LA!
Posted by Sarah O'Neill , Wednesday 15 February 2012 10:13
We arrived in LA on Tuesday 28th June, quite late, so we just got in a taxi and headed straight for our accommodation. We had spent a long time researching where to stay in LA, and one place stood out for it's value and the fact it looked really nice. It was called 'Stay On Beverly', and was billed as a hostel for adults. There was no reception desk or anything like that, a few days before we arrived the guy emailed us a code to let us through the front door. We also had a code to get into our bedroom. The bathrooms were communal, but very nice, and really modern and clean. We arrived fine, got in the door and found our room, which was a plain, decent sized room, with a very comfy bed and IPod dock and a flat screen TV on the wall, perfect! Unfortunately the internet was not working, which was a real problem as we had planned to find our way around using the wonderful world wide web once we had arrived! We had no idea how to get anywhere, and as it wasn't really a hotel kinda place there were no brochures etc!!! So, I text the owner guy even though it was late, in the hope that he could sort it by morning. Second later there was a knock at the door, and we were in luck, the owner was there, and he was able to sort it right away but turning it off and on again (that old trick!) and showed us where the switch was if it happened again! So, we had the internet up and running, a cup of tea from the little breakfast station in the corridor, and began to form our plans!
The next morning we got up and caught the bus to the underground station, the bus stop was just a one minute walk from our hostel. We assumed we could buy tickets on the bus, but they expected us to have pre-paid tickets, when we asked where we could get one, the man looked at us, and then waved us on and said don't worry, which was great! The short bus ride took us to the underground station where we could get all day passes. Ben is always fab to have around when negotiating underground systems, so I just follow him! We got straight to Hollywood Boulevard! You come up escalators onto a bustling street, with the famous stars in the pavement! We had a walk around, found the Chinese Theatre where the original handprints in the concrete are, and lots of people dressed as famous celebs mill around for photos and tips. We had a good walk along Hollywood Boulevard, the weather was really hot, and we soaked up the atmosphere! We went to the best place to see the Hollywood sign, which is kind of in a bit mall type area, with three levels of very open walkways that give you a good view and perfect photo opp. It is a lot further away than you imagine, and doesn't actually come out that well in photos, but it is the only spot for a photo, unless you venture off the beaten track and try to get closer, but it was far too hot to bother! We were hanging around the Chinese Theatre area as we had heard that they give out free tickets to see live tapings of comedy shows sometimes, but we hadn't seen anyone that looked like they were doing that! So we gave up and booked a tour to 'See the Star's Homes' instead. Nearly as soon as we had done that, a man approached us and offered us tickets to a live taping of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson that afternoon!!! So, we took the tickets, and were luckily able to rearrange our Star Homes tour for the next day! We had a quick lunch, and had to get a bus to the CBS studios. We had a bit of time queueing, where we saw people ready to go and be the audience in The Price is Right, as they all had names and numbers, which would have been really fun to see, and possibly be in! As we were waiting, a comedian came to get the crowd going so they would make a good audience, so that was quite fun! We eventually got into the studio, and the comedian guy was on hand to keep the atmosphere buzzing inbetween breaks and stuff. The show was very funny, and the guy Craig Ferguson (a Scot) was great. The music was Eliza Doolittle, and that was fab, but that was going to aired on a different show, not that night. The other guests were not that memorable, a fat comedian that we didn't know, and Mary Louise Parker, who stars in the show Weeds, but she was a little funny and didn't make Craig's job easy!!!! It was so fun to be there anyway, and to have been in a live studio! The show was on that night, but we only caught the beginning as it was on Late Late, and we were tired after our first day in Hollywood!
The next day we had our Tour of the Stars Homes! It was us and a bunch of others, about 16 altogether in a large open top mini van type thing, with a fun guide! We got taken all around the Hollywood hills, and shown mostly hedge rows and gates, and were told who lived behind them! I was excited to see Angela Lansbury's house (star of Murder She Wrote!) and Michael Jackson's old home where he died. After the tour, we got a ticket for an Open top Bus ride, with a 2 day pass, so we could use it to get around. We headed for Rodeo Drive, and had some good commentary on the way. Enjoyed walking up Rodeo Drive, but was extremely expensive!!!!!! We got the bus back to Hollywood Boulevard, and on the way we stopped at The Grove a famers market area, which we thought we could have tea at. It was a brilliant place, with a shopping area, and also a huge farmers market, open until late. It was hard to choose what to have for dinner, but we both went for the Gumbo! It was good! We got the bus back to Hollywood, then the underground and bus back to our hostel, which took quite a while, but we could sit down and relax after a long day exploring!
On our last day we used our open top bus ticket to get to the beach. This was not infact the best way to get there, and was quite a long way, but enjoyed the commentary on the way! We went to Venice Beach, which has a huge pier, and you can walk for miles along all the different area, including Muscle Beach, where all the men work out, and along the walkway where you often see rollerbladers in the movies! We walked a long way, and saw lots, and then turned back to walk back to where we started! We had lunch at Bubba Gump's Shrimp Co, which is straight out of Forest Gump! it was delish! We then lazed on the beach for a while, before catching our bus back to Hollywood, and then the underground and bus back to the hostel to pack for our early morning bus to Vegas!!!!!
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