So we are moving north up the coast to long beach just outside downtown LA. We have our longest stopover here, we have 17 nights to take in all the surrounding beaches, glamour and hollywood fame! We check in to what is the dirtiest hotel in LA it stank of stale smoke and after walking on the carpet for an hour our feet were as black as soot! Needless to say the next morning we asked for a fresher room and fortunately our wish was granted and we got a slightly better room.

Our first day we decided to head to hollywood to take in some of the tourist spots. We went to the chinese theatre where all the hand and footprints are, we went to the kodak theatre where the academy awards are held, saw all the stars on the sidewalk, there are 2500 stars and needless to say we didnt get to see them all! Looked into how you can get one cause i thought it would be pretty cool! Turns out you need to be famous for 4 years, write a speech and pay $25 000 so we decided against it! In the afternoon we took a very tacky bus ride through all the stars homes in beverly hills and the surrounding area. Really cheesy thing to do but was amazing to see where they all live, they all stay next to each other and their houses are massive. Some of them have trees and fences around them so you cant really see them but others are better! We didnt have any confirmed celeb sightings however when we drove past demi moore and ashton kutchers house there was a man with his back to us going into the house who had the height, build and hair of Ashton, very cool! After the tour they take you to mulholland drive where you can see the hollywood sign. Felt very surreal to see something in the flesh you have watched on tv for years. We then toured along sunset boulevard, saw where Hugh Grant picked up the hooker, where Halle Berry drunk drove her car into the front of a convienence store, where Lindsay Lohan planted her car drunk into a hedge in beverly hills and also the public toilet where George Michael got caught with his pants down!! Last stop was rodeo drive with all the beautiful shops, beautiful cars and beautiful people! We saw the hotel where richard gere stayed in pretty woman and also the shop that julia roberts goes into but nobody will serve her, then she goes back at the end to rub their noses in it, was so exciting!! Once the tour was over we went to go to the chinese theatre because when there are no special premieres on you can watch normal films but in iconic surroundings! Unfortunately they were playing a horror film called "The Strangers" I couldnt think of a worse film to see so we had to leave it and spare me the sleepless nights!

Definitely plan to go back to see some more of the stars homes and to walk around rodeo drive and see if we can spot any more celebs so watch this space....

Day 2 afer all the walking of the day before we decided to take it easy and headed to one of LAs many beaches, Hermosa, about a 20 minute drive from our hotel. What can i say about this beach, white sand, blue sea and even bluer sky! Spent the day topping up our tans!

Day 3 Today the sun is not shining so what do you do in LA when the sun isnt out?..... Shopping!! My sandals were broken so i needed to get new ones before they finally gave up the ghost! We first went to a shopping centre called the grove, it was an outdoor centre with lots of very posh expensive boutiques so we soon realised i wouldnt be gettig my sandals from there! Was still fun to go round all the shops and see how the other half live but the day i spend $2000 on a pair of shoes is the day pigs fly and hell freezes over!! Next to the grove was a farmers market which had lots of stalls selling every kind of food from crepes to toffee apples so we stayed for lunch then had to find another mall! We got to the westfield and it was the biggest mall i have ever seen, mike says to me "if you dont find a pair of sandals here then they dont exist". The problem i have with sandals is that for lots of walking i cant wear sandals that go between your toes and much to mikes frustration every shop had between the toe sandals and the only ones without the toe strap were like something a geography teacher might wear!! Yuk! Eventually 3 hours later i found the perfect pair and lots of other things that i couldnt afford or carry but it was fun to look!

Day 4 Since arriving in the states we had been following the finals of the basketball, Boston Celtics the winners on the east were playing against LA Lakers the winners from the west. They basically play each other 7 times and the team who wins the most games is the winner of the finals! Today was game 4 so we decided to take a visit to downtown LA and intended to take in the game at one of the nearby bars! Downtown itself is nothing much to write home about, houses the business district so after a quick wander around we headed with all the other fans to the staples centre
(where the game was) to take in some of the atmosphere before tip off. Within the staples centre there was a fox sports bar so where better to watch the game! We couldnt afford the $400 per ticket so at least from the bar in the stadium we could almost smell the sweat!! Being in LA we had to support the Lakers, unfortunately they got beat but the atmosphere was amazing, the americans really take their sport seriously and it is facinating to watch! Would love at some point to actually go to a game and mingle with the stars who all sit in the front row, when we were there so was David Beckham, Will Smith, Jack Nicholson, Eddie Murphy, Sly Stallone and Stephen Spielberg to name a few!! Loved every minute and the next game was only a few days away so looking forward to that already, GO LAKERS!!!

