and took my first ever helicopter ride over the mountains at Banff, but booked
the Gold Leaf package on the Rocky Mountaineer for a two day train ridge
through the Canadian Rockies from Banff to Vancouver.
The Gold Leaf package included a special car with a glass
domed observation section upstairs and a dining room and kitchen downstairs. It
also included having ones luggage delivered to the hotel in Kamloops for the
overnight there. In Red Leaf, one would be in a regular train car where sandwiches
would be served and everyone needed to take their own hand luggage to their
hotel in Kamloops with their larger case remaining on the train. I really liked
the idea of the glass domed observation car and of getting my larger case for
the overnight, so I splurged again. I was very thankful I could afford the
splurges on this trip (there were many earlier trips when I could not) and
viewed the whole thing as a very special trip that would give me great memories
for the rest of my life. So Gold Leaf package it was.
The group from the Florida retirement community went Red
Leaf, so I didn’t see them at all for the entire train ride. There were two
other couples in my group who also went Gold Leaf and were in my same car. I
was up towards the front of the car with one of the couples a short distance
away (just a couple rows back on the other side of the car) and the other
couple further back in the car, near the stairs to the lower part, which not
only had the dining room and kitchen, but restrooms and an outdoor observation
deck.
We were given mimosas when we arrived, then the 1st
seating group went down for breakfast. I was in the 2nd seating
group, so we had some pastries and another mimosa while waiting. For both
breakfast and lunch, we had menus from which we could order what we wanted. The
food was delicious.
Our first day we traveled over the Continental Divide and
along the Kicking Horse River and Shushwap Lake. We also went through the
corkscrew tunnels with part of the train coming out one tunnel while another
part was going in another tunnel. The Gold Leaf cars were at the back of the
train, so we could see the rest of the train well ahead of us.
Due to delays along the way, we arrived at Kamloops three hours past when we should have. Because of this, we were served dinner on the train instead of at the hotel and had an open bar until we arrived in Kamloops. Once we arrived at the hotel, I found that my larger case was waiting for me in my room.
The next day we were returned to the train, where I was in the 1st seating for breakfast and lunch. We traveled through the Thompson Valley and Fraser Canyon, arriving in Vancouver around 5:00pm (which was on time). We were staying at the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel on Canada Place, just across the road from the Olympic Cauldron from the 2010 Olympics. All of the cruise ships dock at Canada Place.
There was a representative from the tour company at the hotel waiting to sign us up for day trips for the next couple of days. For the first day, I chose a trip to Vancouver Island. The entire group from Florida signed up for the same trip and filled out the coach for the first time slot, so I went on the next coach. I met a lovely couple with whom I had lunch and then some gelato later.
After taking the ferry across to the island, we went straight to Butchart Gardens where we had a couple of hours to explore the place. The gardens were absolutely gorgeous. Originally a limestone quarry used for the making of Portland Cement, once the quarry was played out, Missus Butchart turned the quarry into a sunken garden. An Italian garden, a rose garden and a Japanese garden were added over time. When the Butcharts turned the gardens over to their grandson, he added a fountain. The gardens are still run by the family.
On the way back to Victoria, we were given a general tour of
the island. Then we were dropped off at the Empress Hotel with a time and place
established to be back on the coach. I explored the hotel first. Opened in
1908, the hotel was built by the Canadian Pacific Railway. It is a very elegant
hotel in the Chateauesque style. Their afternoon tea is legendary.
I took photos of the Parliament and of the bay before
heading for Miniature World. I’m very interested in dollhouse miniatures and
gravitate to dollhouses and miniature exhibits. Miniature World had several
dollhouses (once called “baby houses”) and lots of historic scenes in
miniature. They had 85 exhibits in all from Olde London (Tudor London) to World
War II to outer space. They also had some scenes of the western US and Canada
with a miniature version of what a Native American village in the upper western
coastal area would have looked like.
I had some time before I needed to get back to the coach, so
I had an old-fashioned shake at a nearby soda shop. This fortified me until I
got back to the hotel in Vancouver and had dinner.
