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01/10/10
Today was all about exploring our new place and since we were staying right on Venice beach where better to start. We took a walk up the boardwalk looking at the various shops and "Doctors" surgeries on the beach front. The doctors is just a place to get prescription marajyana and lots of people go, or atleast it looks that way along the beach front. We then strolled down to Muscle beach to see all the huge guys and girls working out. However there were very few people in the open-air gym and none that were particularly ripped. We then spent the afternoon soaking up some sun on the beach watching the surfers and boogie boarders do their thing in the sea. After our lazy afternoon we decided to go for a run up the boardwalk to Santa monica and it was a lovely run since the weather was nice and the views matched the weather. However after our run we were just as we were cooling down before going into the hostel, two fully grown men started wrestling on the grass next to the boardwalk. We assumed it was some sort of street performance since one guy was wearing nothing but speedo's, we quickly realised this was not the case when punches were thrown and the guy in the spedo's produced a can of pepper spray and began spraying the other guy. Weird you can imagine but the guy getting spayed quickly puts on a snorkle mask and continues to challenge the speedo man to a fight. At this point Kirsty and I decided we should head back to the hostel only 20 meters away. That night one of the other hostelers we had met told us about a street party that was going on a couple of blocks away. So we went there and it wasn't really a street party as we know it. It was just a lot of boutiques and art galleries that had opened their doors to the public for the night, with food vans out parked up and down on the street.
02/10/10
Whilst out on our run yesterday we noticed a pier just before Santa Monica that had shows and amusements on it. So we decided to go up there for the day and take a walk round looking at the different attractions. On route we decided to join some of the guys working out on the rings at the beach front. They were swinging effortlessly from ring to ring enjoying themselves. Kirsty and I thought we would have a go. It was not as easy as they made it seem. 1st attempt I never made it past the 1st ring. Although after a bit of coaching from one of the guys, and some chalk applied to my hands, I made it all the way to the 4th last ring out of 10. I was impressed with my efforts. We then spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon on the pier. The pier is very special because it is the end of the world famous Route 66. We managed to snap a couple of shots of the sign and us with it. After this Kirsty decided she wanted to rent roller blades, absolutely great for her since she can ice skate. After some careful thought and a look over my insurance policy I decided it would be much safer for me to just go for a run beside her. She loved it and was skating around like a pro by the end of the hour.
03/10/10
As we checked out of the Venice beach hostel on route to th Hollywood hostel we must have put on a sign that said every strange or weird person please talk to us. On the 1st bus we met a very lovely crazy lady that was trying her best to pled with the bus driver to let her ride the bus for 25 cents (real price $1:50). After this a guy at the back of the bus must have heard us talking about going to Hollywood boulevard so he decided to show us the way, which was very kind of him. Although the 1 hour 30 minutes of preaching he did on the way wasn't so kind of him. There is only so long you can hear about how you'll go to hell if you dont accept god into your life, and do it now before its too late. Thankfully we made it to the hostel and took a wee walk up the famous walk of fame, just for a nosey. That night in the hostel they had a free comedy night, where six comedians came in and performed. They were all very good and told some great jokes that I have saved for when we get back. However the host of the event was also a comedian and a drinker. He did more of the latter to be honest and by the end of the night he was trying, and I say trying to introduce the next act just slurring his words and laughing to himself, but it was pretty funny.
04/10/10
Today we had planned to go on a walking tour round Beverly Hills and see all the huge houses and all the celebrity homes, including the Playboy Mansion :). However the weather had a different idea and it rained all day. So we cut our loses and decided to go to Maddame Tussuards instead. It was really cool becuase all of the figures really do look like the celebrity, and also look life like. We got our pictures taken with all of them including, Will Smith, Jennifer Aniston, Brad Pitt, Angalina Jolie, Jackie Chan, Spiderman, Iron Man, Rocky Balboa, Sue Silvester, Shrek and many, many more. It was a great way to spend a raining day. We then had a nice chilled out night since we were getting up to walk the whole walk of fame in the morning.
05/10/10
Today we took a walking tour up to the world famous Hollywood sign. It was really interesting because the guide told us all about the history of the sign, and all the interesting things that have happened at the sign or because of the sign. Such as, the sign used to say Hollywoodland becuase it was originally there to promote a housing development, and was only supposed to be up for 3 years. However once the company stopped building houses they just left the sign. It soon became a iconic landmark and the town council decided to keep it, but after a while it was getting a bit shabby so they replaced the sign at a cost of $21,000 dollars, and making the sign shorter to read Hollywood. This sign was only made of wood so after a number of years it needed replaced and this cost $21,000 dollars per letter. So some companies and celebrities put up the money to keep the sign in place. One tragic story was about a young actress who had come to Hollywood to make it big, but sadly got rejected on a number of occasions for staring roles. Therefore she decided to leap to her death from the top of the letter H, which is 14 meters high. The spooky thing is, her uncle recieved a script two weeks after her death in which she was going to play the lead role and she would eventually commit suicide in the movie.
After this Kirsty and I walked the full length of the Hollywood walk of fame, which is 3.5 miles long. Looking at all the different names and the reason they got their star. There are only five catagories for which people can recieve a star; Movies, Television, Music, Radio, and Theatre. Only one person has ever recieved all 5 stars but we will let you look that up yourselves. Also there is only one star in the whole walk that is not on the floor it is actually on the wall outside the Kodak Theartre, and that star belongs to Mohammad Ali, because he didn't want people to walk over him. We then went to the Chinese museum and that is where celebrities get their hand and feet impressions taken in cement. It was really cool to see all the different celebrities that have had theirs done. A wee interesting fact is that when George Clooney was getting his done he wore size 13 shoe to make his feet look bigger when infact they are a lot smaller.
That night the hostel had a open mic night and since this is Hollywood there was not shortage of talent wanting to take to the stage. We got to see 5 local performers play guitars and sing, and 2 bands perform. It was really good and we were surprised at how good some of the acts were, considering it was a free show.
06/10/10
Sadly this was our day to leave Hollywood and head north to San Francisco. As the trip takes 8 hours by bus our day was pretty much taken up checking out of the hostel and travelling.
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