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We spent our first day in Los Angeles at Universal Studios, Hollywood. As we arrived we got the opportunity to gain a queue jump to the studio tour for our whole group, we decided to keep that for later and set off to do the big rides first. The first ride we did was the Simpsons Ride, which was a simulator ride, next was a The Mummy rollercoaster, then we decided to do the Jurassic Park log flume and got suitably soaked, luckily we were in California, so it was hot and sunny, so we dried off quick enough. Next was the Transformers 3D ride. They were all really fun. After lunch, we then did the studio tour, we were driven around the studios and we got to see the stages where programmes like The Voice were filmed, the best bit was in the back lot, where we saw the outside sets, we saw the street from the film Bruce Almighty, the square by the City Hall from Back to the Future, the Metropolitan New York set, the Bates Motel from Psycho, the Wild West set, the European styled set, and of course the Desperate Housewives set, it was very surreal driving down Wisteria Lane. All the sets looked so real, it was strange as they weren't. On the tour, we also went in a 360O 3D King Kong simulator, saw the cars from Fast and the Furious on fire, we sat in the San Francisco subway during an earthquake, and we also saw the shark from Jaws attack. After the studio tour, we went to see a short Shrek show, before leaving Universal Studios and heading back to our hostel, via the Hollywood Walk of Fame and some of the souvenir shops. To finish off the day in the night, three of the girls and I went to a few bars in Hollywood.
On Monday morning, we said goodbye to Aimee who was going to Disneyland with her friends who were flying in from the UK that day, it was very sad as she had been my roommate for over 3 months. With a group from the hostel, that morning we went on a tour of Beverly Hills with an eccentric guide. He showed us some of the most expensive houses in the USA, including the former house of Elvis Presley, Miley Cyrus' house, the house that Michael Jackson was renting when he passed away, the former home of Walt Disney, Julia Robert's house and the Playboy Mansion. It was hard to see the full house as all these properties are hidden behind masses of fences and trees, but it was amazing to see how the other half live. The next stop that day was Rodeo Drive, we wandered down the famous, very expensive street of Beverly Hills, the shops were incredible, and we had a quick look in a few but made sure we left before the embarrassing moment when the shop assistant asks us if we want to buy anything! We returned back to Hollywood and headed towards the Griffith Park Observatory where we would get the best view of the Hollywood sign. As I had planned much of what we did in California from my Lonely Planet travel guide, I trusted my book and led everyone to the Observatory, little did I know that it was in fact at the top of a hill (I guess we should have guessed as it did say a spectacular view of the city as well), so we hiked up the hill, in our flip flops, to the top. We made it eventually for sunset and had the most amazing view of the whole of Los Angeles as well as the Hollywood sign, so the unexpected hike was definitely worthwhile. We hiked back down and returned to the hostel somewhat exhausted. In the evening we went to see the Chinese Theater and the rest of the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
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