On my final day in Canada, I had a late flight home. So I checked my bags at the hotel when I needed to check out of the room and took off for a Hop On Hop Off trolley tour. This covered such locations as Stanley Park, False Creek, Granville Island, the Art Museum, the Library, Gastown (the original settlement), the Lions Gate Bridge, and the Olympic Stadium. There was also the hotel in which Howard Hughes lived the final years of his life.
The day I was flying back home was the 10th anniversary of 9/11. I have to admit that I was a little uncomfortable about being on a plane on that date. The security person at the airport in Vancouver rather cheerily reminded me of the date, which didn’t help. But all went well and I arrived home safely in the early hours of 9/12.
In the Gold Leaf car
View from Rocky Mountaineer
One reason why I wanted to ride in the domed observation car
While still in Jasper National Park, we started off our day
with a visit to the Athabasca Falls. This is a waterfall with a large force of
water carving out a gorge through quartzite and limestone. It was quite
beautiful. I took loads of photos and had difficulty selecting just a couple
for this post.
Entering Yoho National Park we could see the corkscrew
tunnels that the Rocky Mountaineer would go through when we rode it a couple
days later. Also in the Yoho National Park, the Kicking Horse River has three
waterfalls, one of which has carved through a rock formation, creating a
natural bridge. Once again, I had some difficulty narrowing the number of
photos to share down to just two.
The river, and our tour, continued on to Emerald Lake. It is
a gorgeous turquoise blue (caused by powdered limestone) and its high elevation
means that it is usually frozen from November to June. There was a high end
lodge on a small island in the lake, reached by a long bridge. The island
included a conference center and a cluster of buildings with shops and places
to eat. It seemed like the perfect place to have a relaxing vacation (in late
summer or early fall).
We drove to Lake Louise Village to have lunch. There was a cluster of places to eat there as well as some shops. I got a small (two glass) bottle of wine and a very small bottle of Bailey’s (a single glass) at the liquor store. I got some cheese, fruit and nuts at the grocers and some bread at the bakery. We didn’t have an included dinner that evening at the Banff Springs Hotel and I planned to stay in the room, have a bubble bath and have dinner while looking at the view from the hotel. I had splurged there too for a room with a view.
The hotel was built in 1888 in the Scottish Baronial style.
It had a large number of rooms and suites, plus restaurants and shops in the
building. It also had a golf course.
The room was at the top floor with a magnificent view of the Bow and Spray rivers and the mountains. I relaxed with a glass of wine while taking the bubble bath and ate dinner seated at a built-in window seat while watching the changes in the light as the sun set. Here too, the splurge was worth it.
The bathroom was tiny. It had a claw foot tub that I needed to climb into from the end. The toilet was next to it, so I could close the lid and use it as a side table for my glass of wine.
After breakfast, we started our day with a ride in the Banff Gondola up Sulphur Mountain. Fortunately, the gondola was an enclosed four seater. Not being a fan of heights, I don’t like open gondolas. We had great views from up at the top of the mountain.
Once we came down from Sulphur Mountain, we drove to a spot called “Surprise Corner” where we could get the postcard view of the hotel. Despite its name, Tunnel Mountain had no tunnels. But it gave us some great views of the hoodoos and of Bow River. Hoodoos are kind of needle-like rock formations.
At the Bow River, we dropped off several members of our group for them to take a float trip on the Bow River. Loving water as I do, I would normally have joined them. However, I had other plans for that same time.
The rest of us drove around in the area for a while and took some more photos. There was a clothing optional beach. We could see some topless women, but everyone we could see had something on their bottom half.
We dropped several more people off at our hotel. The remainder of us were taken into town and dropped off there. I had lunch at a restaurant specializing in home cooking which was across the street from the Banff Park Lodge Resort Hotel. I was joining another group there after lunch to take a helicopter flight over the Rockies. This was because I was the only one from my group who wanted to do it.
Back when I was a teenager in Texas, I had an opportunity to take a short helicopter ride as part of a small fair. The helicopter was a two-seater with open sides. So I chickened out. In Banff, the helicopter was five-passenger plus pilot and enclosed. We were strapped in around the waist and over our shoulders. We also wore headphones and microphones to communicate with one another and the pilot. This also wasn’t a fairground group, but the people who performed rescue operations by helicopter in the area. They knew what they were doing. For my first helicopter ride, I felt I was very much in safe hands.
