Day 20

We woke up for the last time in our little Hollywood Hills apartment, had a shower and finished packing our suitcases. Before leaving we went to the back of the house and had a last look at the Hollywood sign and reservoir, we hadn’t really had time to do this before and checking them out today made us realise the prime spot we were in, we hadn’t really appreciated it until now, I don’t think.

We loaded up the car, found our host Jackie who we hadn’t seen since checking in. We had a nice chat, she kept saying about us being from Australia, every time I reminded her we were from England she laughed and told us we seem more chilled out than her usual British guests, although she never said British, always people from London so I reckon that’s why we seemed chilled, obviously Londoners are uptight and poncy! It turns out her husband was away for two weeks and she was missing him, this led to a conversation about what they actual do for a living in LA. Her husband has a company which has something to do with concerts, he’s also a producer of some sort, they’re also buying a second house to rent out, it’s just under the Hollywood sign, next to the big white Spanish house which used to be Madonna’s! These people are loaded!

We left the apartment and drove down to Venice Beach, it still looked overcast but we had nothing else to do so we thought we’d at least have a walk around. It was lunch time by the time we got there so we stopped for a burger at a place called Larry’s, again it was quite yummy. We had a bowl of sweet potato fries between us, these are my new favourite food.

By the time we’d finished eating there was a bit of blue sky and it was quite warm so we went to the beach and set up near the shore so we could hear the waves. Both of us fell asleep quite quickly. When we woke up there was no clouds left in the sky, the sun was directly above us and my legs were definitely feeling a bit tingly. Natalie went to the ‘restroom’ and came back with an ice cream, we both realised we were getting sunburnt so eventually decided to leave the beach.

We had a stroll down to the canals, checked out some of the nice houses and decided we quite liked this area. Maybe not everything in LA is rubbish and ugly.

We went back to the car, sat with the air con on for a bit while we discussed whether or not to find a bar to have a drink but decided to just return the car and get to the airport. There seemed to be no point in delaying the inevitable, the holiday was almost over.

On the drive to National car return we kept our eyes peeled for the last time, trying to find the five licence plates we were yet to spot. They were all in hiding, what made this even more frustrating was that we saw so many of the other 45 that it felt like a greatest hits of states we’d seen over the road trip. As most of the required states are on the east coast we see it as a sign that we need to return and do New England in the future. Handing the keys over and saying goodbye to the Enormo-mobile made me feel sad, we’ve had some good times in that fella.

Check in at the airport went fairly smoothly, although initially we were not sitting together. We paid a £40 each to upgrade to extra legroom seats which meant we would be next to each other, we thought it was worth it. I’ll definitely be happier during take off and landing, that’s for sure!

LA airport is pretty basic compared to Heathrow, there is a tiny duty free shop, a couple of places to get food and a couple of shops. As we had three hours to wait and these places looked a bit rubbish we took advantage of Natalie’s Priority Pass which she got with her Co-op bank account. This gives Natalie (and me as her guest) access to certain VIP areas, there are comfy leather sofas, free food and drink (including alcohol), a TV and wifi connection. It helped a little bit being in the nice quite area away from the riff raff but it didn’t really stop me feeling 100% depressed about our holiday being over.

And so, we end this post with a heavy heart but with many happy memories. It’s been another amazing holiday, we can’t wait to get planning the next.

Day 19

In our schedule, today had originally been set aside for some beach time, but the weather in LA didn’t get the memo and it was cloudy by the coast (I think the weather forecasters like to call it “a heavy marine layer”)  The weather in LA can be strange it seems. 95F in the valley, a little bit cooler in the hills and 20 degrees cooler by the coast.

When we were at Santa Monica the other day it was 69 degrees, whereas it had been in the 90s before we drove down there.

Anyway, we decided to drive to Norwalk instead and visit Golf ‘n Stuff, which as its name says is a collection of four miniature golf courses and a few arcades. The reason for our journey there is that this is the same place that Daniel Larusso takes Ali on a date in the 80s classic ‘The Karate Kid’.