Day 5 Decided today to take in another one of the many beaches, today we chose manhattan beach, unfortunately someone had other ideas for our friday as on arrival at manhatten the sun we woke up to was hiding behind lots of thick cloud! Took advantage of the slightly cooler weather to walk around and take in town! Manhattan is one of the richer areas so there were lots of lovely shops and restaurants to wander round and along the ocean front there were lots of massive beach front mansions! We spent a good hour looking at all the gorgeous houses all different but equally impressive, had a good nosy in the windows of a few of them too! After lunch we got back in the car and went further down the coast to marina del ray, a large marina housing lots of impressive cruisers and lots of nice condos. Then further up the coast to Venice Beach, famous for being the beach where all the eccentric, weird and wonderful hope to entertain the tourists for a quick buck! Great for people watching there were lots of street performers, and lets not forget the sight of muscle beach, an open air gym on the beach where muscle men go to show off and flex their pecks!! Its great to wander around and take it all in but you dont want to stop and stare too long or some weirdo will try to talk to you or involve you in one of their crazy shows!! The beach itself is just like all the others white sand and blue seas!!

Day 6 and 7 With lots of driving around since we arrived we took the weekend to chill out at the beach on our doorstep, long beach. It is much quieter than the other beaches and the sea is much calmer so we had a quiet couple of days relaxing! Saturday night we treated ourselves to dinner out at the long beach pier and a restaurant called the yard house. Had a lovely meal and only a couple of drinks as mike was driving! The sunday night was the next basketball game in the final series so we watched this one from the comfort of our hotel. The lakers had to win to stay in the series and i am pleased to say they did so they were able to keep the championship dream alive for all LA residents!!

Day 8 One word to descibe this day... Rollercoasters!!! LA has a theme park called 6 flags which is famous for having 14 rollercoasters including the first ever loop the loop, the first ride to reach 100mph in 6secs, the tallest wooden rollercoaster and the worlds first ever 5th dimensional rollercoaster to name a few. Didnt get off to a great start when we arrived about an hour before the park opened and the first 3 cosaters kept breaking down however it soon recovered and we were there until about 8pm, making sure we experienced every coaster excet for 2 that could not be fixed!! A great day as we love rollercoasters but loads of walking and waiting around so we were both exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel!!

Day 9 After a really busy monday we chilled out on long beach again and in the evening it was the next game in the series! Unfortunately the lakers lost so the celtics won the series. Although we were rooting for the lakers i have to say the better team won!

Day 10 We decided today to check out the fancy shops on rodeo drive. It is an immaculate street housing gucci, fendi, armani, louis vuitton and every other designer name you can imagine. We had a look in a few of the big names and the people shopping in these stores are just screaming money thinking nothing of spending $900 on a pair of shoes or $1000 on a handbag! Dont get me wrong it was a very nice bag but its fair to say we didnt fit in and stood out like sore thumbs! Would love to live a day in the life of one of these ladies who spend their days spending their husbands money!! After rodeo drive we did some more celebrity stalking in beverly hills without much success but saw loads of massive mansions and fancy cars. With the sun setting the only place to be is sunset boulevard and to be more exact a small portion of it called sunset strip. This strip houses the celebrity haunts including sky bar, viper room and whiskey a go go. For me the coolest thing were real life paparatzzi outside some of the bars and restaurants it was hilarious! We has a couple of drinks in one of the lower key bars then dinner in an italian restaurant and whilst it was amazing to be there taking it all in we didnt see any celebs at all!!

Day 11 It must make for very boring reading but today we went to another beach this time back to manhatten beach in the hope of getting some sun this time. Our prayers were answered and we spent the day flat out topping up our pretty respectable tans!! Apart from the odd cool down in the sea which for mike is diving through the massive waves and for me trying to avoid being hit by the massive waves it was a lovely relaxing day!

