Sunday 12th June 2011
After little Lucia Lodge, little Lucy took to the Mustang and headed to LA driving Pacific Highway 1. This is absolutely the best road to drive in the world, especially in a convertible. We couldnt help stopping off along the way to take pictures of this road ... it had been closed recently due to rock slides but luckily for us it re-opened the day before so we were able to drive the entire length all the way to Los Angeles!

We made a quick stop off at Carmel, this town is like something from Hansel and Gretel, its like make believe! Very cute, lots of money here, like a rustic version of Monte Carlo!

We then also made a stop at Hearst Castle, we weren't really sure what to make of this. Some rich boy made millions in the advertising/newspaper/magazine world back in the 30's and 40's and decided to build himself a ridiculous sprawling mansion where he could entertain Frank and Marilyn. It was back in the day before the antiquities law so he has crazy amounts of egyptian artefacts and paintings etc that you would be unable to buy today. The house is built from concrete so we thought it looked a little harsh and minging.....???? Lots of elephant seals along the coast here which was also cool!

We kind of wish in the end we didnt make so many stops on the Big Sur as we were starting to head in to Los Angeles in the dark and we had no idea where we were going! Before reaching LA we went through Malibu where all the houses are on the beachfront which is pretty cool, then reached the centre of LA by night fall, luckily we came across our hotel which was on Venice Beach. Our room was great, balcony looking out on to Venice Beach, pretty scary place at night and we were told to avoid going outside??!! We made a quick dash to Subway as our first fancy night dinner in LA!

Monday 13th June 2011
Time to see celebrities in LA - this is definately my thing (Lucy)!!! First stop was massive pizza slice for a nice light lunch, very hot today! Then jumped on to Starline Tours which took us around all the celebrity homes and hollywood hills. Beverley Hills is its own city within Los Angeles and it is gorgeous, homes obviously very expensive to buy but in a beautiful setting. Its unbelievable how sprawing LA is - we only realised this when we jumped in a taxi from our Venice Beach hotel to the Kodak Theatre at the hollywood walk of fame - this cost us $60 and took around 30 minutes!!!! We realised there was no way we could pay this again to get to our hotel to change for dinner then get a taxi back to town so we popped in to Zara for Mike to get a new shirt and to H&M for me to get a nice new maxi dress and necklace.

We checked out Rodeo drive which is how you can imagine it and found the only hotel/bar on Rodeo Drive, AND it was happy hour!!! So we sat ourselves down with cheap drinks and people watched which was fantastic. We then took turns to get changed in to our wonderfully non expensive new outfits in the posh hotel toilets for our hollywood night out. We booked a table at Katsuya which is a popular celeb hangout (found from watching The hills and Daily Mail Showbiz). The food was amazing, taking a trip to the toilet mid meal revealed a ridiculours amount of paparazzi outside the front door, then we spotted Kim Kardashian!!!!!! This was very exciting to me.... didnt get an autograph or a picture but I stood behind her as she was leaving the restaurant!

Tuesday 14th June
Slightly rough after big night out, decided to walk along Venice Beach, have another light breakfast of pancakes and maple syrup and head to Santa Monica Pier. Best hangover cure was going on all the rides! Its amazing how the smog hangs around LA in the morning, it looks like its a really grey day but the sun burns through it by the afternoon. You can definately feel the lack of good air!

Tonight we decided to head out for dinner using the car, this was definately a better option than taking an expensive taxi journey or a scary walk along Venice Beach! We decided upon 'The Lobster' beside Santa Monica Pier, valet service is amazing, just drive up and leave your car! Another light dinner of steak and lobster tonight !! By this point we are starting to feel the effects of eating like americans, we feel minging but the food is amazing, think we are hooked on pancakes and maple syrup for breakfast, its like having pudding first thing in the morning!

Wednesday 15th June
We feel like we have covered most things in LA, we saw Michael Jackson on the hollywood walk of fame, saw the Kodak Theatre where they hold the Oscars, saw hollywood homes, drank cocktails on Rodeo Drive and ate at Katsuya. The only thing left was to visit Universal Studios!! After the horrible smog lifted in the morning, it was a scorcher of a day! Loved going on all the rides and taking the trip around all the live sets they have there, especially Wisteria Lane where they are planning to film the next series of Desparate Houswives in a few weeks! Decided to jump to cinema here to watch hangover 2 then another light supper at Planet Hollywood!

Time to leave crazy LA, great place but is so big its hard to get around easily. Also the smog is horrible, for a city by the sea you would think it would be a lot more 'fresh' but it isnt!! If you have money, you can really make it here! .......