Laura used to play Karate Kid with her brother when growing up, although she had to play the baddie as her brother was always Daniel-San.

The golf courses are beautiful and immaculately maintained – for a miniature golf course.

We played 18 holes on course 3, which featured cool holes like a frosted gingerbread house, a fort and a castle. Lots of the holes were split level, so you had to try and sink the ball into the ‘best shot’ hole and it would then roll down a tube and pop out on the putting green. It was great fun.

We almost had the place to ourselves (well, it was a Monday lunchtime) and it was baking hot. After 18 holes, Laura was narrowly defeated by me. I clearly found my form on the last 9 as I was one under par.

In the arcade we spent lots of money on driving games, a motorbike game (which was awesome!), skeeball, air hockey and pinball. The Transformers pinball machine proved yet again that everything related to the film is actually better than the film itself.

We then drove to downtown to get parked, fed and ready for Taylor Swift.

After picking up our tickets at the Staples Center box office (which seemed to require the lady behind the box office to check everything on our ID about four times) we went over the road to LA Live to get some dinner. We put our name down for a table and sat and waited for our name to be called.

Everyone at the restaurant seemed to be going to see Taylor Swift as well. Everywhere we looked it was a sea of red, homemade signs, girls dressed up, people in costumes, homemade dresses. It was really sweet.

We seemed to be the only two people that were just dressed normally. We had a lovely burger but ate up quickly so that we could get into the venue and watch the support acts. On the way in to the arena Natalie bought a foam light stick for $5 (as I suspected she got bored with holding it quite early into the gig). We made our way through the crowd and to our seats which actually had a much better view of the stage than I expected, despite them being at the back of the arena. We managed to catch the end of the first support act, Casey James, I recognised him from a series of American Idol, he was good then and he was very good now, I enjoyed the couple of songs we saw.

Next up was Ed Sheeran, we weren’t too bothered about seeing him as we’d gone to a gig of his a while back and we weren’t all that impressed with him, he got a bit boring when watching him for a whole set. We watched a couple of his songs, he was good and America clearly loves him. We decided to make the most of his success and check out the merchandise store while he was on as the queue had been to big to bother with earlier. Now, usually we wouldn’t buy anything from a concert, but as we were in America and there was a t-shirt that we both liked we decided we would buy it, it would be a nice souvenir from the holiday. We also could wear our matching tees and look really cool when we go to see Taylor Swift when the tour comes to the UK!

We asked a girl to take a photo of us and got chatting, it turned out that her boyfriend was from London, they’d met at summer camp two years ago. They were both lovely, he was one of the only boys we saw at the concert. We also got talking to the two girls sitting next to us, they were from Orange County and had seen Taylor Swift quite a few times, we were happy when they agreed that the driving in LA was crazy, we were starting to think we were being big babies about it.

Finally, the lights went down, the audience screamed at about a million decibels, my eardrums almost burst and the drum beat of State of Grace started to play. Taylor’s silhouette appeared on a big curtain, everyone screamed even louder and then she appeared, the crowd went mad, two girls in front of us wearing customised matching dresses jumped up and down waving their arms and their light sticks, they didn’t stop jumping and waving until the concert ended!

The gig was amazing, she played almost all of the songs from the album Red and threw a few old songs in too, like You Belong With Me and Love Story. For a while Taylor came to a second stage at the back of the arena so we had a really good view at that point. Ed Sheeran came on stage and sang Everything Has Changed, a song that’s on the album. She also talks to the audience quite a lot, explaining the meaning of the songs as an introduction to what’s coming next. It’s clearly very rehearsed and all about emotions and being the best person you are etc, but as she’s got quite a lot of younger fans it works really well. I can imagine that the young audience would take a lot from what she’s saying and would aspire to be the sort of person that Taylor would be proud of!