Day 12 Another beach, this time a bit further away in santa monica. We first had a walk around the town centre stopping in a cafe for some brunch then hit the beach. Much the same to be honest as the others if anything the waves were a bit bigger so that meant more swimming for mike and less swimming for me! After cooking on the sand all day we dumped our wet things in the car and went for a walk along the beach promenade and along the pier. Santa Monica has the biggest pier of any of the beaches we had visited it had bars, restaurants, a fun fair and shops so that kept us entertained for a good hour or so. We then headed back through the town to collect the car and head back to the hotel!

Day 13 Wait for it....... another beach this time it was south of long beach in the OC. The beach was huntington beach about 15 miles from our hotel. Today is the middle of a heatwave hitting the west coast sending temperatures into the 100's so not really a day to be walking around. Huntington town itself is very small so we didnt miss much just going between the beach and the sea to cool off!! Being Saturday we decided rather than eat in the hotel room again we would go out for dinner. Unfortunately i forgot to take my ID with me again so we had a night of mike ordering a glass of wine at a time for us to share oops!!!! The only good thing to come of the ID incident was with mikes frequent trips to the bar i got talking to a couple of girls from long beach! Their names were Jenni and Siegrun, Jenni is a world champion cyclist heading to Beijing for the olympics in August and Siegrun her friend is a masters student! By the time we got our table for dinner we had been invited over to Jennis beach house the next day to have a bbq and meet some of her friends!

Day 14 Having met the girls the previous night we were really looking forward to the bbq, we spent the morning in long beach town then headed over to jenni's about 4pm. All her friends were sunbathing and swimming at the bay beside her house. The beach house was out on a spit of land so on one side of the land was the ocean and on the other side was the bay which has a narrow beach and the water is more like a river really clean with no current (so ideal for me to swim in). Jenni and her friends were at the bay when we arrived so we relaxed with them for a while. From 5pm until 8pm every second sunday there is a concert in the gardens at the end of the spit so we all took a picnic and some wine and headed along. The band were doing cover versions of some american classics and the tiny patch of grass was just covered in people having picnics. As the evening progressed there were folk up dancing and singing and we got chatting so some of the locals who were sitting around us which was great fun! Jenni shares the flat with two boys who are also olympic cyclists so along with them, their girlfriends and a couple of other boys we headed back to the beach house to get the bbq going. We had salad, salmon, sausages and a couple of drinks and chatted to our new friends!! Unfortunately as is always the case we only had a couple of days left so we would not have a chance to meet up with them again. We said our goodbyes with offers a place to stay when we go to santa barbara and hopefully the loan of a house in seattle! All really nice people and a reason to tune in and watch the olympic cycling!!

Day 15 Whilst lots of celebrities have homes in beverley hills many of them also have second homes by the beach in Malibu so it is here we visit today! We took the scenic road along the pacific coast highway which is a road that basically follows the coast line, so the views are amazing! Malibu itself if not really what we expected it is very quiet there are no posh cafes, no gucci or louis vuitton it is all very quiet and private with not a bit of bling in sight! Even the beach isn't anything to write home about its very narrow and the sand has lots of seaweed through it so not very nice to sunbathe on! We had the addresses of some of the celebs so we went to find a few of them, took a few photos and had a wander along the beach front to see the fronts of the houses but as i said it was nothing to get excited about! Instead of staying in malibu for the rest of the day we headed back to manhattan beach and spent the afternoon relaxing there!

Day 16 Our initial plan for our last day in LA was to go to the bay out on the spit however long beach was pretty cloudy and cold. We decided instead to head back to orange county and went to newport beach and balboa island. By the time we got there the sun was shining so we had a walk around the town, the harbour, the pier and then had some lunch. After lunch we went to the beach on balboa island and had a couple of hours there digesting our food! The sea here was less choppy so i was able to do a bit of swimming which was great and we even saw a couple of whales swimming just off the coast! Later in the afternoon we got the car and headed 10 miles out of town to fashion island. It is a huge shopping complex with over 200 shops. Our favourite shop being the pet shop which had loads of really cute puppies and some of the older ones were in open top containers so you could pet them!! Most of the puppies were little minature dogs and by the look of the turnover in the shop i dont imagine any of them are there for long as the people of LA love their mini pooches!! We managed to drag ourselves away had some frozen yoguart from my new favourite shop "pinkberry" and then headed back to the hotel to pack our things as we are off to Las Vegas!!!