Breakfast, weird stuff, and Universal Studios

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October 30th 2008

Published: October 30th 2008

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seagulljim

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Olivia at The Alcove

After a somewhat delayed start to procedings on Tuesday, we agreed to be up and out of the house by 8.30am on Wednesday, for a visit to The Alcove, which is a typical LA cafe where the breakfasts are apparently great. Needless to say we failed to meet the deadline, but we did get everyone out shortly after 9am. The breakfasts WERE great. The amazing thing is the variety - the Americans seemed to have turned breakfast into a three course meal in its own right. We spared ourselves a blow-out, but still sampled the menu - pancakes, fresh fruit, bacon & eggs, coffee, freshly squeezed orange, etc.

Our next stop was a bit weird - we needed something that would take an hour or so to fill the time before collecting Lydia from school (Wednesday is a half day), so Juliette recommended the Museum of Psychiatry!! Rather than a Museum, this was a crusade against the Psychiatric profession. With my role at the Mental Health Trust I had a bit of difficulty with this concept, but was prepared to be challenged. And indeed, it was VERY challenging. The girls found it a bit much to take (there were exhibits

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Sunset Boulevard, LA

of early psychiatric procedures - most of which involved what we would now term torture). It was pretty harrowing stuff.

Anyway, after this little interlude, we picked up Lydia, and set off for Universal Studios - the ideal antidote to the Museum of Psychiatry!

Universal is a theme park built around the studios themselves. There are 50 or 60 huge studios (each one is basically an aircraft hangar), a few of which you get to go inside. But the main attraction (with kids in tow) is the rides. We started with the Jurassic Park ride, which is great, with a fantastic almost vertical drop into a small lake at the end. We then moved onto the "Mummy" ride. Unfortunately I let myself be deceived by the gentle start to this one - after about 5 mins you are suddenly catapulted on a hair-raising roller-coaster journey in almost pitch black - it only lasts a few minutes, but just when you think it's stopping, it does the whole thing in reverse at the same break-neck speed. After this experience I needed a LONG rest. The girls went off to do the Simpsons ride, while I recovered. About 20 minutes

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Weird sign!

later they came out and persuaded me that it was great fun, and I had to do it. I quizzed them in detail about how much you got thrown about, and they assured me it was fine. I therefore ignored all the warnings you get when you go into these things (lots of sharp sudden motion, not suitable for a whole range of people, blah, blah). Anyway, it was fine up until the moment you get into a simulator contraption - and then you set off on an amazing virtual reality roller-coaster which was just as bad as the "Mummy" experience!

After this I retired to Starbucks for half an hour while the girls browsed the gift shops, etc. By this time it was 6.30pm and time to return to Los Feliz. After a smallish rest, we then set out for Hollywood to see the walk of stars, and get a feel for the Hollywood atmosphere - very much like Leicester Square, but without the drunks. Juliette then drove us up to Mulholland Drive, a windy (and famous) road in the hills above Hollywood. The views over LA were fantastic. We returned home suitably tired, in time for the