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Published: July 18th 2009
Los Angeles - 31°c
After not getting much sleep last night, I surprised myself by being so awake and so raring to get back out there again at 5am this morning, for ‘another day in paradise’ - as the shuttle bus driver said yesterday in reference to Los Angeles ever smiling sun. Despite getting what was at the maximum just five hours sleep, I think it was the adrenalin within me that kept me so well and truly energised and enthusiastic.
Although there are some definite black shadows hanging around under my eyes, they’re the only sad part of me. The rest of me is so, so happy and having just the best time I’ve had in so long, possibly ever.
After getting myself ready for a full day out, I headed out onto the sun-soaked Hollywood Boulevard around 7:45am to take some more photos of the ‘stars’ and scenery around the area, without the crowds around. I have to say that at that time of the morning, Hollywood Boulevard was absolutely deserted. Not a soul could be seen or heard and although fantastic, it was quite eerie in a way and a total contrast to how I’d left it the night before; rammed with sightseers, cars, clubbers, angry people sitting in grid-locked traffic, and strange yet oddly fascinating people dressed up in outfits trying to resemble their favourite character from TV, stage, music or film.
After getting to the top of Hollywood Boulevard and the end of the ‘stars’, I crossed over and came back the other side of the street and met up with Michelle around 8:45am outside her hostel opposite the Hollywood and Highland shopping center. Karen hadn’t slept too well all night, so was a bit behind and came to meet us an hour later after Michelle and I grabbed some breakfast in McDonalds. And even though it was simply ‘breakfast in McDonalds’ it really wasn’t simple at all! The menu is completely different to back home, and I had a “bacon, egg and cheese biscuit”. By definition, it can only be described as a light and fluffy English scone, cut down the centre and filled with a fried egg and bacon! Bizarre as it may sound, it was absolutely gorgeous, and I have made a mental note to have that again sometime!
Once we left McDonalds, Karen was literally walking up Hollywood Boulevard towards us around 9:30am, and we made our way to the Hollywood/Highland subway (read: underground) stop. For just $5 a day you have unlimited travel on all busses and subway trains! Amazing when you think what the cost of a day pass in London would be.
Just five minutes later and one stop north on the red line was ‘Universal City’, where we got off and headed for Universal Studios Hollywood. The subway is at the bottom of a very, very steep hill, and thankfully Universal Studios provide a tram to take you up the hill and straight to the gates.
Both Michelle and Karen had already got their tickets, and although I’d pre-booked mine, it turned out to be a voucher that had to be redeemed for a proper paper ticket before I could get in. Nearly 20 minutes later just to switch over the ticket, I went into the park somewhat slightly frustrated at the length of time it took to do something so trivial as swapping over pieces of paper.
As we walked up the main street of the park, the first thing we came to on our map was the “House of Horrors”, and despite all the warnings on both the maps and the signs outside the attraction about how scary it would be, and a list of all the usual medical no-no’s, it was nothing more than walking around in the pitch black around tight corridors that smelt damp, a few people dressed as mummies jumping out every now and again, and a strobe light going off every now and again. We all had the same thought that it was absolutely crap, and we all expressed concern that we hoped the rest of the day wouldn’t follow the same suit.
From there we went to “Terminator 2: 3D”, a live action show infused with 3D special effects which we had to wear 3D glasses for. Although I’ve never seen any of the Terminator films before, (yeah, yeah I know, Michelle and Karen have already had words with me about my lack of movie knowledge!) I thought it was quite good, and with things going on both within and around the screen by real-life people wandering around the auditorium firing guns and screaming, it was actually quite exciting.
After that we went to what became one of my two favourite parts of the park, the “World Famous Studio Tour”. This really was great, and as we boarded a tram we were taken around the back of the park to the area where they actually film movies and TV shows. In amongst the scenes we spotted were backdrops used during ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’, ‘Indiana Jones’, ‘Psycho’ and ‘Jurassic Park’. However, the jewel in the tour’s crown was driving down the actual set they use for ‘Desperate Housewives’ - Wisteria Lane! That place was absolutely fantastic, and security was everywhere as they were actually due to be filming later on in the evening! But to see each of the housewives’ houses with the immaculate paintwork and gardens was just brilliant! It was so surreal to see it all, and I was shocked at how everything felt so close together. But I guess that’s the beauty of wide-angled filming etc, the ability to make things look further away simply by panning out in a particular way. - Or so we’ve been told today!