Taylor Swift often has special guests join her on stage, especially when she’s playing in Los Angeles so we were hoping she’d have someone good come on for this gig. About half way in she introduced her first special guest, she was from the UK, she’d had a song that had been stuck in her head all summer and she knew everyone else would be the same. We were asked to welcome…Cher Lloyd. Er, Cher Lloyd? The Cher Lloyd from X Factor who the media hated and who hasn’t really been heard of for a couple of years? Yes, that Cher Lloyd. She’d apparently had a big summer hit with Want You Back and everyone in the stadium went crazy for her. After getting over the initial shock (and slight disappointment – she’d had Carly Simon a few shows back!), we danced along and realised that the song was indeed very catchy and we remembered that we liked (and voted for) Cher when she was in X Factor, it was nice that she was doing well over here. There was another guest Sara Bareilles (singer of Not Gonna Write You A Love Song), they did her song Brave. It was also good.

Before we knew it, the concert was over, we said goodbye to Taylor Swift and to the Staples Centre. We got back on the freeway, made it home much quicker than expected, we were ready to sit in traffic for ages but there wasn’t any! We watched a bit of Cheers and Frasier while faffing about and finally went to bed for the last time this holiday.

Day 18

We had another studio organised for today, this time it was Warner Bros and it was another early start. We went straight there, found a parking spot on the street, which saved us £7. During the short walk to the studio the most amazing thing happened; we saw Hawaii. Obviously not Hawaii the place, no, even better than that, we saw Hawaii the licence plate. Out of all 50 of the states, we were most prepared to go home without that one.

Once we’d got over the excitement we made our way into the studio reception, straight away this seemed different to the Paramount. We were shown into a gift store and Starbucks, there was a much more relaxed atmosphere. We got a cup of tea and a croissant, had a few minutes wait and then were shown into a small cinema room where we watched a short video montage about WB and the products they’re famous for. I don’t think I really appreciated how many of my favourite films and TV shows are made by them. The video really set the scene and got me very excited about what I was about to experience.

We met our tour guide, Cody who showed us out to the tour cart and asked us what TV shows we enjoy watching. Nobody really seemed to speak up so I reeled off a few of my favourites and was sure to mention Pretty Little Liars as I know they film the show at the studio. Cody seemed happy that we’d contributed and proceeded to drive us to our first destination, the Warner Bros Museum. This two story building housed a bunch of costumes and props including a whole level dedicated to Harry Potter. We weren’t allowed to take photos for copyright reasons but we saw some stuff from Fringe, Batman, including the last Joker costume worn by Heath Ledger, the new Superman costume from Man of Steel, Big Bang Theory. There were costumes, props and models from Harry Potter, we were even allowed to sit on a stool and get ‘sorted’ into our Hogwarts houses, Nat got Gryffindor, I apparently am a Slytherin; the sorting hat clearly knows nothing, I think I’m Hufflepuff.

Cody then drove us to the back lot where, like yesterday, we saw more outdoor sets. This was even more exciting today as Warner Bros has an area which is known as ‘Any Town, USA’, it’s a town square which pops up in lots of films and TV shows, it’s Rosewood in Pretty Littlie Liars, Star’s Hollow in the Gilmore Girls and was the location of the parade at the beginning of The Muppets movie which came out a few years ago. We found it very interesting to hear the different shows that the same houses and shops appear in; for example, Emily’s house in Pretty Little Liars is the Geller childhood house in Friends. The door was open and we could see the staircase, the very same one where a moustached Ross sits and plays his mini keyboard while fat Monica and Rachel get ready for prom. Cool.

Anytown USA. They filmed the big opening musical scene of the Muppet Movie here. Plus Pretty Little Liars and The Gilmore Girls.

Monica and Rachel left this house on their prom night. It's also Emily's house in PLL. 

It may not look like it at the moment, but when dressed correctly, this is Sheldon & Leonard's apartment from The Big Bang Theory.

The elevated train entrance from E.R.

We drove around the sound stages and were taken into two different show stages today but again we weren’t allowed to take any photos so we had to look really hard and make sure we took images with our eyes and brain! First we were taken to see The Big Bang Theory set, we sat in the audience seats while Cody told us a bit about the filming schedule of a typical sitcom. The sets looked really small compared to what we see on TV, but it was really cool to see Leonard and Sheldon’s apartment, the hallway and Penny’s apartment.

