One my favorites lines from one of my favorite movies is “Welcome to Hollywood, whats’ your dream?” “Everybody that comes to Hollywood has a dream!”  Well my Hollywood dreams are not big as actors and actresses who hope to become movie stars, but rather more low key and more like seeing, exploring and tasting!

That’s exactly what we did this past Valentines weekend!  Going away on V-day weekend was not planned it just sort of happened, thanks to having Monday, President’s Day off.  Once in a while little getaway is what we all really need!

We started of really early Saturday morning really early – we drove all over downtown LA.

Entrance to China Town in Los Angeles, CA

This is the most popular flower I saw in all the places we visited.

The Corner –  Hollywood Cafe

This was our first stop for breakfast – we fell in love with this place, because it was the most decent place we found after driving for 2 hours.  It was right off the Santa Monica Blvd, going north to Hollywood.  The place was packed on Saturday morning on Valentine’s Day!

Breakfast Menu

Skim Milk Latte & Cappuccino

Brioche French Stack 
Brioche layered with Ricotta Cream, Berry Compote, and topped with Almond Granola

Mediterranean Omelet
Kalamata Olives, Roasted Tomatoes, Onions, Mozzarella, Feta 

Hollywood Hills
After breakfast we drove up north and walked up to the Hollywood sign.  This the view from the top! We walked the trail for 2 hours – by the time we got down we were exhausted!  We made it up the sign though!

Beverly Hills

Lorina

Afternoon cool off – this was our favorite cool off drink – we tried to bring back 2 bottles to New York for our friends. Unfortunately at the airport they told us we can not take any liquids pass through security.  I winded up gulping down 2 bottles – I was not going to let them throw them away!!!! Pink lemonade was to delicious! Must find this in NYC!

Santa Monica
I fell in love with Santa Monica – out of all the places we visited – this was one place I felt at home! It really was beautiful, clean and just refreshing.

Camera display in the Anthropologie store in Santa Monica
we though it was a pretty cool display 

Monsoon Cafe

We spent the rest of our afternoon and evening in Santa Monica, walking and shopping on its famous main street.  For dinner, we decided to have some Sushi – we are in California right, sushi should be awesome here! At least I think so!!

fyi: pictures are bit black - camera was bad with flash and without flash.
fyi 2: you might think this is a lot of food for two people – after our big breakfast we did not have lunch!

Dinner Menu

Authentic Green Tea

Shrimp Ginger Soup

Fried Calamari

Bangkok Yellow Curry with Vegetables & Noodles

Giant California & Spicy Tuna Roll

Dessert – Angelato Cafe

Over 100 Flavors – Ice Cream was Really really good! Even when the weather dropped to 50 degrees.

Our favorite flavor was the Vanilla Black Currant

Day 1 – Went pretty well after all – the weather cooperated and we got some sun!  Los Angeles is known for its sun but we only got a glimpse of it! 

What I really loved were the homes and how many of the streets resembled Istanbul.  I’ve seen most of Istanbul and I was astonished how the housings and the hills resembled each other.  Especially the homes and one lane blocks we saw driving up towards the Hollywood Sign!