The bus was coming to pick us up at 11am, so we got ourselves organised and went out to wait for the bus. We were driven to Santa Monica where we were to meet the rest of the tour. On the bus we met some more Aussies. They asked where we were from, so we said Wollongong. The dad said, you're joking right? I said, no - where are you from? He said originally Wollongong, but we live in Canberra now. I said, What? I'm originally from Canberra! Crazy stuff. The other people on our tour were from Liverpool in England, Belgium and New Jersey. Great group of people.
We were taken to Santa Monica Pier which was very cool. But also very foggy! Visibility was terrible. There was a cool amusement park at the end of the pier. Saw a Bubba Gump Shrimp Company shop. Best thing was the Zoltar fortune teller. Just like the one from the movie Big. Sofie and Joe got their fortunes.
Then back on the bus and taken around to some movie stars homes. These included Brad and Angelina's, Adam Sandler's, Bill Cosby, Stephen Spielberg, Sylvester Stallone, Jim Carrey, Charlie Chaplin, Sugar Ray Leonard, Jennifer Tilly, Judy Garland, Michael Jackson, and I can't remember all of them! Good thing I videotaped almost the entire tour.
We were then taken to Rodeo Drive. While we were there we ran into what we thought was a protest march, but was actually an advertising ploy for a new series starting on TV here tomorrow night called Fairly Legal. We got some cookies wrapped in advertising for the show. Looks like it might be ok to look at if it's on back home. Rodeo Drive is one of those places where you know you just don't belong. You can see the ones who do, and they are the ones driving Maseratis and Ferraris... not the ones piling off tour buses with cameras around their necks.
Sofie and Joe thought these cars were pretty awesome!
We drove past some cool places like The Comedy Store, The Viper Room, Whisky a go go, Rainbow Room, Nokia Theater etc. Then got taken to Hollywood.
There we were dropped off outside the Chinese Theatre and checked out some stars on the walk of fame. Saw Michael Jackson's star which Joe got a kick out of! Went across the road to a place called The Coffee Bean where I had my first drinkable cup of coffee. Then went into a souvenir shop and bought ourselves fresh t-shirts for tomorrow. I really need to get out and do some shopping, or get to a washing machine!
Hopped back on the bus and went up Mulholland Drive to a lookout over LA and out to the Hollywood sign. The fog made the view terrible. You could barely make out the sign at all.. :(
View from Mulholland Drive over the city
The Hollywood Bowl
Can you see the Hollywood sign? No? Neither could we really....
So I got a photo of Joe next to a photo of the sign...
A long trip home through peak hour traffic and we ordered pizza from Pizza Hut. The pizza arrived and we all nearly died at how big it was. The box was as long and wide as my suitcase!! Had these divine chocolate dipper things. Like a sweet pizza base, with white chocolate sauce, chocolate sprinkly things that you dip in Hershey's chocolate sauce. Bloody fantastic!
Joe soaked in the bath tub, and then we watched American Idol. Now the kids are in bed watching SVU while I type this and then we are going to get an earlyish night.
I've stopped recording on HD and I think the videos seem to work. Now if I just had time to edit them down to something reasonable for you to watch, I'd post some awesome stuff. Will see what I can manage.
Tomorrow starts our 2 days of Disneyland. Please pray my feet hold out.... !!!
Love you all
xxx
Wow you're a trooper for writing all this stuff up....remember to look out for mermaids....:). P.S The pikeletess is engaged and has moved lower...= love from Elizabeth
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