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Up early as we were going to the Warner brothers audio tour at 10 am. We wanted to eat breakfast somewhere near there. Took the Ventura highway. Found the studio in half an hour. Martin googled breakfasts and found one called bobs big boy on west riverside drive, Burbank that had a good review. Set my google maps to sat nav the way there. After ten minutes found I had googled one that was much further away. Turned around and made our way to the right one. Bobs big boy is a traditional well preserved "Google" style coffee shop from 1949. It was great, I had my first all American breakfast of 3 American style pancakes, bacon and maple syrup. They were huge, over 8" wide and all fluffy. The coffee kept coming. No need to ask for refills. Martin had crispy chicken on top of an equally large waffle. Ten out of ten from me. I could not finish it all.we easily made our way to Warner brothers in time to catch an earlier tour. The temperature was now a hot 90f and a clear. Blue cloudless sky.
Open carts carrying only seven of us got on. Danny was our guide, it was very international with some locals, two Swiss and us. The tour took over two hours and was extensive and interesting. We saw the outside film lots where street scenes were used for shows such as friends, these houses are like a blank canvas and can be remade into anything. Some are just fronts and some have interiors. The tour took us around Chicago and New York. We saw where the scenery is made and where all the props are kept ..stories of thousands of items from telephones to chandeliers. Even a mock up of the Oval Office where we were given a photo opportunity to sit there.see margins photo where he is planning Armageddon !!!
Also saw the cars from batman. Ended up having a photo taken on a friends mock up set. Another photo opportunity where it was shown how gandalf looked large in the hobbit. See Martin as a little hobbit. There was loads to see and do and eventually at 12 we hit the road to get to Griffith park.
Griffith park was busy and we had to park quite a way away. It was still extreme,y hot so lots of water. Griffith park is not green and is more mountainous than park like. Apparently mountain lions can be found there. We walked up the arid road and kept going. Eventually reached the observatory which is atop a steep hill. A very impressive building and location. We could see the Hollywood sign. We did not visit there as it is a five mile difficult hike. Took some pictures and may pretend I got up there! The observatory Was more modern than I thought. It was good to get inside and feel cool air con. The entrance had an impressive experiment which proved that the earth revolves. A very large pit had a clock face and huge brass pendulum which was suspended in the pit from the ceiling very high above. A set of pegs on the clock face show how the pendulum moves whilst you stay still thus proving the earth is moving. Very interesting.
The observatory is large and has many rooms and exhibitions. We needed some sustenance and of course they have a cafe. Had some crisps and fizz. We sat outside under the shade of an umbrella and marvelled at the view. The sprawl of Los Angeles in front and the mountains behind. Saw some red tailed Hawks flying overhead. Very large wing span.
The heat was getting to us so we set off for the hotel. Reluctantly we decided that the Hollywood bowl concert was a step too far in what had been a very busy day. I was concerned about getting back in the dark on the freeway.
Got back to the hotel and decided to try the restaurant in the hotel called smaldies and have a cocktail first.
We went to the gallery bar and I had the house cocktail. This cost $14!!! and Martin had some Los Angeles craft beer. Not impressed by the bar or cocktail. We were really hungry so went to restaurant. Again the service was not that good and the food when it came was mediocre. I had chicken and Martin had shrimp rigiotone. Very small portions and the price was very high. Won't go there again. Decided to call it a night. Looking forward to Santa Monica to morrow,
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