Getty Villa

Some impressions from the Getty Villa without comments.

Sunset at The Strand, Manhattan Beach

My beach cruiser :-)

Nice place to live..

Malibu Half Marathon

Probably my first half-marathon race outside a city, so beautiful to follow the Pacific Coast Highway into the sunrise...

A collection of pictures taken with the iPhone from race day:

Meeting time was about 5 in the morning :-(

It was rather chilly before the sun climbed over the hills.

 Waiting for the start, one of the runners even performed the U.S. national anthem over p.a.-system.

 Transport from the parking lot at the finish at Zuma beach to the start area was by these yellow busses.

Part of the runners switched to a stand-up-paddle board half-way, this is called Supathlon, they had to paddle 6 miles, crazy.

Welcome back to Malibu.

This was the reward...looks great on me :-)

Long Beach

Long Beach is one of the world's largest industrial harbors, but has some nice sights as well. Around Rainbow Harbor is a very nice walk and lots of good-looking ships..

I forgot how this area is called, right next to Rainbow Harbor.... 

  

 ...I liked it, though :-)

Long Beach Metro station.

You have to follow a couple of rules if you are in Long Beach..cruising is better done somewhere else :-)

Hollywood

Actually this famous Hollywood neighborhood is rather not really exciting. Anyway, now this point in my 1000-places-to-see-before you-die-list is checked off. Here the proof: the Hollywood sign, small in the back of the picture...

 Like on the Ramblas in Barcelona or the Times Square in NYC or even Checkpoint Charly in Berlin  here lots of folks in strange dresses hopes for a tip. Naturally here everyone is from a movie.. 

Walk of Fame stars for kilometers on the ground.. 

 ..and I like the palm trees here.

One day every year the who-is-who of the movie business walks in through this gate..

..and up these steps in order to get an Oscar or none.

This used to be the Oscar place in the past: Graumann's Chinese Theater.

Place I liked most here: the mall :-)

Eventually this masterpiece of the American cuisine was destroyed and eaten by me to celebrate my visit.  

Queen Mary

There she is, the good old lady. The RMS Queen Mary is maybe the most interesting point of Long Island, actually I don't know many other, though.

 Maybe modern cruise ships are bigger or faster or more high-tech, but nothing compares to the glamour of this old ship. 

 Nowadays it serves as a museum and a hotel. The hallways are incredibly long, I guess it's difficult to find a specific room here. Unfortunately there wasn't any door open, I don't know how it looks inside a cabin.

Communication central. Some guy was actually using the devices there, maybe doing some maintenance work..

 Nice view of Long Beach from a deck chair.

 They filmed a casting for American Idol there, strange choice of a location for a teenager show..

 Captain's living room, seen through a glass wall. 

 The famous dining room for first class passengers.

Long Beach lifestyle...would buy a jet ski, too, if I was living there.

Malibu

Malibu is where the low hills hit the beautiful beaches, the houses have either beach access or a perfect view.

In November beaches are empty, besides the occasional movie set surrounded by equipment trucks and catering vehicles.  For a city guy it is such a strange sensation to wander along those perfect beaches for several miles, only meeting two or three other humans during two or three hours...

Destination of this beach walk was the famous Paradise Cove Beach Cafe...

...where I had this delicious Iced Seafood Sampler, the perfect meal for this location...

Outside, no surprise, there was another photo or film shooting under way...nice view, though ;-)

Back to "Downtown" Malibu, between the famous (they say so) Malibu Inn, where I had to pick up my number for the half marathon,...

..and the Malibu Pier, which claims to be famous, too.

Indeed famous is this surf spot next to the pier, where some of the most iconic surf heros spent part of their lifetime, like "Da Cat" Miki Dora.