After that as we were walking down to the Lower Lot and a few more of the rides and shows there, there was this cute little dog sitting, completely unleashed, over in a secluded area with a member of staff. Once we went over there, she informed us that the dog had been in countless TV shows and movies, and was so well trained that she could do a whole host of things on demand. After we were given a brief show of what she could do, and were invited for a hug and a stroke, all three of us agreed that we wanted to take the dog home. - The cuteness factor was sky-high! Especially when the trainer managed to get the dog to wave us goodbye as we backed away! Soooo intelligent! If only Lisa or I were able to train Roxy into doing such things!
Down in the lower half of the theme park, we saw a couple of shows, then headed to “Jurassic Park: The Ride”. Now, I wasn’t overly keen or enthusiastic about doing this ride. It was log ride around ‘Jurassic Park’ with dinosaurs towering out of the water and moving around, after the warning that it involved massive drops and subsequent soakings, I was ready to give it a miss. But after Michelle and Karen were so adamant that not only did they want to do it, but they wanted me to do it too, I wasn’t able to find a good enough excuse as to why I shouldn’t, and a short queue later, on we went.
The effects were amazing, and the dinosaurs looked so real, and whilst the drops were very steep and somewhat heart stopping, it was actually a fantastic ride and I was so pleased that I was coaxed into going in it.
Back up to the Upper Lot, we finally managed to get on the new-ish “Simpsons ride” fairly quickly, after the queue display had been hanging around the time-wasting 1-hour mark all day.
After we’d been on the ride, (a flight simulator based on a roller-coaster that goes very wrong - a real first for Karen who’d never been on a flight simulator before) we all agreed that it was truly amazing. The special effects and the way you became kind of sucked into the whole experience, was all quite something. Alongside the aforementioned Wisteria Lane part of the back-lot tour, this was up there as joint favourite of the entire park.
We finished off with ‘Shrek 4D’ which once again was good, before heading out onto Universal City Walk, an area outside of the main theme park where a whole host of shops, restaurants and music stages are. After a bit of wandering around and seeing what was available, we decided on Hard Rock Café for dinner. I of course had my all-time favourite ‘heavy metal buffalo wings’ and felt after 2 whole days pacing around LA, I also deserved a cocktail too.
A short walk back to the subway and the ride back to Hollywood/Highland around 9pm, we called in at Michelle and Karen’s hostel where I was able to briefly use the internet, and then Joey who’s coming on the Contiki tour next week, called in at Michelle and Karen’s room! Was great to meet her, and although she had other plans tonight, we’re all due to meet up again tomorrow (Saturday).
Michelle and Karen came back to my hotel for a couple of hours after that to use my laptop to transfer the photos from their full camera memory cards to their portable external hard drives via my laptop. We had a real good laugh and chatted for a good couple of hours as we went through their photos from the past couple of weeks, and begun sharing a few stories about our families back home. Around midnight they headed back to their hostel four blocks away, and for the first time all day I caught sight of myself in a decent sized bathroom mirror and my god have I caught the sun today! Michelle commented that it would be easy to think I’d actually been here a couple of weeks already! What can I say? I guess back home where the sun doesn’t often show its face, my body seems to quite literally soak it all up when I’m away! So after just 24 hours in LA I’m already very, very tanned. Here’s hoping after the full 5 weeks I’ll look even healthier!
And to look healthy on the outside would be to match how healthy I’m feeling on the inside. Just 36 hours in and I’m on top of the world, feeling as though no one can stop me in my path towards self-confidence and inner self-discovery anymore. As each night rolls around, I go to bed feeling so much stronger than the night before, and as each new dream of another exciting tomorrow enters my head, so too does another memory of darker yesterdays finally die a peaceful death.
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Amanda Squires
non-member comment
wow
Hi Carl glad to hear that you are having such a fantastic time, don't forget the pictures!! Lucky you missed the monsoon that was the weather yesterday, will lookforward to a lot to catch up on when I get back from Menorca on the 1st, TAke care love Mandxx