We were about 8,500 feet up for a 30 minute flight. We flew
over mountains and valleys, lakes and rivers that were in areas not all that
accessible. There were no roads, so the only way in or out would have been by
hiking. We hovered right next to a glacier. I waited until we pulled back a bit
before taking a photo, as it just would have been of a lot of snow so close. I
loved it! I definitely did feel safe inside the helicopter and so delighted in
the views from up there. The ride was very smooth, not jumpy or rocky.
Once we returned to terra firma, the other group’s bus
driver dropped me off at my hotel before taking the rest of their group back to
theirs. They were a very nice group of people who welcomed me with open arms. I
enjoyed spending time with them.
That night our group had a farewell dinner in the
Conservatory at the hotel. Not everyone in the group was going on the two-day
Rocky Mountaineer trip to Vancouver. It was mainly the group from the Florida
retirement community and just two more couples in addition to me. The others
were all heading back to Calgary the next day to catch flights to their homes.
While having dinner, we had a young deer venture over close to the building to eat some of the vegetation just outside the Conservatory. We were all careful to be quiet and not move too quickly so he/she wouldn’t be spooked.
Next time – the Rocky Mountaineer, Vancouver and Vancouver Island.
Athabasca Falls
The gorge of Athabasca Falls
Kicking Horse River
Natural Bridge at Kicking Horse River
Emerald Lake
Bridge to Emerald Lake Lodge
Banff Springs Hotel
Banff Springs Hotel side entrance
Lobby of Banff Springs Hotel
View from hotel room at Banff Springs Hotel
Banff gondola up Sulphur Mountain
View from Sulphur Mountain
View of Banff Springs Hotel from “Surprise Corner”
Although a large number of my trips involve visiting other
civilizations to explore their history, culture, art, etcetera, I do take
purely scenic trips upon occasion too. In the fall of 2011, I took one of those
trips to the Canadian Rockies. This particular tour appealed to me not only
because of all of the gorgeous scenery and wildlife, but because I would also
be able to experience some river rafting, a helicopter ride over the mountains,
riding on an ice explorer over a glacier, and a scenic train trip on the Rocky
Mountaineer. Then there were the overnight stays at Chateau Lake Louise, the
Jasper Park Lodge and the Banff Springs Hotel. It all seemed like a
once-in-a-lifetime experience to me.
My experience started early with my alarm clock going off at
2:30am for me to get up to get to the airport on time for my flight to Toronto.
For some reason, from Minneapolis, I had to fly east to Toronto and then catch
a flight west to Calgary (in Alberta). I arrived in Calgary by lunchtime and
went out to explore the area around the hotel, which was downtown.
That evening, we had a meet-and-greet with wine and cheese.
There were 34 people on the trip other than me, mostly from the US (which is
not the usual when I’m on a tour). They were all couples except for four women
who were traveling together. There was a group of 16 who were traveling
together from a retirement community in Florida. They and the four women
weren’t too interested in mixing with others, but I had 14 others who were. As
usual, I met some very nice people.
We just stayed the one night in Calgary. Before leaving town
the next day, we did a short tour of the city, including the Saddle Dome, the
Calgary Stampede grounds, and the 1988 Winter Olympic site just out of town.
Then we headed off towards Lake Louise, where we had lunch.
One of the cool things that I noticed as soon as we were out
in the area of the Rockies was the number of land bridges that existed for the
animals to be able to get safely across the highway. They were nice and wide
with grass, trees and other vegetation planted on the top and tunnels for the
highway traffic underneath. Although I’m sure there are other places in the
world that have them, they were the first that I had ever seen.
After lunch at the Chateau Lake Louise, we hopped back onto
the tour coach to visit Moraine Lake. There were some large piles of rocks
which afforded some lovely views when climbed. There were also signs saying
that people needed to be in groups of four or more by law due to grizzly bears.
