Kat and I had booked ourselves on a 12 hour tour that Monday, departing at 8am so we were up early and heading off to breakfast. We ate at the restaurant attached the hotel and both ordered omelettes. They were huge and we found that we didn't need to eat anything else until mid afternoon - what a great cheap meal! We boarded the tour bus for the trip back into downtown LA, about an hour away. As we drove through, on our way to Hollywood, the driver pointed out buildings and streets, naming movies and famous events that had happened there. For a movie buff like me, it was fantastic. We then arrived at Hollywood boulevard, a street that is a strange mix of glitz and trash. The stars lined the pavement and I spent most of my time looking at the stars as I walked - a range of movie, theatre, tv and production people. They ranged from people like Nicole Kidman to David Letterman to Kermit the Frog. Kat and I spent most of our allocated time there outside Grauman's Chinese theatre, the place where the movie stars are asked to set their hands and feet in concrete. Comparing my foot size to Arnold Schwarzenegger's was fun, and finding that my hand was the same size as Marilyn Monroe's was interesting. Kat and I also took a walk up to the Kodak Theatre, only next door to the Chinese Theatre. The Kodak Theatre is where the Oscars are held and the entrance in reflects the glitz and glamour of the occasion. We walked up to the back of the arcade, past designer shops and beauty salons to get a photo of us with the Hollywood sign behind us. Then it was back to the bus, passing the cheap souvenir stores for the continuation of our journey. Driving along Sunset Boulevard, we passed famous eatery's and clubs, including the Viper Room, where River Phoenix died. And then we were passing through Beverly Hills. Buses are no longer able to drive down residential streets so unfortunately we were unable to view movie star homes. We did go directly to Rodeo Drive though. I saw the shop where Julia Roberts was turned away in Pretty Woman and Beverly Wiltshire hotel where Richard Gere had the penthouse. Then it was time wander the exclusive end of Rodeo Drive, popping into Tiffany's just to look, and then taking note of all the other big name stores - Ralph Lauren, Chanel, the list goes on and on. After Rodeo Drive, we took a quick stop at the famous Farmer's Markets and then we were on our way to Universal Studios for the remainder of the day. Universal Studios was great fun and Kat and I did the studio backlot tour first, a must to see the behind the scenes stuff and to see sets from the movies. It was interesting seeing things such as the clock tower from the Back to the Future movies, or how they made jaws appear out of the water. We then did some of the other movie shows, such as learning about special effects before hitting the rides; the fantastic Mummy ride (I think I screamed the entire ride) and the Jurassic Park ride (where we ended up drenched). Then we took in the Shrek 4D show and others such as the Waterworld show which was heaps better than the movie and featured fantastic stunts. We left Universal Studios exhausted and with headaches but having had a fantastic day.