LALA Land

I flew with United Airlines from Melbourne to LA, via Sydney, and I must say that United Airlines has nothing on Qantas. Unfortunately, there was no Movies on Demand on the flight that I was on. Fortunately, they played good movies anyway, and I also used the opportunity to get some sleep, as I was arriving in LA at 9am.

When I boarded the flight from Sydney to LA, I found that I had the window seat, however, the man that was sitting next to me, asked if I could swap seats with his wife who, for some reason, had been seated along the same row, but 4 seats away. I agreed, and, feeling my halo glowing, and wondering what great things Karma was going to send my way, I sat in her seat which was one of the middle seats of a group of 4. I ended up sitting in the middle of a group of 3 Orthodox Jews. They practised Kosha, and didn't eat any of the food on the flight, but had brought their own. The women were wearing long black dresses and the man had long hair curled around his ears and was wearing a hat on top of his head when he boarded and disembarked the flight.

After getting through passport control and customs in LA, I was standing outside the arrivals door, contemplating how I was going to get to my hotel in Hollywood, when a lady approached me and asked if I needed any help. She suggested that the easiest way to get to my hotel would be to take a shared shuttle which would take me right to the door of my hotel. So that is what I did.

My hotel was called Hollywood Orchid Suites and was situated just behind the Kodak Theatre and Hollywood Blvd. It came equiped with a kitchen, so if I could have been bothered, I could have cooked for myself every night.

That afternoon, I went for a little wander down Hollywood Blvd and checked out the sights including The Kodak Theatre (where The Oscars and many movie premieres are held), Grauman's Chinese Theatre (outside of which there are the foot and handprints of famous people) and The Walk of Fame.

The next day, I caught a bus to West Hollywood for breakfast. I tried to buy a dayticket which can be used on the buses and the underground trains, however, when I asked the bus driver how much it was, he told me to keep my money and not tell anyone and he gave me a ticket for free. Whoops... now I have told everyone! I have to say that for the most part, people are so NICE here in America. I think Americans have a bad reputation for being loud and demanding, and I know that I have stereotyped them here in my own blog, but from what I have seen and experienced so far here, they are actually just really NICE.

I had breakfast at a place called Griddle Cafe, which serves pancakes and bacon, eggs etc. I ordered a coffee and a serve of the original buttermilk pancakes. My original pancakes were a stack of 3 pancakes, which were each the size of a dinner plate. My stack of pancakes was the size of an actual cake. They were served with whipped butter and there was maple syrup on the table. I was glad that I didn't order a side of bacon or potatoes to go with it, as was suggested by the waitress. I managed to eat 1/2 of one pancake. I wondered if anyone ever actually gets through a whole serve.

After breakfast, I headed to Burbank, which is where the Warner Brothers studios are situated, and did a VIP tour. This involved getting into a motorised cart with a tour guide, Dennis, who drove us around the studios and pointed out various locations and told us some of the inside secrets of movie making. Highlights included seeing the spot where Spiderman kissed Mary Jane, upside down in the rain, and various locations in "Chicago" which are featured in ER (such as the top of the hospital helicopter pad which is actually the studio's carpark). We also went to the WB museum, which has some costumes and props from some of their movies, and a whole floor dedicated to Harry Potter. I sat under the sorting hat on the same stool that Harry sat on in the movie, and was put into Gryffindor (sorry to all non-Harry Potter fans who didn't understand a word of that!). While we were getting back into our cart after visiting the museum, one of the stars of Cold Case, Jeremy Ratchford, came whizzing past us on a cart and was calling out "Cold Case Rocks!" Apparently he does that a lot.

At the end of the tour we were given a free gift: A photo of us standing next to the Hogswart Express, which was actually taken in front of a green screen. After getting a late lunch in Hollywood, (a really interesting but delicious Sushi dish) I headed back to West Hollywood and had a wander down Melrose Avenue. I stopped at a cake store called Sweet Lady Jane, and got a piece of Tripple Berry Cake to have for supper back at my hotel. During my walk, I passed an art gallery a couple of times, outside of which were a few paparrazo standing around with their cameras. Inside were lots of well dressed people, but noone that I recognised. When I got back to my hotel and turned on my tv, I found out that it was actually the opening of Lost actor Dominic Monaghan's exhibition of photos and that several of his Lost costars were there. My piece of cake was really good by the way.

On the Friday, I caught the bus (I actually paid for my ticket this time) to Mid-City and had breakfast at a trendy Cafe called Toast. My three eggs and bacon kept me going up until dinner time. After breakfast, I went to the nearby Grove, which is an open-air mall, and The Farmer's market. After having a wander around there (and not buying anything), I caught the bus to the Tar Pits and had a look.

In the afternoon, I caught a bus to Venice beach. As I pounded the sand, the Baywatch theme pounded through my head : "I'll be there... whenever you need..." I walked down the Ocean Front Walk, and while it was interesting to have a look, I can't say that Venice Beach really did anything for me.It was a long bus-ride back to Hollywood along Venice Blvd, and halfway along, some young boys got on the bus who would not yet have been 21. As the bus was full, they had to stand up the front. It was about 5 minutes after they got on that one of them vomited in the doorway. Noone had any newspaper or anything to clean it up with, so the driver made us all get off the bus and get on the next one. I'm pretty sure the vomit was alcohol-related, as the kid who did it kept telling his friend that it was his fault. I walked a few blocks up Venice Blvd, before deciding that it was much further to the end than I remembered, and caught another bus the rest of the way.

I had a pretty good time in LA. There is a lot to see there though, and 3 days is not enough to see it all.

I'm currently in Manhattan, Kansas, visiting my friends Brad and Karen, who I went to Vet School with.

More soon,

Love,

Lis x.

p.s emails and comments greatly appreciated.