Our Tour Director, Tyler, made a few jokes about people on bicycles being
“meals on wheels” and on a motorcycle “fast food” and such. I figured he was
just trying to make certain we understood how dangerous it was to go off on
one’s own.
At dinner, back at Chateau Lake Louise, instead of having us all in a group together in one room, we were disbursed throughout the seven hotel restaurants with varying dining times. We could sign up for the style of restaurant and the time we wanted to dine, giving 1st and 2nd choices. Then Tyler grouped people together accordingly. I was paired with a couple from South Carolina and another from Florida (but not part of the big group from the retirement community). They were all quite nice and dinner was enjoyable.
I had splurged a bit by paying a little extra for a room facing the lake. We were only going to be there one night and I just didn’t want to be facing the road. I was in the oldest wing that was built in 1913. The room was elegant with dark wood, a chandelier and a very fancy bathroom. The bed was comfy, but I woke up early so I could see what the sunrise looked like. This was why I had paid the extra money, so I was not going to miss it. The view was gorgeous! I have included a photo here.
On our way to Peyto Lake, we passed by Bow Lake. Both lakes
are glacial fed (as are Moraine Lake and Lake Louise) and line the Icefields
Parkway. Peyto Lake is a beautiful turquoise blue and is down in a valley, so
we viewed it from above. After passing the North Saskatchewan River, while going
through the area known as the Great Bend, we saw Battleship Mountain (which
indeed looked like a battleship) and Bridal Veil Falls.
At the Columbia Ice Field, we boarded an Ice Explorer to drive out onto the glacier itself. The vehicle had enormous tires and quite a long ladder to climb to get inside. Once on the glacier, we were taken to an area that was roped off as being safe for us to get out of the vehicle and walk around a bit. That part of the glacier was as thick as the Eiffel Tower is tall. Most of the trip I was in summer clothing, but here I was bundle up for winter. The ice dome was a triple continental divide.
We had lunch in the town of Jasper and did some exploring
while the luggage was dropped off at the Jasper Park Lodge. For dinner that
night, I opted for something a little less formal, but still a fairly early
seating. Apparently the couple from South Carolina felt the same. We ended up
dining together again. Lydia had fallen on the way to the dining room. Her
husband wanted to walk back, so I rode with her on one of the little carts used
to ferry guests around in order to help her to her room.
My room was a short distance from theirs and up one level. I climbed the stairs near Fred and Lydia’s room and walked around to my own on the deck. I heard a rustling below and looked over the railing to see a female elk looking back at me. A young elk was nearby. Then I saw a large male. I backed up quietly and slowly to go into my room to get my cameras (I didn’t have a camera on my phone yet). I was glad I had come up a different staircase as I would have encountered the elks directly to get to the one closest to my room.
I came out with both cameras and took some video first. Some
people walked by not quite far enough away and the male elk bucked and bellowed.
I was tickled to have it on video. By the time I got around to the other
camera, it was starting to get a little dark. The one photo in which I managed
to get all three of the elk family, was slightly fuzzy.
The next morning, we passed Medicine Lake on our way to Maligne Lake. There we took a short cruise to Spirit Island. The views from Spirit Island were breathtaking. Medicine Lake is not really a lake, but part of a river that backs up and suddenly goes underground and disappears (coming out in a canyon about nine miles away), depending upon the time of the year. So, sometimes it’s a lake and sometimes it’s a river. It was transitioning from lake to river when we saw it.
We had lunch at the lodge at Maligne Lake before continuing on to the Athabasca River. On the way, we saw a couple of grizzly bears, which I managed to film. At the Athabasca River, we went river rafting. We saw a black bear from the raft shortly after we began the ride when we weren’t going very fast.
I loved the rafting trip. It was wild enough to be fun without being terrifying. I got soaked. Being that it was a hot day, it felt great. We had ropes to hold onto so we wouldn’t be tossed from the raft. We also were wearing life jackets.
On the way back to the Jasper Park Lodge, we encountered the
same male elk that had been by my room the night before. I knew it was him
because he had some barbed wire caught in his rack. We found out the next
morning that the park rangers tranquilized him to free him from the barbed
wire.
Next time – Banff and a helicopter ride over the Rockies.