Next Cody took us to stage 7, this is where in interior sets for Pretty Little Liars are located. At this point I was getting quite excited, nobody on the tour really understood as I was the only person who watches the show. As we walked around I was getting quite giddy and pointing out little details to Natalie who has at least seen a couple of episodes. I didn’t care if I looked like a nerd, I was very excited to be in the main characters’ bedrooms, classroom and school garden sets. It was cool to be able to get close enough to see all of the little details, like the photos that are in the bedrooms and posters on the wall of the school.

At this point we noticed that none of the other guests seemed to be getting that excited about being on such a cool tour. It was the same on yesterday’s tour too. If it wasn’t for us nobody would’ve said anything or shown any enthusiasm. It was strange, almost like the other nine people had never even heard of TV never mind had a favourite show.

We went to see some famous cars, we were allowed to photos of these. As there were quite a few Batmobiles I thought I’d tell Cody about Wollaton Park becoming Wayne Manor in The Dark Knight Rises, he was pretty impressed. See, it’s not all about LA; Nottingham is cool too.

The final stop on the tour was to the props department, we got to walk around a huge warehouse full of props which are used over and over in different shows, this time we could touch and take photos. Cody showed us a big plastic sheet of fake blood. I got excited and asked if I could pretend to be dead, the other tour guests cracked a bit of a smile as I lay on the floor with the blood under my head, Natalie got a ‘dead’ photo too and at least one of the kids copied me later on. Maybe they were excited but shy.

It was in this warehouse where we came face to face with the set of Central Perk, the whole set is pretty much complete and none of the components will ever be used again as the props are so recognisable. The studio can’t use something in CSI that an audience member might recognise from Friends as it would make it less believable. This works out for us as it meant we could sit on the actual real sofa from the most famous coffee shop in the world. It was cool, even the other people on the tour seemed to like that. Everyone likes Friends.

On the Central Perk set

We returned to the gift shop shortly after, bought a few bits and bobs then made our way to Beverly Hills to continue our geeky day of Film and TV with the Out of the Box exhibition at The Paley Centre for Media. This was an exhibition of even more props from some of our favourite TV shows, including Seinfeld, ER, Gilmore Girls and even more Friends and Fringe.

Big Bang Theory stuff!

Monk's diner booth from Seinfeld!

Jerry's costume from Seinfeld

The chicken Monica wears when Chandler tells her he loves her.

Walter's coat from Fringe.

Props from Fringe

Ross's laminated list of people he can cheat on Rachel with.

The adult film that Phoebe's twin sister starred in.

The Gellerbowl trophy!

Laura sat on Bill Compton's sofa from True Blood

After that we considered going for a walk down Rodeo Drive, but then we decided against this as, although it’s an important scene in Pretty Woman, we don’t like posh clothes shops. I saw the road sign and that was enough for me. We continued down Santa Monica Boulevard and parked up, walked along the beach front and to Santa Monica Pier. The weather at the coast is so different to Hollywood and even more different to our apartment in the hills. It was cloudy and pretty cool down by the sea, I was glad to have packed my jeans and got changed into them and a hoody. It felt like being in Brighton more than California. The pier was like most other seaside piers, a bit run down and old fashioned, but very busy and full of fun things for kids to do. We had a walk up to the end and on the way back stopped off in the arcade and played a bit of pinball, it was nice to see some retro machines in there rather than just the shoot ‘em ups you mostly see these days.

Where's the sun?

Star Wars pinball was fab - even if it was Phantom Menace themed. 

We had a stroll along the 3^rd Ave Promenade which was very nice, with buskers and people lining the road. As we’d had a couple of recommendations for it, we went to Barney’s Beanery for some dinner. It was a pretty cool looking bar, the décor was quite eccentric and very apt for this holiday as the walls were covered in licence plates. Still no Delaware though. Not that it would count, it’s cheating if it’s not on a car. The food was nice and there was quite a nice atmosphere.

