Los Angeles...City of wannabes

  Los Angeles, California, United States
Saturday, October 6, 2007

Los Angeles - Day 1 to day 4,



Our first day was an endless one, chasing the sun towards California. Daylight for 27 hours, record beaten. All that daylight and not much if any sleep resulted in some confusion about time and date... We checked in a hostel in hollywood at 9.00 pm, set the alarm for the morning at 8.00 and fell asleep immediately. The alarm went off, it was still dark outside...? What the hell is going on...Is it still supposed to be dark at 8.00 am in this country??? We felt like we had slept for ages and the first thought was that we slept until 8.00 pm. But of which day? After not a little of confusion, it hit home - the mobile was still in the UK time. So what time could it be then? Quick counting resulted in 1.00 pm. Well that couldn't be as it was still dark. In the end, with a lot of effort from our jetlagged brains we figured we just slept 4 hours. It felt like 8 hours easily though. Back to sleep anyway and up again at 5.30 am, ready to roll.

Gentlemen prefer blondes!

Hollywood Boulevard was really quiet at 8.00 am, we had plenty of room to look through the stars on the Walk of Fame. For lunch, we decided to walk to Farmer's market, it's an outdoor foodmarket and didn't look too far away on the map. Well, in this country of SUVs and 4x4, a few blocks on the map is a hell of a lot more by foot.

"The King of Cool"

We ended up in Beverly Hills for some house watching (got there by bus, not by foot!). Some amazing villas and beautiful palmtree lined streets. People here seem to be extremely friendly. Surprising considering how big the city is. It would not be so common in London or Paris that a guy in his convertible stops to ask tourists if they need any help when they are only there to spy on his house. We ended the day with a walk on the Santa Monica Beach...Bubba Gump Shrimp Co is actually a real company, did you know that?

Universal City here we come!!!

The next day was spent in Universal studios from when the doors opened at 10.00 am untill when they closed again at 6.00 pm...Amazing day enjoying the rides, getting a bit wet on some. 4D movies are definitely the best! Julien had a dollar bill stolen by a bird actor that was in Evan Almighty and Ace Ventura...That was cool! We have seen the place where the cheerleader was saved. Save the cheerleader, save the World!



In Universal we picked up free tickets for a TV show on the next day. The filming was supposed to start at 5.30 pm but in the end started at 7.00 pm. Both of us learned a lot about TV shows. We don't think the winners in game shows really win the money. Our show was called the 'Moment of Truth'...Contestants are asked more and more personal questions and to win money they need to answer thruthfully in front of their relatives. We sat in the second row and clapped obediently whenever needed (quite a lot actually). Did you know that people do clapping for living? You can get paid $8/hour doing this! Our salary was just pizza and water though. It was a good experience but when we were told at 11.00 pm that there would still be one contestant to applaude to, we made a beeline for the door and escaped.



We spent the next day on Venice beach, inline skating and enjoying the sun. Had some real American hotdogs. It was really good to enjoy a full day on the beach with such a nice weather. We couldn't remember when was the last time it happened. Not in Scotland that's for sure.

Sunset in Venice

Notre premier jour était sans fin. 27 heures de jour non-stop, record battu! Une fois arrivé dans notre auberge de jeunesse sur Hollywood Boulevard, il n'a pas fallu longtemps pour s'endormir. Nous étions completement déboussolé à cause du décalage horaire. A 5.30 du mat' plus moyen de se rendormir, nous étions prêt à visiter L.A!



Hollywood Boulevard était plutôt calme à 8.00 du matin et nous avions toute la place dont nous avions besoin pour regarder les noms des célébrités sur les trottoirs. Nous avons passés une partie de l'après midi à Beverly Hills à contempler les villas et les immenses palmiers. Aussi surprenant que cela puisse paraitre, les gens ont plutôt l'air accueillant. Malgré le fait que la ville soit immense, il arrive de voir des gens s'arreter, voyant que nous sommes touristes pour nous demander d'ou on vient, depuis combien de temps on est là, si Los Angeles nous plait, etc... Je ne me rappele pas avoir vu ça à Londres ou Paris. Nous avons terminé la journée sur la Plage de Santa Monica.



Le jour suivant direction les studios Universal de 10.00 à 18.00 non stop, excellente journée. On a pu voir des 'set de films ou de series' (Heroes!), montagnes russes etc. Ca vallait le coup de passer une journée là bas pour voir quelque chose de différents!



Aux studios Universal, on s'est débrouillé pour trouver des billets gratuits pour assister au tournage d'un plateau TV. Ca s'appelle 'Le moment de vérité' et je crois pas que ce soit déjà sorti en France. Le concept du jeu en lui-même est bien pourri, mais bon c'était sympa d'aller sur un plateau TV en tant que spectateur. Ca nous a permis d'apprendre pas mal de trucs. Tout d'abord, on se demande si les participants gagnent vraiment l'argent qui leur est promis. Aussi, on a appris que tu peux être payé pour assister à des emissions et applaudir quand on te le demande (environ 6euros par heures). Bref c'était une experience enrichissante mais je ne ferais pas ça tous les jours. On est resté là bas pendant 4 heures et c'était largement suffisant.



Nous avons passé le jour suivant sur la plage de Venice beach, profitant su soleil. On a loué des rollers, Venice beach est la Mecque du roller. C'était plutôt sympa. Ca ne nous était pas arrivé depuis longtemps de passer une journée sur la plage au soleil...Pas en Ecosse en tout cas. On est maintenant tout bronzé!