The Movie Star Homes Tour began in the Hollywood Hills and included such places as the Magic Castle (a private club for magicians), Bela Lugosi’s house (which had gargoyles), Orlando Bloom’s house, the Hollywood sign, and the Griffith Observatory. Laurence Fishburne had a sign out front saying that security is provided by the Matrix Security Team. James Dean’s former home had a lot of glass block and was very modern. Steven Spielberg’s house was at the top of one of the hills and somewhat resembled a series of flying saucers with circles stacked upon circles.
The house from the original version of Nightmare on Elm
Street was on a street lined with established, large trees. The person running
the tour felt that the street looked spooky. Where I live, streets like that
are commonplace and a street without a tree canopy over it looks odd. I guess
it’s all about perspective.
Then we drove along Sunset Boulevard to see Chateau Marmont,
the back of Johnny Depp’s house (screened by bamboo trees), the Viper Room
(once owned by Johnny Depp) and the Whiskey a Go-Go. We went to Beverly Hills
where the first house we saw had been Marilyn Monroe’s when she was married to
Joe Di Maggio. We saw houses that either were owned or had once been owned by
various stars such as Dr Phil, Nicholas Cage, Tom Cruise, Tom Selleck, Paul
Newman, Ozzy Osborne, Frank Sinatra, David Beckham, and Mariah Carey. Some
houses we could actually see, but some we could only see the gate.
The house where Michael Jackson died was pointed out to us as were the houses used for the TV series “The Beverly Hillbillies” and “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air”. I especially liked Tom Selleck’s house, which was large, but not at all pretentious. I also thought “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air” house was not only fun to see, but quite beautiful too with loads of shrubs of large white flowers (which I think were roses) just outside of the gates.
Then we went to Rodeo Drive and passed the Beverly Hills Hotel (which my mom and I had been to before for dinner with Janice and her mom and her mom’s husband, Raoul). The tour then looped back to Hollywood, pointing out some older apartment buildings and homes there before stopping at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. The fella conducting the tour gave us the spiel about it being the most haunted building in Hollywood along with reports of the various hauntings and then he offered to let us off there. We said, “Sure.” Some of the others on the tour got off there too.
We all went inside of the building, but only Janice, Lily,
and I got on the elevator and went upstairs to drop off a few items before
going to dinner down the street at the Pig ‘n Whistle. We returned to the hotel
for dessert and drinks before Janice and Lily headed home. Janice was going to
pick me up the next day late in the afternoon. We all enjoyed the tour (which
had a relatively small group of twelve in an open-topped vehicle) – especially
the stories told by its leader.
At breakfast on Sunday, which I ate at the diner downstairs in the hotel, I found myself sitting next to three guys who were “taking a meeting”. The one fella represented a woman who was a model and was dating a football (soccer) player (who was better known than she was) and wanted to engage the other two guys to market the woman for the fitness business.
All three men sounded so overblown and phony, but I guess that’s just the way it all works. It was fascinating to listen to them and sometimes difficult to keep a straight face. I’m not an aficionado of corporate-speak, so the even more extreme version – Hollywood-speak – was especially amusing to me. But I just pretended to not hear anything they said while eating my eggs, bacon, hash browns and toast with fresh-squeezed orange juice. Mom had said that Janice’s grandfather used to make deals at that hotel, so it seemed appropriate.
After breakfast, I walked down to the Hollywood Wax Museum. At the entrance were Marilyn Monroe and the Wizard of Oz cast – the Scarecrow, Dorothy and Toto, Lion, Tin Man, and the Wicked Witch of the West. The place was quite packed with loads of wax figures from throughout the film spectrum, both classic films and modern hits. The actors and actresses were portrayed mainly in particular film roles with some (like Johnny Depp) in more than one display. It was fun to see, but I have to admit that the wax figures were not, for the most part, as well done as those at Madame Tussaud’s, which was where I went next.
Madame Tussaud’s wax sculpting isn’t always perfect either, but there were some that were uncanny. It took me a moment to realize that the Steven Spielberg figure was wax. He really looked like the actual person. The Hollywood Wax Museum mostly had its figures in displays for you to look at, while Madame Tussaud’s had them here and there where people could walk among them and get their picture taken with them. You could sit next to Tom Hanks as Forest Gump on his bus stop bench or sit down next to Will Smith in a party setting.
