Hey sorry haven't written for a while, but arrived in LA on Saturday...and we're now another 3 hours behind!!!the confusion. Got to our hostel and it's actually pretty nice, got a dorm again but with fewer beds and an ensuite! Decided to get out and do something so as we were right on the Hollywood bld we thought we should we would do the walk of fame and check out the shops..it was all very surreal, saw all our favourite stars on the...well stars.you know what i mean! looked at Graumanns Chinese Theatre and it was so full of tourists but managed to get some pics of the cement footprints. Later that night we went for dinner and attempted to look for celebs, but that didn't happen (although apparently they are very common in Hollywood, surprisingly and the hostel has a board showing which ones have been spotted). We then decided to got to the cinema..which was actually in the Chinese Theatre and it was so pretty, you could def see it being used for premieres! we watched 28 weeks later and it was actually terrifying and gruesome...the surround sound made it even more  scary!! and then we realised we were in America when the audience applauded at the end!!! Slightly interesting moment walking home when we both did a double take at this guy walking past, looked at each other and said 'wasn't that....' then both blurted out different names. Guess not then!!!

So on Sun we had a busy day planned with tours of the city and all the sights. Got taken to the farmers market to start the tour, not very glamorous you may think but was actually surprisingly good. Had loads of shops surrounding a big fountain, little park bit and stage for a band. Right up the middle of the street were tram lines for a massive disneyland type tram, you need to see the photo to understand, we'll try and add them on. But was a really lovely place anyway. Our first tour was of movie star homes!!! Our guide was a little odd but very knowledgable about all the houses. It's funny how even though on half of them you can't really see a lot it is still really exciting to think of who lives there. And despite being warned again the chances of seeing someone was remote to none we still were all peering desparately just in case. The only possibility was maybe madonna. We saw a car pulling into her driveway that seemed to have a blonde woman in. We're going with it being her anyway!!! Saw some fun homes such as the Playboy Mansion, Ozzy Osbourne and the home where they filmed Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Apparently all the better homes are actually in Bel Air and not Beverley Hills anyway!

Afterwards we had a short break before our next tour, a city-wide one. The first stop was the beach at Santa Monica. Had a half hour stop so managed to walk along the pier that had loads on it, lots of rides, mini golf, a band playing etc. Was a really cool beach actually, lots of people in the sea enjoying the weather, if only we'd had longer...We also got shown the point where they filmed Baywatch too!! Next stop was Rodeo drive with all the mega expensive shops such as Dior, Versace and Jimmy Choo!!!! You get the picture, very unreal for poor people like us. Again kept an eye out for those celebs but reckon it being a sun they were all at home :(  Our guide seemed to have a bit of a thing for Pretty Woman so we got shown loads of places where bits of it were filmed such as, the hotel Richard Gere was staying in, the shop where Julia Roberts got turned away and couldn't buy anything and her flat with the balcony and steps where he climbed up. Unfortunately they showed Hollywood Bld as part of the tour for those not lucky enough to be staying right on it so we had another half hour there and we actually checked out this shopping centre place that actually had a view of the Hollywood sign from it albeit pretty far away. Luckily it didn't matter cos the tour then took us up to Mulholland Drive where apparantly you get the best view of it from and also over the whole city. Drove back round quite a bit of Beverly Hills so saw things like the police station (90210 anyone!?!) the city hall and civic centre, sound boring but our guide had stories about them all and various things filmed there. All in all a celeb filled day, well stories about them anyway!

Next day very exciting!!! DISNEYLAND!!!!!!!! As you can tell we were looking forward to this one, children at heart. Walking in you got a view of the enchanted castle and goofy standing there. Had to restrain ourselves from joining the queue of 4 year olds waiting for a picture with him! Did loads of great rides such as Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean, Space Mountain (that is now Matterhorn apparantly) Honey I Shrunk the Audience and It's a Small World. Had such fun!!!!!!! Saw various other characters wandering round but only got a couple of pics. Half the fun was actually just the surroundings, the buildings and scenery that made it look like it was fake landscapes. Obviously everything was themed including the cafes so we had lunch in a pink girly birthday place (pink was Jen's choice not mine!!) But it was the most massive lunch, thought we'd go healthy and 'just' get a salad but it was easily big enough for two people and they even asked at one point if I wanted any more!?! Only disappointed was Splash Mountain being closed so we didn't get to get really wet at all, had been looking forward to that one to cool us down! Def a brilliant day, got to act like big kids which always the best when you can do that without feeling silly, although we didn't take it as far as some adults, not even with kids, who were wearing some very funny clothes/bags/headgear etc.