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So, we have been in the USA for nearly a week now - time for an update! We landed in LA on Saturday, and spent a couple of hours getting through immigration control and customs - not fun when you've just come off a 10 hour flight, and due to crossing the date line Saturday is 43 hours long. Not fun at all. In an attempt to get over the jet lag, we were up bright and early the next day and battling the LA public transport system to be very touristy at Universal Studios. It's essentially a movie-themed theme park (clever, no?), but a bit short on the rides... A tour of the back lot showed us a fair few special effects, and a lot of fake streets. Which seemed to fake to be as believable as they are in the movies. Next up was the Jurassic Park ride - a log flume with dinosaurs popping their heads up every now and then to squirt us with water, before a larger-than-expected drop and a big splash. This was followed the the Mummy Returns rollercoaster and a '4D' (3D with a vibrating chair) Shrek and Terminator 2 extravaganza, and the Simpsons ride which was a pretty awesome simulator ride. We were astounded by the amount of fast fatty food available, and how anyone could possibly want the all-you-can-eat pass when a slice of pizza is bigger than my face.
The rest of our time in LA was spent visiting the Farmer's Market (lots of stick thin people), discovering the Grove plaza on our way to the cinema (it's nothing like the rest of LA, and seems to have been transplanted from Europe - very pretty at dusk), a fair amount of shopping (our clothes are very boring after 3 months of a very limited wardrobe), a walk along Hollywood Boulevard and a stop at the Chinese theatre to attempt to recognise any famous names (or actual famous people) and a trip to Santa Monica to traipse along the pier.
After a long Greyhoud journey, we found ourselves here in San Francisco, where we have been on a walking tour of the city through Chinatown, Little Italy and the North Beach area up to Coit Tower, where we glimpsed Alcatraz and the famous Golden Gate bridge. We also indulged in a little bit more shopping (we can't help it!) and today put our cultured hats on and visited the SF Museum of Modern Art. Despite trying hard to be open to new experiences, I'm afraid I failed (as I do in most art galleries), and failed to fully appreciate the art. I did try! Tomorrow we are going to the North Bay Fair (no idea what it entails, but it sounds fun and very importantly is free) before joining our tour in a hotel - we are very excited about the hotel!
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