Paul Newman and Robert Redford were dressed as Butch Cassidy
and the Sundance Kid. Paul Newman looked quite realistic, but the person who
fashioned Robert Redford did not seem to be quite as talented. One of the
things I liked was to be able to see a person’s size compared to my own. Who is
tall? Who is tiny? I was careful not to bump into anybody.
Since I am a fan of action movies, I enjoyed a room with Daniel Craig, Bruce Willis, and Robert Downey Jr. (among others). The first two Ironman movies had already come out by then so he was represented as both Tony Stark and Ironman, but they didn’t have any of the other Avenger actors as of yet.
Just outside of the museum entrance was a very good Marilyn Monroe look-alike. She can be seen in the photo taken of the entrance.
Janice picked me up at the hotel as planned and we went to the Hollywood Forever cemetery to visit her mother’s grave. Margaret is buried next to Don Adams (of “Get Smart” fame). She always enjoyed a good laugh, so I figured he was keeping her entertained. There is a bench on her grave from which one can view a lovely lake. She’s also not too far from Tyrone Power, who was a favorite of hers. We also checked out other nearby graves of Marion Davies, Johnny Ramone, Jayne Mansfield, Cecil B. Demille, and a memorial to Hattie McDaniel right next to the lake.
We fed a few ducks and geese with some bread and then went to the main mausoleum to say “hi” to Rudolf Valentino (who always has fresh lipstick prints on his marker, despite being wiped off daily) and so I could see where Margaret’s funeral took place. Margaret’s parents are both in one of the mausoleums.
While passing through Beverly Hills on our way to UCLA, we drove by the ‘Witch House’. It really did look like a house where a fairytale witch would live. At UCLA, we picked up Lily from a weekly group that she went to at the school. We joined one of Lily’s friends and her mother and went to a very nice Japanese restaurant for dinner. Both the tempura and sushi items we had were delicious.
The following day was Monday and my final day in Hollywood. I slept in a bit, then had breakfast, checked out of the hotel, locked my luggage up in a room at the front desk and went on the Double-Decker Fun Bus Tour that left from in front of the Kodak Theatre. The Fun Tour covered Hollywood and West Hollywood. It was a sight-seeing tour with a lot of humor.
The tour leader singled me out, asking whether or not I was
married. I said I wasn’t, so he pointed out a place where I could get a hot pink
wig, and Frederick’s of Hollywood, where I could get a “really sexy” outfit and
I would be “married in no time”.
We covered Hollywood Boulevard and then went to where several film studios – Sunset Gower, Sunset Bronson, Raleigh Studios, and Paramount Studios – were located. We also passed the rundown apartment building where Judy Garland, her mom and sisters lived when they first arrived in Hollywood and she was part of the Gumm Sisters (her real name was Frances Gumm).
Pinks, the popular hotdog place at the time, had a long line along the sidewalk outside to get in. We went by the super expensive antique shops on Third. An item that might be $60 on Melrose Avenue could be $200 on Third. Third was also where the hotel that Mom and I used to stay in some of the times we went out to visit Margaret was located. We passed the building and the hotel appeared to be closed.
We went along Sunset Boulevard again. In addition to Whiskey
a Go-Go and the Viper Room, our tour guide also pointed out the House of Blues
and the Saddle Ranch Chop House. All along the way, he continued to make pithy
comments and flirt with me.
There were two locations of Mel’s Diner. The one on Sunset Boulevard was featured in the movie American Graffiti. The other one was next door to the Hollywood Museum on Highland, just off of Hollywood Boulevard. We were shown the one on Sunset on the tour. When the tour ended (same place it began), the tour guide actually asked me out. I said “thanks” but was leaving town that afternoon.
