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Well we are now in Los Angeles, and right now we are at an internet cafe in Hollywood!
We arrived in LA on Saturday afternoon, the day which we thought would never end due to crossing the dateline and having to live 19 hours of our life again! So yes, Saturday was a rather long day. The flight had the most turbulence we have had on a flight so far, so not a lot of sleep was had! I did manage to watch The Princess and the Frog about 5 times though, not a bad film!
LAX airport is slightly insane- it is probably the biggest airport I have been in so far. We didn't have too many problems with security though, after an insane queue for passport control we got to customs and the guy just asked us if we had any food, we said no, he asked us if we were sure then let us straight through!
We're staying in Orbit hostel on Melrose Avenue. It's not in a bad little spot, right opposite an Agent Provocateur and a cupcake shop which sells clothes not cupcakes which we were quite upset about! LA is definitely a bit of a culture shock after our time on Fiji! It's all huge highways, long streets you can't see the end of, and homeless people rummaging through bins on plenty of corners! The houses are also pretty insane, all different and many of them Spanish themed, one had a driveway covered in ruby beads yesterday! They're pretty random. In Hollywood the other day there was a pretty angry guy wandering around wearing a fox tail and collar, shouting at people and brushing his hair in the nearest reflective surface (a window!). So I guess that's LA in a nutshell!
On Sunday we went to Universal Studios, getting nicely acquainted with public transport since we had to get a bus and subway each way. Universal is a mixture of huge shopping centre, studio tour and theme park, like a huge adults' (or overgrown kids'!) Disneyland.
We started the day with the studio tour where we went round loads of the back lots on a tram tour. We got to see some really cool stuff, including Wysteria Lane from Desperate Housewives, a plane crash with a real plane, stock sets for London, Europe and Western movies, dinosaurs and vehicles from Jurassic Park amongst others. We also got to see inside a sound stage where they staged an underground/lorry crash in an earthquake, and we also saw a fast and furious car explosion complete with dancing cars!
The rides were also really good. We went on Jurassic Park and The Mummy, which were unexpectedly fast rollercoasters! On Jurassic Park the dinosaurs squirted water at you- the place was pretty obsessed with spraying you with water! We also went on the new Simpsons 4D ride- the rollercoaster scene played on a screen covering all 4 walls and the ceiling, whilst the rollercoaster was moving around in the same spot. Very realistic, was a good ride! We also watched Shrek 3D which was just like a 3D film but the seat moved with the characters and we got sprayed with water at lovely moments like when donkey sneezed! We also watched a show at waterworld where actors threw themselves off huge buildings into the water, with lots of explosions and fire thrown in. We also saw some animal actors including some very well-trained dogs and an awesome chimpanzee.
We finished off the day with a quick look at Hollywood, walking down the walk of fame and looking at some of the more amusing stars like Shrek and Big Bird!
Yesterday we had a bit of a chilled out day. Me and Emma went to do some shopping and I got new sunglasses and a dress I didn't need! I did need the sunglasses though... In the evening we went to watch the A-Team, very good film you should definitely go to see it!
Today we are in Hollywood at the minute catching up on internet, then we are going to Santa Monica and having a bit of a wander. Tomorrow we are off to San Francisco on a joyous 8 hour Greyhound ride, will be interesting to see how it compares to Australia! Anyway, will update you when we're there :)
- comments
Michelle Good to hear from you- sounds like another interesting place- you've certainly had some variety on this trip. On the home straight now- make the most of it! Take care.