Tuesday, December 28, 2010

LA day 1 and day 2

We arrived in LA on Boxing Day after a really long flight (where some of us didn't get very much sleep). We got our transfer straight to our hotel and dropped our bags off and headed to Universal Citywalk for some breakfast. Breakfast was at Saddle Ranch Chop House (!!) were the meals were as expected huge :-) We had a bit of a wander through the shops and then headed over to Glendale to one of the malls. We came back to check into our room and headed upstairs for a bit of a chill out. Dinner last night was at Hard Rock Cafe and then we were back to the hotel for an early night (in bed by 8pm!).

Second day in LA and we were off to Universal Studios. We headed in just after 9 and hit a few of the rides (including one very entertaining rollercoaster - well maybe not so entertaining for Mick!). We decided to head out at 1pm as the park was getting a bit crazy. We then headed down to Hollywood Blvd to do some shopping. After getting bailed up by a tour man only about 3 meters from where the car dropped us off we were booked on a city and stars homes tour. We got in a little bit of shopping and then headed off on the tour. We were taken to a lookout to see a view of downtown LA and the Hollywood sign and then through the streets of Hollywood and Beverly Hills to see the multi million dollar mansions of the stars. Some of the homes were saw were those of George Clooney, Cameron Diaz, Paris Hilton, The Spellings, Halle Berry, Playboy Mansion, Dr Phil, Michael Jackson and Britney Spears. Our tour guide was pretty annoying but it was a good way to see the town! The only issue was that it is winter here and the sun starts to set not long after 4pm. We were in an open top bus and poor Wade was dressed like he lives in Brisbane (in shorts) and Mick only had a short sleeve shirt on (it was freezing)! We went straight back to the hotel to defrost before heading back to Citywalk for some dinner and more shopping! Dinner tonight was at Wolfgang Puck - which was pretty nice. We then went back into Universal where Bel and Jo went and saw the Grinchmas Christmas Tree Lighting and Wade and Scott hit the Jurassic Park ride.

Here are some photos from our first couple of days:

Arrival at LAX


The walkway to Universal



Our Hotel

Breakfast!

Universal Citywalk and Entrance



Lined up for the Studio Backlot Tour

Grinchmas Tree!

Universal

Grinchmas Tree Lighting