Take 2 - laptop ate my first one..., have to put it up in pieces...

Wow! What a day! I'm convinced there must be two LA's cos the one we're seeing is brilliant. Many warned us not to get our hopes up, so maybe we had low expectations.

The day started for me (Paul) with probably the best morning run of my life. A very slow 10 km, but it started at dawn, running along Sunset Boulevard at sunrise down to the Avenue of the stars. I managed to trample over the entire length stomping on all the greats, and even finding a soon-to-be-unveiled one. They're just stars (With some suckers being placed in driveways) but it was a real buzz to think of them all having wandered past. One of the first I came across was Michael Jackson, which was a buzz. I finished my run with a sore neck that toggled between watching the stars, watching the sights and avoiding the poles and cars to avoid seeing stars! No mean feet! (Pun intended).

I was also lucky to see them tearing down a setup from overnight shooting as I ran along.

Back home, woke em up, had a surprisingly good breakfast (Low expectations helped again!) then off to the studios.

Betty the sat nav got us to Paramount Studios just fine for a great tour. Brooke was praying for a glimpse of Glee but we at least got to go into one of their sets. Lots of great movie tales and backdrops/stages etc. We have a list of movies to watch to pick the special bits!

Next It was off to Warner Bros which was even more impressive. More sets, bigger stages to visit and we even got to be 'sorted' by the hat from HP1. The girls loved the preserved Friends set and got a picture on the couch in the coffee shop. We loved how things are made larger and smaller, front to back, and especially the 'perspective' doors on some buildings to account for height challenged actors! Maybe there's hope for us Pree's yet!

After that we dumped the car, wandered into Hollywood Boulevard, watched some filming (as you do) then hit the shops. The girls managed to dent their cash stockpile then we had dinner in a diner. Great food, and considering where we were, great price. Watched a bit more shooting then wandered past the 1940's cars to to the sound of gunfire (Its a movie called Gangster Squad due out in 2012). Has some stars in it but all we could see were legs and arms between the crowd of extras. Its chilly so the girls just wanted to get back into the shops....

The tours were great, we've found the people to be great (Very laid back and friendly) and the drivers excellent. They have a thing here about not squishing pedestrians. They seem to watch out for us and we have right of way. Tolerant. Pleasant. We need to bottle some and bring back to Perth.

Still not used to all the cars having no drivers and only passengers. They've also got the rear vision mirror on the wrong side. Actually, it's all just wrong.Turn right on a Red light is also an interesting one. Works here because of their patience and tolerance, but can't imagine Perth coping with it.

Anyway, must dash. Need sleep so can squeeze in another run in another direction, then a big day at Universal Studios (More of a theme park than a studio we expect). Hopefully will shoehorn some museums in at the end.... Then another look at the shooting.

Quite surreal being here when it could just be another day at work. Still hasn't quite sunk in yet. The only one to have really 'got it' is Brooke. She's already living here and making a career of it....in her head.