Another two days being rolled into one update.

We spent yesterday at Universal Studios. We bought tickets that jumped us to the head of queues so we only had to wait for shows to start and then go in. Also no waiting for rides. We started with the studio tour which gave us a view of the backlot street props and scenes.

Other shows included Waterworld which I rated as 10/10, Animal Actors which was 'cute' rather than spectacular, and Special Effects Stages.

Rides included the Simpsons - simulated fun, Jurassic Park - water ride and the big splash, Shrek - unexpected simulation with moving and water sprinkling theatre seats, Revenge of the Mummy Ride - fast & furious but over in two minutes. I also did the haunted house which was sets from Frankenstein with overdone shrieks etc.

I especially like WaterWorld. We were in the bak seat and all the lower seated people were soaked which gave us more interest.

For the second time on the trip my TomTom navigator messed up our directions and we missed the Universal Studios parking lot on the first time around. Today it did much better. It took us to the private back entrance of the Getty Cetre which has huge gates that remain closed. I tried 'following my nose' and we ended up in a private estate talking to the security guard who came to move us on. He ended up helping us poor lost tourists get extricated from the rich and famous and pointed us in the dircetion of the Getty Centre. Turned out we were in the estate of Hollywood writers and directors.

Attention Tim Middleton - the Getty Centre is for you! It's focus is meant to be art treasures from the J. Paul Getty collection but when you have a endowment of gizzilions of dollars you want to create an even more spectacular building that will outshine the contents. An interesting story of the architect and garden planner. They found it hard to cooperate as the architect wanted to do it all. It turned out the garden guy was an artist who knew nothing of gardens. He just wanted blends of colours and styles so someone who knew plants gave him a hand. The reults are beautiful.

To end the day we strolled along the Santa Monica Pier and the beach.

Tomorrow we do the typical Hollywood look arounds and we visit Disneyland the next day.