Hey Everyone,

Had a fantastic 5 days in Los Angeles. Suprisingly managed to fit a lot in.

Thursday 4th February

Arrived at our hostel and we're impressed. It had everything we needed and was more like an apartment. We were sharing with 7 others, had a tv with cable (lots of sports channels for Tim) a couple of bedrooms and a kitchen. We also had a basketball net outside, free internet and breakfast included. Met some pretty interesting people the first night. We had a guy called Jordon from Canada (wearing a backwards cap just to accentuate that fact) who had ADHD and had been drinking all day so had not taken his medication. That was pretty fun. Lots of dancing and talking loud. A few Aussie girls in the room and another canadian guy - who had an aunt who used to work on the Simpsons, (so had a private tour there one day, very jealous!)

Went out that afternoon and checked out the Strip (which we were staying on luckily). Went over to the Famous Hard Rock Cafe, checked out the Hollywood walk of Fame and had a general mooch around the Souvenir stores.

Friday 5th February

Went to Universal Studios today. Packed loads in. Unfortunately it was raining so we pretty much had the whole park to ourselves, bonus. (We actually got free tickets to return when we were leaving due to the rain! :D) Went on a heap of rides, including the brand new Simpsons ride in 3D which was awesome! Saw a bunch of attractions - the special effect stages where we saw what they'd done on shows such as Heroes and in a movie called Backdraft with fire and all sorts. They showed us how they put sound into clips that have already been filmed which was pretty cool too. We then checked out the Universal studios experience, which had loads of props, artifcats and costumes from various movies (incl - Bridget Jones dress and Jim Careys nose cast in plaster). Next was the studio tour, where we saw the set of Desperate Housewives, the set with the aeroplane crash in War of the Worlds, the European set, where some of Angels and Demons had been filmes and many more. We shopped around in the Kwik E Mart and saw actual Duff in cans. Saw the Animal Actors show which was really cute -saw the monkey from friends and the Terminator 3D experience. In the evening, we chilled in the room and watched the La Lakers play Denver with the guys.

Sunday 7th February

Did a bus tour around the East part of LA. Saw the beach of Santa Monica where parts of Forrest Gump was filmed.Walked around the boardward and boulevard, very nice area. Went to the famous Beverly Centre and checked out the shopping. Saw Paramount Studios on the way back and Capitol Records where the Beatles recorded. Went past the famous Brentwood area and saw the house Marilyn Monroe lived in for the 6 months leading up to her death.

Monday 8th February

Went back to Universal Studios as the weather was really good. Took some of our pics again. Couldn't go back to the Desperate Hosuewives set as they were actually filming that day, as were CSI. After the Studios, we returned to the Stirp and had another look around. Turns out the premier for Valentines Day was being held at the Chinese thatre. We saw them all setting up the red carpet and loads of pink roses everywhere. Was pretty cool. Tickets were available to go watch the movie, but we couldn't go becuase we already had plans.. Afterwards, we did the bus tour of the East part of LA, around China town and many other shopping locations and then we went to Staples Centre to watch the LA Lakers play San Antonio Spurs. Lakers won.

Overall, we loved LA, would definetely come back!