Tuesday Sept 16th to Thursday Sept 18th Hollywood

It was a short drive from Refugio Beach to LA, only 2 and a half hours. We drove along the coast looking at all the mansions hidden in the hills and looking at all the beautiful beaches along the way. We passed through Malibu and saw the huge beaches that the stars perch themselves on for their perfect Californian sun tans! We stopped off at a small shopping mall to get something to eat and get some wine. The faces that we saw in the shops were unreal – huge lips, plastercined cheeks, not to mention the huge bosoms!!

Our hotel in Hollywood was gorgeous and had framed pictures and signatures of Frank Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe etc. It was just a few blocks away from Hollywood Boulevard, the Pantages Theatre and Capitol Records. We walked by the Theatre and saw that Wicked was on. We had heard a lot about the show and had wanted to see it for a while so we got tickets for it for that night.

We walked along Hollywood Boulevard and saw all the stars in the pavement. We wanted to see the handprints of the actors and actresses in the pavement at the Chinese Theatre but there was a movie premier on so that had the whole are cornered off. It was the premiere of Eagle Eye with Shia La Boeuf from Transformers. There were lots of people crowded around and lots of paparazzi but we didn’t know what time the stars were arriving – we waited for about 15 minutes and then went on – we had a show to go to!!

Wicked was fantastic!! It’s about the Wicked Witch in the Wizard of Oz and how she grew up and became the wicked witch. The singing was amazing and the characters were so funny. Despite only getting tickets for the show that day, we actually got pretty good seats.

The next day we went to Universal Studios which was amazing!! For anyone, that doesnt know what Universal Studios is, its a sort of theme park based around the actual studios that Universal use to make their movies. We went on the Studio tour which was really cool. You get on a tram and they bring you around all the outdoor studios. You get to see all the building facades that they use to film movies and TV shows.

We saw one of the original Delorean cars that they used in back to the future, we saw the motel and house from Psycho and we saw and were on Wisteria Lane where they film Desperate Housewives! We nearly had to bypass Wisteria Lane coz they were filming but by the time we got to it, they had finished filming! That was the highlight of Hollywood for me!

Dolorean! - it was a bit hard to get the picture sitting in the tram

Psycho!!

Wisteria Lane!!

A huge plane that Steven Spielberg bought for the movie War of the Worlds and then cut it into shreds!!

We also got to go on some pretty cool rides, one of which was the Mummy. It was really slow to start and then all of a sudden it got really dark and just took off, leaving our stomachs behind!! It was pitch black and it went up and down all sort of bends and bumps and then smoke started coming out which was really scary and then as quick as it started, we were back at the start! Best ride I've ever been on!!

Ian below with Matt Damon, he just happened to be standing there alone and he obliged for a quick photo. He's quite small. That is the actual mini used in the first Buourne film.