What's up Doc? It's rabbit season!!

12 October 2018

Well today is my Birthday (as it was yesterday in Australia) so I'll enjoy the two days of Birthday wishes but I refuse to add two years to my already considerable age.

Today was also Warner Bros Studio Tour day and on the way there I met my favourite Uber driver so far - hello Cooperman!!  I hope you get to live your dreams.  

Once again I went for the Deluxe tour but it wasn't as expensive as the Universal Studios one. I'll also say at this point that the Universal Tour was, in my opinion, far superior and more enjoyable than  Warners Bros. Having said that, I still had a great day.

We started off with coffee and pastries as big as your head!! Way too big but I soldiered on. Half the tour was spent in a small tram like contraption and the rest walking. The tour itself lasted 5 hours so we covered quite some distance in that time. We saw the props department and the wardrobe department and the sets that many famous movies were filmed on. It's amazing how many times they reuse the sets. This may spoil future movies for me because I'll be trying to spot the reused props and sets.

They were currently rehearsing The Big Bang Theory but we weren't allowed in and there were several other shows in action (Mom and Ellen) so it was a bit sad we just got to drive past the buildings. At the end of the day we did get to see the Big Bang Set (my favourite sitcom) so that was good.

Ellen's carpark - as close as we got lol

The assortment of  Batmobiles was great and they are all working vehicles.

The tour guide took us through to our "fine dining" lunch and it certainly was exactly that.  I started with the clam chowder but I forgot to take the photo till I was half way through lol

50% of my clam chowder

Steak and salad - was glorious - loved the blue
cheese in the salad and the steak was done to perfection

The tour guide, Thom, told the waiters that it was my birthday and I got a surprise dessert. It was wonderful - all the waiters came to wish me Happy Birthday and they bought out the chef who decorated the plate. They all gave me  hugs and I felt very special.

My special Birthday treat

Another favourite show - Friends. The main set's no longer there but Central Perk is a working cafe.

One of my favourite episodes.

All in all I had a good day and a great birthday. This is my last day in Los Angeles for the time being and it certainly has been a busy week.

 Wow!!!  Just heard a huge thunder boom and its belting down with rain. Never saw that coming - the weather has been perfect up until now. Good job I'm leaving town lol.

Another sunny LA Day

11 October 2018

I actually had a great sleep - 10 hours.  I must have needed it and I feel all the better for it. It did mean a later start for my day but all good.

I Uber'd to the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust. Not a normal holiday destination but it was very interesting and extremely distressing. There were actual objects and personal belongings salvaged from the death camps and "striped pyjamas" and photos and newspaper articles.   The sheer magnitude of the Holocaust is beyond my limited imagination but what I saw today must never happen again.

An Aussie mention

After the museum I again Uber'd, this time to Griffiths Observatory. The views from up there were absolutely amazing. My photos won't do them justice but I'll post them anyway. I also saw the show in the Planetarium and that was mind blowing. Next time you leave the tap running contemplate the 4 billion years it took for the water to get into your tap lol.

I returned yet again to The Grove mid afternoon  - I missed breakfast and it was going to be a late lunch and I was very hangry so I tried the fish and chips at the Cheesecake Factory.  Excellent.  

Ask my daughter, Lee.
She is a witness to the truth of this

It has occurred to me that the only thing I haven't eaten at The Cheesecake Factory is cheesecake. Next time I may start with the desserts menu.

Fish and Chips

I've noticed that my i Phone battery is draining a lot quicker over here and I was mulling over all sorts of conspiracy theories. One was that the Apple Shop is opposite the Cheesecake Factory and they suck the battery life out so you cross the road and buy a new phone. 

 I know! I know! Finally I looked at my battery life screen in settings and guess what uses the most power?

It was fully charged when I went out this morning and was on 17% when I got home late afternoon. 29% of battery usage was Uber.  Who would have thought? 

Well I won't need any dinner tonight so will shower and jammy and Netflix the night away. I've got another big day tomorrow.

Thank you for all the Birthday Greetings. It's still only my Birthday Eve here in the USA so I'm getting double value.

Paramount Studios

Wednesday 10 October 2018

An early start today to get to Paramount Studios at 7:45 am for a double taping of the Dr Phil show. I've actually been before so "This wasn't my first rodeo" lol.

The most annoying part of this is the sitting around and waiting and to make it worse they take your phone off you so you have nothing to play with and you actually have to talk to people to pass the time Sheeeesh! A mother and daughter from Texas, in their own words, decided to stalk me. They liked my accent and cracked up every time I said something, even when I wasn't trying to be funny.
I pointed out that they sounded odd too but they wouldn't have it.

The first show was dead boring about some silly woman with 15 cats and this was threatening her marriage. By the time they were finished I wanted to euthanise all her cats plus her and her husband and I was seriously considering offing Dr Phil for having such a boring guest. My stalkers lives were on the line too.

The second show was more interesting. A woman has cancer and its terminal and she's got this jerk of a son who not only swears at her but beat her up and broke a rib. King Jerk.

It was absolutely freezing in there. Dr Phil says its so his head doesn't sweat and get shiny. Oh Yeah.

The best part was they did segment on some skin care products and we all got freebies. By the time I get back I will have no wrinkles. This will be for one of two reasons.

My Freebies

#1 - The wrinkle cream actually works or

#2 - I'll be so fat from all the food I'm eating there won't be room for a wrinkle.


