Kirsty and Kirstine met at Heathrow ready for the long flight to LA. Kirsty was very excited. They landed in LA, collected the hire car and drove to the hotel to await the arrival of the others. Bryony and her group all met up at Heathrow and then also flew to LA. Everyone was very tired after the long day travelling and eager to get to bed.
Everyone woke up bright and early especially due to the time difference. We decided to head down to Sunset Boulevard and to take the scenic route to Santa Monica. We stopped off on route to watch the surfing. We arrived at the pier and had a wander around. We had yummy hot dogs for lunch. We then went to the aquarium where Miriam was very brave touching the star fish and sea cucumbers! Pacific Park is the theme park on the pier and we rode on lots of rides. The dodgems were such fun. In the evening we went on the beach where some of us swam in the sea. We had a lovely dinner and set off late back to the hotel.
This morning after another fabulous breakfast we headed to The Walk of Fame. After parking the car, we followed “The Stars” to Madame Tussauds and had a brilliant morning taking photos with the wax works. After lunch we took a tour of the star’s homes where many stars live seeing the likes of Tom Cruise and Christina Aguilera’s home. Miriam was very excited to see where some of the scenes from the film Pretty Woman were filmed. After having a good look around some of the gift shops we made our way back to the hotel to get ready for our evening meal. Tonight for our evening meal we enjoyed delicious Italian food.
The time change caught up with us today and made us all tired. So, after breakfast we headed to the supermarket to get some drinks and snacks and then back to the hotel for a picnic lunch around the pool. We had a lovely afternoon sunbathing and swimming. We all felt very relaxed and enjoyed the glorious sunshine. Later we got ready to go out for a meal and we walked to a near-by Filipino restaurant. The food was delicious, no one had eaten Filipino recipes before and all agreed it was lovely (originating from the Philippines). After dinner some of us headed to the courtyard garden bar, at the hotel, for a drink.
Today we drove to Griffiths Park to have a look around, we saw the Griffiths Observatory. It was a very popular place for the locals to spend the weekend, hiking in the hills. We had a picnic lunch in the lovely sunshine. We then set off relying on Bryony to navigate us in order to find the perfect spot for an excellent picture of the Hollywood Sign! We drove through Hollywood Lane. After taking our picture and taking a break for a drink we decided to explore Griffiths Park some more. We stopped at the vintage merry-go-round and treated ourselves to an ice-cream. We arrived back tired from our adventures and got ready for our evening That night on our food around the world we went to a Mexican restaurant! This was at the Mexican Village.
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Today was to be a busy day. We set off for Long beach, to visit the Pacific Aquarium. We saw the sharks and the sting rays, we were even able to touch the baby rays and the crabs! We then saw the jellyfish, seahorses and sea dragons at the Aquarium. After a stop for lunch we continued around the Aquarium where we saw the penguins and we also spotted Nemo and Dory! Later that afternoon we embarked on our Whale Watching Cruise. We were very lucky to see a humpback whale leaping in the air as it caught its food! We also came across a massive pod of common dolphins who were feeding, followed by some Californian sea lions. Despite most of us feeling queasy it was a fabulous boat ride.
Today we spilt into 2 groups. Bryony, Miriam and Kirsty went to Six Flags to ride on the roller coasters. While Philip Lionel and Kirstine went to Los Angeles Zoo for a more relaxed day! At the zoo we saw many animals such as lions, tigers and bears. Philip liked the elephants best. We then had a look around the gift shop to get those all-important gifts. The other group at Six Flags had a fabulous time on the rides, getting soaked on some of them (all part of the fun!). Kirsty bought a batman cape and Miriam got herself a super girl cape. We all enjoyed our day out a lot. In the evening we went to Denny’s for our important American dinner.
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Today we had a relaxing day swimming in the pool and relaxing in the garden. After lunch we headed to Venice beach. We enjoyed an ice cream while watching people playing basketball and working out on muscle beach! We wandered along the front buying our purchases in the shops. We then went on to the beach. Some of us had a swim in the sea until sunset. It was a lovely afternoon. That evening we had an amazing dinner at The Cheesecake factory. We could manage pudding but had to take a slice of cheesecake home for later!
Today we went to Universal Studios. We arrived and watched our first show ‘Water world’ which was fantastic. Then we watched ‘Animal Actors’ which was a show with animals doing different tricks. After lunch we took the Studio Backlot Tour which was great with a scene showing King Kong fighting with a tyrannosaurus rex! Philip enjoyed the Harry Potter ride the best. Lionel enjoyed the walking dead walk through the best. Miriam enjoyed the Jurassic Park waterslide the most and Kirsty said every ride was her favourite! Everyone was disappointed when the park closed as we had all had a brilliant day. That evening we went to a Food Hall with various choices for dinning. Some chose Chinese meals, some KFC and others opted for a local restaurant.
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Today some of the group are flying home. After a relaxing day around the pool Kirsty and Kirstine said good bye as the rest of the group flew home. Kirsty and Kirstine were staying on to fly to New York for the New York holiday on Sunday.
Today Kirsty and Kirstine went to the Hollywood Studio Tour. They had a tour cart and saw some film sets used for both films and TV series. They were shown around a sound studio and there was also an area known as ‘The Bat Cave’ which housed lots of the vehicles from the Bat Man movies. They then saw a prop store which had the throne from the TV show the Game of Thrones and a replica of the desk from the oval office in the White House. They had their photos taken with a green screen behind and it then looked like they were in a movie. It was a really good day.
Today was a day for relaxing by the pool to recharge batteries ready for the early 3am start on the following day. With the early start in mind Kirsty and Kirstine packed their bags and had an early night.