Since I was at the intersection of Hollywood and Highland, I walked the short distance to that Mel’s Diner. Once I was seated, I could see an autographed photo of Leonardo Dicaprio on the wall of the small booth I was in. The server saw me looking at it and asked me if I was a fan. “Definitely”, I responded and then she told me I was sitting in his favorite booth. I asked if that meant I would need to move if he came in and she said that most likely, he would just join me. I came close to suggesting she give him a call.
After lunch, I collected my cases and sat out in the
comfortable sitting area behind the hotel, which is actually the main entrance,
until the airport shuttle arrived.
Next time – a memorable trip to the Canadian Rockies.
Bela Lugosi’s house
James Dean’s house
Nightmare on Elm Street house
Steven Spielberg’s house
Chateau Marmont
Whiskey a Go-Go
“Fresh Prince of Bel Air” house
Along Rodeo Drive
Hollywood Wax Museum
The Wizard of Oz at Hollywood Wax Museum
Madame Tussauds entrance
Steven Spielberg wax figure
Daniel Craig with Robert Downey Jr and Bruce Willis in the background
View from Margaret’s grave
Rudolf Valentino’s marker
Witch House
Hollywood sign
Paramount Studios
Mel’s Diner on Highland
Interior view from Leonardo Dicaprio’s favorite booth
A first cousin of my mom’s lived out in the Los Angeles area. So Mom and I visited her every once in a while. While there, we would sometimes do some touristy things like visiting Universal Studios, going to Disneyland, running out to Santa Monica or Malibu, spending some time in Hollywood or Downtown LA, and visiting both the original Getty Museum and the newer one. When Margaret passed away, Mom could no longer travel and I decided not to go out for the funeral, but to visit at another time when I could actually spend some time with Margaret’s daughter, Janice, and her daughter, Lily.
After my trip to Turkey, I had enough miles to fly out to LA for free. I also found a wonderful deal at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, which was just across the street from Grauman’s Chinese Theater. I flew out for a long weekend so I could do more touristy things when Janice and Lily weren’t available (such as when Janice was at work). She offered me the use of Margaret’s condo, which she had not yet sold, but I figured the hotel would really be better since I wouldn’t need to rent a car and drive anywhere and could just run across the street to the theater to catch various tours. I could also see loads of tourist places along Hollywood Boulevard.
I flew out on a Thursday and took a shuttle from the airport to the hotel, where I had lunch at the diner in the hotel. The diner was a throwback to the diners in the 1950s both in style and menu items. Mom and I had eaten there once before, so I already knew what I wanted – the grilled cheese sandwich and chocolate malt. The sandwich had five types of cheese on Texas toast (so was huge) and the malt was created by hand and served with the remainder of the drink in the metal shaker. I would not be going away hungry.
The hotel room was actually a Junior King Suite on the 12th
floor of the hotel, facing Hollywood Boulevard and the Hollywood Hills. That
was the great deal. I was able to get this Junior King Suite for less money
than a regular room usually cost. I think it might have been because Cannes was
going on at the time, so a good share of the Hollywood community was out of
town in the south of France instead of making deals or staying at the hotel.
Instead of two rooms, this was one large room with the bed at one end and a
sofa, chairs, a desk, fridge, and large TV at the other end.
The hotel was built in the 1920s and was the site of the original Academy Awards ceremony. It was also the site where Shirley Temple learned her special tap dance on the steps. It is considered to be the most haunted building in Hollywood with the most haunted floor being the 9th. I was offered my choice between a room on the 9th floor and the 12th. Not wishing to share my room with any ghosts, I chose the 12th floor. Although Suite 1200 is haunted, that was not the room I was given.
After lunch, I checked out the stars on the sidewalk in front of the hotel. Then I went across the street to the Chinese Theater to explore the hand prints and footprints and take a tour of the inside of the theater. The interior was mainly red, gold and black. There was a film being shown at the time. So, although we could briefly look inside of the theater itself, we couldn’t take photos. We could spend time in the lobby, the ladies room (which was very, very fancy and large), a party room, and some other rooms, including a special VIP room for celebrities to see the film without intermingling with the regular audience.
The theater was built in the 1920s as a movie palace. The Academy Awards were held there three times. The two lions that sat out front of the main entrance were original Ming Dynasty. There are several stories regarding how the idea came about for the footprints and hand prints in the forecourt. However it began, it is fun to explore.
