WEST COAST USA Part 1

OK so here goes with our penultimate blog!! Can you believe it!!!!

So Tuesday 17 March we arrive in West Holywood Los Angeles freshly chilled from our time in Fiji. We settled into our dorm room and were soon roped into yet another pool competition at the hostel and were sampling the free beer - well it would be rude to turn down free beverages right?! We stuck the night out in the party room down in the hostel basement until around 2am when having gone back in time the flying accross time zones the fatigue set in and we hit the sack.

Next day after having an accidental lay in until 1:30pm!!!!! Not sure how that happened after Jem set the alarm for free breakfast at 10am! Whoops! We obviously needed it hehe!! Anyway we were ready to explore the glamorous world of LA and Hollywood. Needless to say we were a little dissappointed not to bump into Posh & Becks or Brad and Ange along our journey with the area not being quite what we expected! As we ventured along the walk of fame and other famous landmarks we soon discovered that Hollywood was not half as glamorous as we expected with all the bars, shops and restaurants really spread out and lots of crazy american people filling the streets!!! Lots of homeless begging for beer money too. the cheek of it!!!!!!!
That night we played drinking cards with a group of English lads from our hostel before making our way accross to Hollywood Boulevard and hitting a few bars with them. A night of silly antics as you can see from our pics - especially the boys! haha. The $5 1.5 litre of rose wine went down a treat too but did make for a nasty head the following day!
Heads pounding we decided a walk was in order so we made a way to the local farmers market and an area called The Grove. Apparently a hotspot for celebs (sadly we didnt see any!) and a really lovely little place with cute shops, restaurants cafes and an artistic water fountain that played in time to songs! Brilliant! Sun shining we chilled here for most of the afternoon to try and shift those hangover blues! hehe.The evening was pretty chilled too with us watching the chick flick "He's just not that into you" a definite must see ladies!

An early rise and a 9 hour bus journey later and we were in SAN FRANCISCO!!!!

Arriving fairly late in the evening and pretty shattered from the travelling we dumped our bags and decided to go for a little wander around the city. We soon found our way to the main area 'Union Square' and also spotted several lovely looking clothes shops! Damn it just when the budget is running out! We could not believe how bloody cold it was with us wrapped up in layer upon layer of clothes and still shivering so we treated ourselves to a hot drink to warm our cockles! Call it a night cap if you will hehe sadly no alcohol involved though!

Saturday was soon upon us and we spent the day mooching around the city stumbling accross such delights as Macy's and the famous crooked road which appears in several films.

Saturday night and we had to arranged to meet our friend Matt (the guy who's 21st we celebrated in New Zealand) and his American friend Bryan. With Bryan living in the area he knew all the best places to take us to so we enjoyed a night of catching up whilst sipping G&T in some really cool bars in the Mission area of town. A very enjoyable evening.

OK so Sunday was here, we were tired and admittedly a little hungover and so we could not fight the urge any longer........CHEESECAKE FACTORY time!!!!!!!! haha! Believe it or not we opted to share one and chose the Snickers bar one!! AMAZING!!!!! Enough Said! haha!! We met up again with Matt at 6pm who took us to apparently the best mexican place ever! Admittedly it was very good and at only $5 dollars you cant complain! The owner even gave us both a Rose as we left to wish us well on the rest of our travels!

Monday was here and we had booked a trip to Alcatraz. We arrived at the ferry port at 12:06 with our boat leaving at 12:10...a close shave to say the least! A brilliant day out though. We started by watching a brief film that took you through the years at Alcatraz and all that had gone on there from the military prison to the indians taking over. We then embarked on a guided tour with the tour guide giving us lots of information about various inmates who served their time there such as Al Capone and the several escape attempts that occured over the years all very interesting stories! We then did an audio tour around the cell blocks seeing inside various cells, the dining hall and the wardens rooms all with detailed information and real life stories being told as we walked round. It was a really good trip which we both thouroughly enjoyed and definitely glad we did.

Once again we met with Matt and his friend Bryan in the evening. Very Kindly Bryan picked us up in his car and drove us to Twin Peaks which has great views of the city so we got some cool pics! Then we drove accross town to the infamous Golden Gate Bridge which we walked accross and again got some very nice photos of! Needless to say it was a little chilly up there so lucky we wrapped up warm!
A quick beverage at a local Irish bar and sadly it was time to say our thank yous and goodbyes, but not for long as we will be catching up with Matt again in New York!!

Next stop........................ VEGAS BABY!!!!!!.......................................TBC