Thursday 30 May - Friday 31 May

Hollywood, LA

So after much research we decided that the most central and safest spot to stay in LA would be slap bang in Hollywood. Cripes, they weren't joking when they said the traffic in LA is a nightmare. There is no point trying to drive anywhere in your car - its bumper to bumper everywhere - even on the 4-lane highways! The traffic jams did give us time to sightsee though, we sat on Santa Monica Blvd for over an hour, taking in all the rainbow flags and gay sex shops...geez they had some interesting attire. We stayed on the top end of Hollywood Blvd and did the Walk of Fame - I had to have a pic with Charlize's star and the Simpsons...shame, some of the stars were quite grimey towards the bottom of the street. Speaking of stars, or lack thereof in this case, I also had to have a pic to remind us of our choice of accommodation in those Hollywood Hills....the guest soap and shampoo neatly nestled in a used Tofu packet.

We did the Warner Brothers tour of their compound with movie sets from Friends, The Mentalist, Batman and The Big Bang Theory to name but a few. Its amazing how real the buildings in movies look and when you get up close, they are mostly wood, plaster and some paint. Was a really interesting insight into how they shoot movies and TV series and how they simply reuse sets for various different films - we're gonna be watching out for the sets next time we see a Warner Brother film for sure. I was in my element here - I'd love to work on movie sets creating all the props and backdrops. *Dream job*
Another highlight was getting up close and personal to the actual Superman costume used in the new movie "Man of Steel"......newly arrived apparently.

We checked out The 'Muscle Beach' on Santa Monica beach and watched for hours as guys n gals were strutting their stuff doing all sorts of exercises in the blazing sun - my best was the chaps swinging up n down the monkey rings - so athletic. Made me feel a bit guilty that I hadn't been doing any of the exercise I said I'd be doing whilst travelling....but drinking and sightseeing seems to be taking up most of our time.