Before I left the forecourt of the theater, I booked the Warner Brothers VIP tour for the next day at the booth there. It would be leaving from the theater. After that I continued down that side of the street as far as Cherokee, checking out what was then known as the Kodak Theatre along the way. The columns on each side of the stairs from the street up to the theatre listed all of the “Best Picture” winners. This theatre was built in 2001 for live performances and to host the Academy Awards.
On the other side of Hollywood Boulevard were lots of souvenir shops, a Disney shop, the Egyptian Theater, the El Capitan Theater, a few pubs, a McDonalds, and a small grocers where I could buy a few things to keep in the hotel for snacks or meals when I didn’t want to go out. That night I had dinner with Janice and Lily in the hotel’s main dining room. The room was very “old Hollywood” traditional in feel with lots of dark leather seating. The food was fairly traditional too.
The Warner Brothers tour the next day was quite fun. We saw several exterior sets from TV shows “ER”, “The Waltons”, “Growing Pains”, and “Harry’s Law” which starred Kathy Bates. We also saw interiors from “Friends” (Central Perk) and “Harry’s Law” (the courtroom). Leonardo DiCaprio had just finished the J. Edgar movie, so we could still see some of the exterior sets and the soundstage for interiors.
The museum had loads of props and costumes from “Chuck”, “The Mentalist”, The Matrix, the Batman movies, Inception, The Departed, and the Harry Potter movies. They also had older costumes belonging to John Wayne, Humphrey Bogart, and Clint Eastwood, plus newer costumes that had been worn by Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Christian Bale, and Leonardo DiCaprio. In the car section, they had cars from “Chuck”, “Get Smart”, The Matrix, Gran Torino, Austin Powers, Batman, and the flying car from Harry Potter.
Janice and Lily thought it would be fun to do the tour of
the Movie Star Homes together. None of us had ever done it before. So I booked
it for 3pm on Saturday.
The first thing I did on Saturday was to take the subway (underground) to Hollywood & Vine. Janice’s grandfather had owned a large nightclub called the Florentine Gardens from roughly 1938 to 1948 not far from that famous intersection. The club featured such performers as the Mills Brothers, Ozzy Nelson’s Orchestra, and Sophie Tucker. Yvonne DeCarlo (who later played Lily Munster on TV) was once a chorus girl there and Marilyn Monroe married her first husband there when she was still Norma Jean Baker. Various gangsters, including Bugsy Siegel, spent time there as well. It is still a nightclub and still called the Florentine Gardens. So I decided to go and take a photo. The subway station at Hollywood and Vine was pretty interesting too.
When I got back to the Hollywood and Highland neighborhood,
I visited the Hollywood Museum. They had loads of costumes and props from both
old and new movies and television series. I especially enjoyed seeing items
belonging to Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe, Tyrone Power, Bob Hope, Mae West,
Jean Harlow, Cary Grant, Shirley Temple, The Social Network, “The Sopranos”, “Lost”,
“Star Trek”, Leonardo Dicaprio, Bruce Willis, Mark Wahlberg, Star Wars, Planet
of the Apes (the first one and the remake), Dream Girls, items from the old
horror movies, and items from the Indiana Jones movies. They also had an actual
Oscar, Golden Globe, Emmy, Grammy, Tony and Writer’s Guild award. Hannibal
Lector’s cell from Silence of the Lambs was there too. Several floors were
jammed full of stuff and it was all well worth seeing.
On the way back to the hotel, I grabbed some lunch and took some time to write in my journal and relax before meeting up with Janice and Lily to go on the Movie Stars tour.
Next time – the Movie Stars Tour, overhearing a couple people “taking a meeting” at breakfast the next day, exploring the Hollywood Wax Museum, Madame Tussaud’s, and the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, visiting UCLA, dinner at a Japanese restaurant, the Double-Decker Hollywood Fun Tour, and lunch at Mel’s Dinner.
Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel
Hotel lobby
Stairs where Shirley Temple learned her special tap dance
View of hotel from room
View of Hollywood Boulevard & Hollywood Hills from hotel room