I Uber'd to The Grove again after Dr Phil and made a beeline to the Cheesecake Factory. Because of the early start I hadn't eaten all day and by 2 pm I could have eaten the back leg off a feral donkey. Instead I settled for the pork chop - so good.

I did not eat any of these - I swear!!

This was heaven on a
stick - I was sooo hungry

I wandered around the Grove for a while, briefly considering going to a movie but there was nothing I fancied so I returned to my hotel for a catch up nap.

I took a walk to the 7/11 for supplies and got back before dark. It's a bit spooky out at night.

This is the hotel I'm staying at this week.

 Its quite good and I could possible jump from my second story room straight into the pool. Or maybe not.

Ok ..... time for bed and Netflix. Another busy day tomorrow.  

Walmart!! Yay!!!

9 October 2018

I lurv Walmart and decided to make today Walmart Day. I got up early and was about to leave but on calling for an Uber I found that, at that time of the day it would have cost Uber dollars to get to the Super Walmart!! Peak time I guess. 

Change of plans. I started walking with a yearning for bacon and eggs, suitably dressed in long pants because the doofus on the TV weather said it was cold. The fact is it was coolish when I left but as I walked it got warmer and more humid and I didn't want to play anymore.

It soon became obvious that bacon and eggs just weren't going to happen. Seems I was in the middle of Little Korea and whilst I love Korean food for dinner I just couldn't handle anything noodley for breakfast. So ......  I walked  and I walked and I walked. Little Korea should be called Very Large Korea.

Some of the shop signs were quite funny.

Beer Belly - Drink - Park.
Can't get more concise than that

Pho ever Yum

I was about to try this place but I saw this sign as a SIGN!

Find the grammatical error

After three kilometres I spotted a KFC but no, didn't open for another hour. I continued on, getting hotter and hungrier and hangrier as I went.

Suddenly I saw that sign ahead that epitomises LA.

Nope..... Not the Hollywood sign. I'm talking about  McDonalds golden arches. I settled for a sausage and egg McMuffin and a hash brown. I don't know whether it was just the 4.5 km walk or  because I was hot and hungry but it tasted so much better than the Aussie version.

I finally got an Uber and arrived at the biggest Walmart ever.  

Super Walmart

More walking and shopping and suddenly all my energy went Poof! and I needed a nap.  I made it to a Starbucks and tried to revive myself with a coffee but I was over it. I walked well over 10 kms today and 19 kms  yesterday so a coffee wasn't going to do it.

Me at Starbucks

Another Uber and back to the hotel by mid afternoon and a very satisfactory nap. The rest of the afternoon was spent doing my laundry and watching Netflix. A Good Place is a very funny show if you haven't seen it. I actually saw the set yesterday at Universal Studios.

No - I won't eat one - no matter how hangry I get!

Universal Studios VIP Style!!

8 October 2018

I finally caught up on some sleep last night so I'm feeling almost human this morning.

I was up early, showered etc etc and in an Uber on the way to Universal Studios by 9 am. I've been there previously  in 1984 and again 2011,  but this time I'm doing it in style. I purchased a VIP pass and BOY!! Does that make a difference. 

I have to say that the weather was absolutely perfect but I did miscalculate on one thing. I thought there would be less crowds on a week day but apparently today is Columbus Day so there were a LOT of people there.

Universal Studios

Arrival time was 9:45 and the VIP experience started with a lovely breakfast.

Great grub!!

There were 10 of us in our group being led around like we were on a school excursion, by Joyce. Now if you travel all the way to the USA to go to Universal Studios you would expect to meet some Americans .... right? Wrong!!  Five of us were from Brisbane and two from Sydney. Crazy.

I had a wonderful day enjoying some of the rides. Some that, in retrospect I shouldn't have.  The breakfast and lunch were so good I may have over indulged and rumour has it that I ate two desserts. Luckily all this food stayed where it should.

Lunch was in the Moulin Rouge and was excellent.

Moulin Rouge

It was all you can eat and served up by this lovely chef and his Pasty cook.  No no pastry........ he was definitely PASTY.

Head Chef

The pasty cook?

A smorgasbord of all you can eat
so I tried a bit of everything

Shut up!! It's only a rumour

Before we hit the rides we were loaded onto a small bus and driven around the property department, and some of the many movie sets, both old and new and enjoyed a few "adventures" along the way. The special effects are very clever.

A lot of The Pirates of the Carribean
The Curse of The Black Pearl
was filmed here

The rides were amazing. Some of the waiting times for mere mortals were 35 to 40 minutes but being VIP's we just glided by, straight to the front of the queue. Actually it was a bit embarrassing so I tried not to make eye contact - like any normal VIP lol

The best attraction was WaterWorld. This was a live show and there was so much action going on with boats and jet skis and a plane and fighting and a damsel in distress and fires and noise.  An assault on the senses but just terrific. Unfortunately you aren't allowed to take photos. I was glad we were sitting up high because the first few rows got very, very wet lol.

We had to almost tip toe past the
 Will and Grace studio because they
were taping and no, we didn't
get to see them :(

The actual area is 415 acres.   Yuge!!!

Harry Potter

More Harry Potter

Not Harry Potter

All in all it was a fabulous day and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Was it worth $400 for the VIP ticket? Yes, most definitely because it was just for me. I guess it would be different for a couple or a family but it certainly made the day special for me. Also, if you add up all the half hour waits to get onto the rides with normal tickets then I think I got more bang for my buck.

At the end of the 7 hour day my feet ache and I'm pleasantly tired. Left over Chinese for dinner and then bed. I will sleep well.