We finished our meal, found our car park and came home. It was quite early but we were both pretty tired, two and half weeks of holidaying is obviously taking its toll on us. We watched a bit of telly, chilled out and caught up on the blog. Finally. Then we went to bed, excited about tomorrow’s evening entertainment, Taylor Swift Live at the Staples Centre. 

Day 17

First stop this morning was downtown Hollywood for the Paramount Studios Tour. Our tour guide Justin showed us some really cool stuff. And because it was a Saturday, we got to go in to lots of places that are normally out of bounds during the working week.

In the reception we saw the actual best picture Oscars for films like The Godfather and Forrest Gump. We went on the real working TV sets for shows Dr Phil and Instant Mom. We also saw lots of filming locations on the site, like the New York set where the Friends episode “The One With The Baby On The Bus” was shot and the Cake Baby shop from Bridesmaids, which as it turns out, was the same shop used in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. We also saw locations from Rizzoli & Isles, which is a show that Laura likes.

Feeling how heavy a real Oscar statue is with a weight replica.

THE bench from Forrest Gump

The facades on the right are used for New York buildings (the 'Marble Rye' episode of Seinfeld was something I recognised them from. Also from Laura's fave show 'Rizzoli & Isles'

Seeing behind the scenes at a real life studio was just fab. Next we drove up to Griffith Park and walked up to the observatory. The view from there was great, but as we already have a very similar view from our apartment we were a bit like “meh! Seen it already”. We got tickets to the planetarium and watched a fantastic show which talked about our place in the universe and brought a tear to my eye. It was so good. The projection and seating were superb. Having already seen a similar show at Leicester’s Space Centre, I can safely say that the Griffith Observatory one was far superior. Sorry Leicester.

Waiting for the show to start in the super comfy reclining seats. 

On the roof we queued up and had a look through the telescope and saw Venus (that was cool!) before walking back to car. We were starving by now so went downtown to Umami burger.

The burger at Umami was easily, without a doubt, the BEST BURGER I’ve ever eaten. And the sweet potato fries were amazing too. They had a cinnamon sweet salt sprinkle on them. Mmmmm! The burger was so good in fact that we’ve cleared a spot in our schedule to make sure we can squeeze another one in before we have to leave LA.

After Umami we went back to the apartment and got ready for the Tchaikovsky spectacular at the Hollywood Bowl. We put jeans on and took jumpers as we knew it would be quite cool later.

We parked in a stacked lot at the bowl (No early exit! the sign warned) and went to collect our tickets. On the way to the box office we passed lots of people eating picnics and drinking wine outside the bowl. The whole area was buzzing with a kind of relaxed, sophisticated excitement.

We browsed the gift shop and bought a few bits and bobs, because obviously everyone needs a miniature violin fridge magnet!

With a drink each in hand we made our way to our seats. We were about half way back and slightly to the side – a fab view. The bench seats were surprisingly comfortable.

After we sat down the couple beside us started chatting to us and then the couple behind joined in. They were so friendly and the half hour before the show started just flew by as we talked about America, our trip and where we’d been. The guy next to us, Jack, offered us some of his Merlot (he had a bottle) and I found it difficult to refuse. He then offered us something called a lacy cookie – which was also difficult to refuse!

The couple behind us, Val & Dan, were the most chatty and as we talked we shared our experience of San Francisco (they too had queued for Mama’s breakfast!) and the chilly weather. Val was originally from New York, Dan is a native Californian and they were really friendly. We do seem to have great luck at finding friendly locals.

The lights dimmed, the maestro came out and the orchestra started. The opening piece was from Swan Lake and it was magnificent. Some of the following music was knew to both of us, but still very enjoyable.

After the interval (when we chatted more to our neighbours) the evening concluded with Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, complete with colour guard, brass band, drum corps and fireworks in synch to the music. It was brilliant and over far too quickly.

Happy and with smiles on our faces we slowly filed out (along with the other 17,000 people) and went back to the car. I grabbed a hot dog on the way that I decided would be either delicious or would kill me (it was the former as I’m still alive) as it was being cooked in a shopping trolley.