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Sunday 30th November
well, i've made it to LA, first impressions - very tacky! My Hostel is just off Hollywood Blvd, and today i have Santa Monica and Sunset Blvd, and they are all the same, like the bottom end of oxford street mum - a bit pool market!
Back to last few days, Thursday evening Lucy, Esther and I went out for Pizza and dessert, i had sticky date pudding which i wasn't sure about but glad i went for it, it was a toss up between that and a cheesecake, had 12inch ham and mushroom pizza, whole thing came to less than 10 quid, would be loads more at home. Friday Lucy and I did the Day in the Bay boat trip, the weather wasn't that great, lots of heavy showers, but so glad i did it, saw so many dolphins, i got a really good photo of 2 of them jumping which everyone wanted a copy off! more luck than judgement as it was really hard to catch them mid air. Had an early night friday after packing my bag properly, quite a depressing event! Saturday my Bus left for Auckland at 7.30, got in 11.30, was actually a really nice day so the city didn't look that bad, had an ice-cream while waiting for the airport bus, couldn't really look around as had my bags with me. Spent 7 hours at the airport in total which was fun, it's not actually very big, slept for about an hour. Biggest plane yet, a proper 747, didn't get a window seat this time, was right in the middle but it was okay, i actually managed to sleep a fair bit. Tea was a beef and mushroom thing, breakfast pancakes! Plane landed at 10.15am US time, on Saturday morning, in my head it was 7am Sunday morning! I can't get my head around how i started 11 hours ahead of you and am now 8 hours behind - bizzare!
Getting through customs was so easy compared to everywhere else, i though they'd be the worse. Stepping out of the airport was a shock - so much noise and traffic, not used to it at all! Got to the Hostel fine, bus and metro, which they reimbursed! Hostel is nice, was a bit concerned after my 5 star luxury of last week, but it is fine, free pancakes for breakfast, well free mixture, you need to make them yourself. Went for a wonder down hollywood Bld, looking at all the stars in the street, saw the chinese theatre which has a huge shopping centre built behind it, so looked around there a bit, i wondered what everyone was looking at then realised you can see the hollywood sign in the background!
Got back to the hostel about 5pm, made the mistake of lying down and nearly fell asleep, didn't want to as would have been up in the middle of the night, so had a shower and read my book. Managed to stay up until 10, fell straight asleep, didn't wake until 10 past 9 this morning - couldn't beleive it, the longest sleep i've had since leaving home, must have needed it.
Wanted to do the red bus tour today but couldn't as the roads were closed for the Santa Parade at 5pm. There were people sitting on the street waiting for it at 10am this morning! Saw a notice that on Sunday's there is a farmers market down the road, so ventured down there, about 50 fruit and veg stalls, all offering free samples, got a huge punnet of strawberries, really nice plums and have found a new fruit, they are called parsimmons and are really nice, you eat them like an apple, but are nothing like an apple, orange with no pips or core, really good. Spent nearly an hour there wondering around, then walked pretty much all of hollywood, well maybe not, a good few miles anyway. Really not sure why everyone likes the place, its full of tack, and a few nice shops! Really warm today, it cools down about 4 then starts getting dark at 5, which i'm not used to. Tomorrow i'm going to go to Universal Studios and hopefully fit in the bus tour too, just to say i've seen the whole city, my bus for Vegas leaves 7am on Tuesday, takes about 6 hours! God knows what Vegas will be like if i think it is tacky here!
Thought i should watch some of the parade seeing as i'm here, lots of people i don't know going past in cars and on floats with there name on to help everyone know who they are! Also lots of bands and stuff palying christmas carols, didn't stay till the end, had enough after half an hour. Everywhere is playing christmas songs, it doesn't feel right in this weather, i'm going to be sick of them time i get home!
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