Wednesday, 8 October 2014
Where are we? California, Los Angeles, Hollywood.
“Welcome to Hollywood! What's your dream? Everybody comes here; this is Hollywood, land of dreams. Some dreams come true, some don't; but keep on dreamin' - this is Hollywood. Always time to dream, so keep on dreamin'." - Happy Man, Pretty Woman.
Source: Google Maps
Well, our holiday has begun. We’re here in America, the US of A, home of the brave and all that. Can I plant my Aussie flag in the ground? Alright, I know there’s been squillions of travellers here before me, (even I have been here before me), but it just feels so exciting and new. The cars are driving the wrong way on the streets, the water gurgles in an opposite spiral down the drain, the money is paper not plastic, and everyone has an American accent!
We were lucky with our seating on the plane - upgraded to economy plus, that extra 5 inches leg room was wonderful! We were also lucky to get a spare seat, which meant Dar could move back and forth between the rows. Again Darius fell asleep before we had taken off, but unfortunately he didnt stay asleep and when he awoke he was begging / demanding chocolate as per the trip from Sydney. The 14 hour flight was long, very long, watched lots of movies, but didnt get much sleep.
When we arrived in LA, we had a dramatic welcome, the captain advised us that we weren't allowed to get out of our seats until government officials boarded and conducted government business. So we watched as 7 serious looking cops boarded and escorted a man from the plane, then a bit later a lady and her baby. Guess we will never know the ending of that story. We then went then proceeded through the immigration process, which made me feel very nervous. I was carrying Dar to ensure he was under control, but when doing the finger printing I put him down in order to put my hand on the machine, and Darius took the opportunity to take off running, ducking under barriers and squealing with delight at his game. So embarassing and scary too, although it entertained the waiting immigrants. Fortunately they still let us into the country.
We collected our luggage, and found our spot to wait for the bus. We were told it would be 25 minutes, but it seemed much quicker. When it arrived we were told 4 in the back, and 1 to sit in the front, my four started climbing into the bus, so I was in the front. In my sleep deprived state, I went out onto the road to climb into what would be the passenger side in Australia, only to realise that it was the driver's seat. A typical ditsy Deb moment! The driver and colleague thought it was funny though, and I got several hearty "Welcome to America" statements. It did feel really weird sitting in what should be the driver's seat, but without control. We made friends with others on the bus, Aussies from Melbourne and Sydney, the Melbourne family have a fire fighter nephew in Humpty doo too. They gave us lots of shopping tips.
We checked into our hotel at noon, the kids were exhausted and hungry and didn't want to accompany us on our venture to get new sims, so we left them in the hotel and set off on our mission to Ralph's, which is a supermarket like Coles or Woolies, but different in that it had a star bucks, and it also has a pharmacy. I knew they sold phones and pay as you go cards. The choices for phones and carriers was too overwhelming for our foggy brains, so we decided to get food for the kids and try AT&T (like Telstra) so that we could get some advice.
After delivering sandwich ingredients and donuts to a sleeping Kaine, a hyper Darius, and a cool and uneffected Raven, we found AT&T and got ourselves sorted. Priority one complete - we can now access facebook and brag about our adventures. We also paid $5 for 250 minutes to Australian landlines - yay I can contact my Dad (who is NOT internet savvy). We then commenced our mission to see Hollywood and it's stars.
Hollywood Walk of Fame
http://www.walkoffame.com/
We wandered past Hollywood High, where we heard sounds of "Hut, Hut 23, 23, Hut Hut" (American football) and watched Green Lantern and half a chewbacca wandering down the street, on our way to the Hollywood Walk of fame. Took lots of photos of various stars with names that we recognised, soaking in the thought that these stars once stood where we are standing.
TCL Chinese Theatre
Followed the stars past and into tourist shops, and to the TCL Chinese theatre, where we measured our hands and foot prints against the stars. Mine and Raven's feet are much bigger than the female stars, but fortunately we found some male stars with bigger feet. :-) It was at the TCL Chinese theatre that super heroes gathered for photo taking with tourists. Darius was both excited and shy, but we got a pic with Captain America. The photo didn't turn out that well coz of the reflection of the sun of the shield, but I think the sun glinnting off the shield is how we know that it's the real Captain America ;-) There was also an incredible Johnny Depp (Captain Jack Sparrow) look alike, but I didn't get a pic... maybe next time.
Sweet
Nearby to TLC is America's biggest Candy Store. It was HUGE and so much fun. Darius was so happy, like a 3 year old in a candy store.. he.. hee.... heee. So much super hero stuff, game of thrones stuff, disney, americana. I enjoyed the mnm art work. Particularly the Eminem pic made out off mm's, I also took a photo of the Abby Lee Miller (Raven and I are dance mom fans) and Miley pics made out of mms.
We had planned to do the wax work museum and take a cab to see Griffith Obervatory, but Darius fell asleep, and the big kids were hungry again, so we went to Sizzlers for dinner instead. I think Aussie Sizzler is better but it was still good to go.
After that we walked home, past the largest shoe shop I have ever seen.... something to check out soon. The kids wanted to go for a swim. So I layed back typing this blog while the kids had a good time.
Technology was being a bit mean though, and I lost what I typed. So I am hurriedly typing this now while the family sleep. Please forgive typos, weird thoughts, and strange formatting, this is the longest day ever and I am soooo tired. I am giving up on adding photos... will do later.
Thanks for reading, wishing you much love, happiness, and adventure.
Debbie and family. xoxo
No comments:
Post a Comment