We arrived in LA just before 12pm on 8th March, meaning we were living the day again as we had gone back by 18 hours! We got to our hotel (which was really nice) and set about organising the rest of our trip. We had some flights already booked and hotels had been reserved but we wanted to see if we could go home a bit earlier, money is getting tighter the closer we get to the end! But we still wanted to go to all the places we planned so we were looking to bring everything forward - this proved to be a headache! Flights were transferrable but at a fee and then you had to pay the difference in price which was $100's so we scrubbed that idea. We also had trouble with our Toronto hotel who were saying they couldn't cancel or change our booking. Long story short though, in the end we managed to cancel it and have brought our trip forward by 6 days. So we have just over 5 weeks in the U S of A!

The next day we went to explore the area, we are right by Hollywood Boulevard and the main attractions are a 10 minute walk away, really good location. We went to a tour company and bought a Citypass which basically is a reduced price for several attractions, including Hollywood Homes Tour and Madame Tussaud's. We also got our Universal Studio's tickets, we're in Hollywood - it had to be done! The guy that sold us the ticket couldn't believe we'd left our jobs to go travelling around the world for 7 months! He was really friendly if not a little odd - he bought a Rolex from a randon guy for $80 and he said he 'hoped' it was real as it was really worth $2000, we didn't have the heart to say that no one would sell something really worth that much for so little. This guy first offered us the Rolex, which we declined and he replied by huffing at us. This was the start of us experiencing the true randomness of Hollywood, a guy will just walk into a tour office and offer a Rolex watch, and then the guy working there will just buy it. That's just the norm here!

The following day, we went on the 'Hollyood Homes' tour, driving around with a tour guide looking at famous people's houses, it's not as stalker like as it sounds! Some were quite obscured understandably, but some we could get close to, and some even had their gates open meaning anyone could just walk up to their house. We saw many houses including Orlando Bloom's, Jennifer Anistons's (who has an invisible electric fence guarding it, so we only saw the roof!) Christina Aguilera's, Frank Sinatra's and The Beckham's plus lots lots more. We then got taken to Rodeo Drive and saw the famous hotel from Pretty Woman.

The next day we met up with Shannon, our friend we met in New Zealand, it was really good to see her again! She picked us up from our hotel and took us to Downtown Disney, you don't have to pay to get into the park to go there and it was really nice to wander around the shops there, all with the theme of Disney! After that Shannon (she is also known as Shirley or Doris, they are her British alter ego's, we've been teaching her some British phrases!) took us to the 'The Block' which is an outside shopping area, laid out like a block in a city, hence the name. We came across a huge H & M and a 'Bath and Body' - which is like a Body Shop but better. That night we went to Shannon's friend's house for dinner and games night, where we met up with Jami, our other friend from New Zealand, so the four of us were back together again! And taking the mickey out of eachother's accents was still highly entertaining to all of us! Shannon has even coined a new phrase by accident - saying 'are you taking my mickey?' instead of 'are you taking the mickey out of me?' which we actually prefer and have now started using ourselves!

The next day we got up early to head to Universal Studios. We got there just before the park opened and headed straight to the Studio Tour, knowing that would get really busy. We got through quite quickly and were given 3D glasses 'for later' not really sure what to expect. The tour was really good, the park being in Holywood, alot of the sets used for TV shows like Desperate Housewives were there and various film sets. The 3D glasses were for the new King Kong ride which was part of the tour, although advertised as the most intense 3D experience, we didn't think it was that good, especially compared to the other rides we would go on later. However, Emma did have her eyes closed for most of it and was clinging onto Candy's arm for dear life, 3D rides aren't really her thing! We went on The Simpson's ride, The Mummy Returns (Candy didn't speak for 10 minutes after that one!) and Jurassic Park ride. There weren't any other rides there but various shows that we went to. It was a really good day!

The next evening, Shannon came and picked us up and took us back to her house, the next day we were going to Disneyland! Emma went to the one in Florida ten years ago but Candy has never been so was very excited! We both were, everyone loves Disney! We got up early the next day and headed towards the park, parking in the Woody section (very apt as Toy Story is Candy's favourite Disney film) and got the shuttle bus to Disneyland! We got in the line for Matterhorn Bobsleds first as Shannon said that would get really busy and there wasn't a Fast Pass for that one (a ticket you get telling you what time to come back to jump the queue) Shannon knows her stuff, she is an experienced Disneylander so we let her be our guide for the day! We went on lots of rides including Pirates of the Caribbean, Indiana Jones, Peter Pan's Flight, Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters and of course, It's a Small World! Again, it was a really good day, and Candy can now say she has now been to Disneyland!

The following day Shannon took us to a big shopping mall, it wasn't quite as big as Lakeside but big enough! We have discovered a new amazing shop we just love called Forever 21 - it's not in the UK and it's really cheap so we spent quite a bit of time in there (ok, maybe it was over 3 hours) and found some great stuff. Emma got some bargains for when we get to colder places like Toronto and New York, we have only really packed for warm places and so far, that's been fine but when we get there, we don't think we'll get away with flip flops and t-shirts! We can't believe it, but for the past 6 months we have virtually lived in flip flops, wearing closed shoes all the time again will be strange! That evening we met up with Shannon and Jami (yay!) and had dinner together, and amazing dessert which was basically a huge cookie with ice cream on top - yum.

We still had our city pass which was valid for 9 days so the next day, we went on the Behind the Scenes Walking tour, which takes you around all the main spots in Hollywood and explaining various behind the scenes information you wouldn't otherwise know. It was really interesting and you got to see some really good stuff and the explanations behind them, our guide was really good too, if not a little crazy (or maybe he was just enthusiastic, hard to tell the difference here sometimes!) After that we went to Madame Tussauds which was brilliant. Some of them are so life like it's actually quite freaky standing next to them becasue you worry they're going to start moving! There were loads of celebrity wax models there including Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Robin Williams, Will Smith and Julia Roberts. Obviously there were lots more aswell! As you can tell from our photos, we enjoyed posing with all the 'stars'.

The next day we went to the Hollywood Museum, which was the original Max Factor building. We learnt alot about Max Factor, he was basically the first person to invent make up for actors. He was an innovator in make up and created so much that we use today, it was really interesting. The museum has the rooms that were orignally used for the stars and where they had their make up done. There were seperate rooms for blondes, brownettes (a term we hadn't heard before), brunettes and redheads. Upstairs there was lots of costumes and memorabilia from various films throughout the years. There was also a lot of stuff about Marilyn Monroe and Jean Harlow, so it focused on 'classic Hollywood' as well as more modern films and actors. Downstairs was the Chamber of Horrors but it had costumes from The Flintstones film down there so we didn't really see how that was horror? There was one creepy bit though, the prison cell set from Silence of the Lambs and Red Dragon had been dismantled and re-built down there and it showed you the set up of Hannibal Lecter's cell, that was quite unnerving, especially since we'd just watched Red Dragon the night before!

Now we have another week here, we had some time before we go to San Francisco and have decided to stay put here for that time. There is so much to do and see here we know we'd never get bored, and after moving from place to place every few days for so long, we want to take advantage of staying put for a while! We have free tickets to see the recording of the Jimmy Kimmel show this week, which is right down the street from us, we don't know who is on the show yet, probably some Z List celebs knowing our luck, but it will be exciting just the same! We'll obviously keep you posted on that one and the rest of our adventures here in Hollywood!