Los Angeles Diary

Saturday 23rd August

We crossed the dateline - had two Saturday nights and are now in Hollywood!

Well - Saturday 23rd has been a really strange day for us!! We started in Fiji - spent the mornng there - leaving the island on the boat at 1.30pm. We had a long transfer to mainland Fiji arriving about 6pm and finally fying out at 10pm. The flight to LA was just over 11 hours and we arrived in LA at 1.20pm Saturday (so 10 minutes before we left the island in Fiji - how odd is that!!!) Thankfully we all slept on the flight and seemed to have no effect at all with the change. We had gone from being 11 hours ahead of UK time to 8 hours behind during one flight!

Anyway - Los Angeles airport has been the most horrific thing we have done in the 5 weeks we have been away. The flight landed at 1.20pm - it took us wel over an hour to get through passprt control - by the time we arrived at the baggage caousel our 4 bags were going around all on their own - then we had to join the customs queue and that took almost an hour! Two hours to get out the airport!! BUT - the didgeridoo - in Fiji we spoke to the supervisor and as soon as we mentioned a didgeridoo he said "are you Mr Fraser?" - things seemed to be looking up!! - until he then said "it still hasn't turned up" we were resigned to the fact we would never see (or hear (what a relief!!!)) it again. WHen we finally got through customs etc in LA David on the off chance went to customer services and - yes - a miracle - they had a didgeridoo with our details and flight number sat on their desk!!! Admittedly - the didgeridoo we now have is not the didgeridoo that was rmeoved from us!! We are not sure whose it is - all we know is - it is a much bigger and much more expensive one than was confiscated - so we left the airport at a fast trot (with a very hppy Jack) (and a not spo happy mother who has again been reminded of the sounds of a 12 year old imitating a strangled swan on a long piece of wood - hmmmm!)

Anyway - we finally collected a hire car - a rather unpleasant green jeep- were old they provide no maps at all - and were set free on the roads of LA! We stopped at a very helpful petrol station and bought maps which helped although US roads really are a law unto themselves!!

We stayed at the Magic Castle Hotel that is linked to a magic club. The hotel room was the biggest I have ever seen!! It had a kitchen with , lounge, dining table, bedroom (the size of a large flat really!) the swimming pool is open 24 hours (and the boys did go swimming at 11pm!) and the staff on the front desk operate a free minibar service - providing as much chocolate, crisps, fizzy drinks etc as you want (the boys were in heaven!) We were a 5 minute walk from Hollywood Boulevard and walked down for soemthing to eat and to see the Walk of Fame and Mann Theatre with the celebrity hand and footprints - the boys even met someone rather famous!! See the pics!

Sunday 24th August

We visited the Hollywood Sign, the Magic Club & Venice Beach

We tried our hardest to get up early today but it just wasn't happening!! (The effect of two saturday nights in a row and very little sleep taking effect!!) we didn;t do too bad though and managed to drive out to a good point to see the Hollywood Sign before the magic show we had booked at 11am. The traffic was chaotic despite being Sunday which meant it was quite a rush - but we made it!

We went to the Magic Show at the Magic Castle (next to the hotel) under 21's are only allowed in on Sundays for brunch - and have to be dressed in trousers and smart - (normal dress is black tie and cocktail dresses etc) so we had to find out trousers and shoes etc - which was interesting as it was so hot outside (the hotel offered to drive us to the club - it was literally next door - a 2 minute walk!! - only Americans would even consider that surely!!) You couldn't take pictures inside (it was magic!) but I have a picture of Sam by the main door (you had to say open sesame to the owl on the bookshelf and it opened!!!) and some pics of the outside

We had brunch there and then saw our first magic show - it was more of a comedy act - childrens magic which although quite funny was nothing special. We then saw another one - which was the most dire thing any of us have ever seen!!!
I have just found his website if any of you are mad enough http://www.mydogbravo.com/ - he was with his owner Jillian - and we were led to believe this dog could count and do maths by tapping his paw on a tambourine - I lost the will to live halfway through it was so dire!!!He was quite a cute dog though!! By far the best magciian we saw was a 13 year old who did close up magic and was truly amazing!! I have no idea how he did his magic - but we were well impressed!

We then drove through Hollwood and Beverly Hills - visiting Rodeo Drive, The Regent Beverly Wishire (my favourite Pretty Woman locations!!) a house called the Witch's house (just a cool house that has been used in some old films) and then headed out along Santa Monica Boulevard (obviously singing!!) and route 66 to Venice Beach (a huge sandy beach - lots of surfers - lots of people on the promenade - roller bladers, men on skateboards with sily little dogs etc!!) so we sat on the beach until sunset before eating nearby.

Sam saw a lot of cars that he liked round and about so we have pics of them too!!

The boys really wanted to go to the "Ripleys Believe it or Not " museum back in Hollywood so we drove back (about 45 minutes to see when it was open - we got back just after 10pm and it was open util midnight (everything on Hollywood Boulevard seemed to be!) so much to the boys delight we dropped the car back at the hotel and went there about 10.30pm getting back to the hotel just after midnight (I did say no to a swim after all this too!!!)

Monday 25th August

and so - the end is near.....

We were up (David and I!) at 7am the next morning to do the final packing ready for the flight home!! The boys were dragged up at about 8am (being sent straight to the pool helped a little (it was just outside our patio doors so really easy!!) After cramming it all back in the car and stocking up on snacks we headed out to Hollywood Lake to another view of the sign as we had been so rushed the other day

We drove around passed the Warner Brother Studios

We saw Universal Studios too but no celebrities! Then it was time to head to the airport ready for our 5.45pm flightback home.

Tuesday 26th August

we are home!

Well it was a really smooth flight leaving just on time and arriving home about 30 minutes early. Passport control and baggage collection was fine and the taxi arrived just after us (despite having been stuck in an accident on the M4) and we arrived home just after 2pm.

We are still trying to digest all that we have seen and done - it has been absolutely amazing - we have loved every minute of it and would definitely do it all again! The washing is a bit daunting - minimum of 10 loads I should think - and the weather isn't great - but it is nice to be home and we look forward to catching up with you all very soon!!

Round the world home, Dillo home, eek home

Beijing, Sydney, Blue Mountains, Kangaroo Island, Ayers Rock , Daintree ,New Zealand,Fiji, Los Angeles