Star Maps

In the afternoon, we drove to Beverly Hills to mingle with the stars and super-rich and to follow in the footsteps of Angelika's favorite show, "Beverly Hills 90210.

As is common in the USA, the names of the residents are not displayed on the mailbox or at the entrance of the house, and yet so many tourists want to know where Snoop Dogg lives and where Christina Aguilera lives! Where is Tom Cruise's estate and where is Zsa Zsa Gabor's?

These questions help answer the "Star Maps," city maps with partially elaborate aerial photographs that precisely indicate who lives or has lived where. They are sold at fantasy prices by somewhat shabby-looking characters on street corners. The lady we stopped at wanted a straight $25 for a map with aerial photos, but we opted for the cheaper version without pictures for $10.75.

Armed with that, we cruised around Beverly Hills for an hour and found the house of the singer Babyface and his dog, which was lying in the sun on a balcony.

Many houses in Beverly Hills have these semicircular driveways, where on average three luxury limousines are parked, mainly the bulky bigwig cars from Sindelfingen. If you're spending more than $100K on a car, you might also want to hire a taste consultant to steer you away from the ugly S-Class clunkers. But hey, it's a free country.