Day 83 Los Angeles

This is my first attempt at using the iPad Blogger App, offline. I am writing this as we fly to Honolulu, so we will see how we go.

Today we joined Pam,Randy,Phil and Chris in sharing a rental car that Pam had pre-arranged for us. We were up early to do the yet another US immigration entry process, this time on board.

We were first in line to get through that process, which was simple, and the waited whilst clearance process for the ship was completed, which in most countries takes about 20 to 30 minutes...not here. Ship docked by 5am, officials boarded 6.30am and clearance finally given at 7.50am..ya gotta love em :)

Off the ship, around to the car hire place and we were away, with Randy as our pilot, and Pam our navigator. Donna and I were the only LA newbies in the car, so we were bug eyed all the way into LA, looking at the highway signs that led to all those places we had seen or heard about in TV shows, movies or songs.

First stop, UPS, where Pam and Randy shipped some luggage to family so they did not have to lug it all the way back from Sydney. Note to Kerry, Don, Stuart and any other former or present POST people who may be reading this, who have had the famous UPS reputation shoved down our throats for the last 30 years..take it from someone who has visited a UPS store in person today, it ain't that great believe me. If our (sorry, not 'ours' in my case any more) stores were presented like this one in Main Rd Burbank, heads would roll.

The UPS process and system behind the scenes must be pretty good though, or something must give folks the confidence to use them, but it sure ain't the presentation of their store! Sorry for the digression, but I could not help doing one of my famous, (or infamous) inspections, only thing missing was the green pen...POST folk will know what I mean. On the positive side, once I walked out the store, and jumped back in the car, I did not have even a hint of reminiscence of my former work life days :)

Next stop was Warner Bros, for our VIP tour that Pam had prearranged, yes she is a treasure !! It was a great tour, which is something coming from someone who most will know is far from being a movie buff, nor that interested in sitcoms of talk shows, but I was really into the how's, and whys and whens of the Warner Brothers studios and how it all hangs together.

We had a little introductory movie on the history of Warner Bros, and their highlights. The whole tour group of 48 were then divided up smaller groups of 12, each with a tour guide who would escort us around the studios. The first thing that struck me was the size of this place, it is huge , so big that we were driven everywhere through the massive lot which is really a mini city in itself. 5,000 people work here, so that may give some scope to its size.

All the buildings have a dual purpose ie; the building that looks like a motel, and is used for motel scenes in movies and tv shows, is actually the admin building, with office workers most of the time. The staff car park is actually used for all 'rooftop' scenes'. There is a fully operating service station, with operating bowsers, for the fleet of Warner vehicles on site, and of course is used in filming, they throw on the signs relevant to the script and off they go.

We went to the museum, where they had a whole floor devoted to the Harry Potter movies, with the actual costumes and set pieces on display. They even had that talking hat that was put on heads and determined what 'house' the students would be in. Yes...of course we did...the guide made us sit on 'the special seat' and put 'the hat' on us....The hat said I was 'Slytherin'.....one of those 'bad' guys...Donna was Hufflepuff ( or something like that, can't recall, and I am not a devotee :)

We were taken to where the 'Friends' coffee shop set is still assembled....yes we have photos. Then to the 'Property Dept' where they just had the most amazing array of props from movies and shows. Something that amazed me was that each item in the department, from a $2m chandelier down to a pencil, has a valuation on it, and a declared rental value. The producers of every show, who want a prop, must actually rent it from the property dept. Some of these items have been used many, many, many times over through the years of different shows and movies.

We were taken to a car museum, that housed some pretty notable vehicles, the Batmobile, the Dukes of Hazard orange beast, the Harry Potter flying Anglia, Yogi Bear's flying contraption, Austin Powers sports car etc etc etc.

Then we were taken through the actual set of 'The Mentalist ', which is still a fully operating set of course, although they were not filming today, so we got to walk through all the rooms in the show like the interrogation room, the office suite etc etc..quite impressive. Suffice to say it was a great tour.

Next stop was lunch, and what could be more authentic for an LA lunch, than a Big Boy Burger at Bob's, the home of the 'double deck burger', with real Onion Rings. They do everything big here....the glass of coke was more like a trough than a glass, the burger and chips came on a platter, not a plate, the side salad was in a serving bowl size. No we could not eat it all. Phil and Chris showed they were not new to this place as they only ordered one meal to share between them...and that was more than enough for two!! This pace has been operating since 1949' and it is still so popular, it was packed, and we had to wait 10 minutes for a table to become free.

After lunch we went in search of the famous 'Hollywood' sign. Yes, we took the corny photos of us in front of the sign, from a couple of miles away, avoiding getting run over in the process...our fault as we were standing in the middle of the road doing it!

Then it was time to say farewell to our shipmates who needed to return the hire car, and get back to the ship. We were dropped off right at the hotel front door (thanks again Randy), and met up with Wendy and Bob who had arrived before us.

A quick freshen up and we were off again, this time on a trolley bus, to Manhattan Beach, which a half hour drive away. Manhattan Beach has the title as the capital of beach volleyball. As soon as you catch sight of the beach you can see why. As far as the eye can see, in both directions, the beach volleyball courts are permanently in place, 4 courts across, the width of the beach, and I don't know how deep, but it would easily be a mile in each direction....yes, yes, we have a photos.

After a stroll along the pier, and back, it was to the shopping streets. I was looking for somewhere that might sell a power plug converter, without luck. Donna was far more successful in finding a shoe shop ( of course:) After trying on about 10 pairs, and buying two, and a pair of thongs for me, we went in search of a place for dinner.
The girl in the shoe shop recommended Mr Cecil's for a good feed of ribs, and she was not mistaken, yummy. We also tried what they called 'hush puppies', which are little cornbread cakes with herbs and spices, that you put a dollop of butter of honey on. I was not that keen on them, but Donna loved her grilled cob of corn. We like the ribs so much that we got a second serve..btw, we shared both serves.

It was so nice to be ashore and not have to watch the clock like we usually do. Did not have to worry about missing the boat, coz it was long gone by now:) Just being out and about after dark ashore was such a novel experience. You would think after a feed such as we had just had there would be nothing else going in the mouth to eat tonight...Wrong. We called in at an ice cream store on the way to the bus stop.

Donna got some giggles out a packet that contained a edible 'Chocolate Thong', as in G String, no we did not buy it, but we took a photo. Bob and Wendy got an ice cream, which was too much for me, but we were very tempted by the ice cream sandwiches. They looked fantastic, with all different types, but we resisted, although we did have a little chocolate.

Then it was back on the bus, and back to the hotel. It is quite an unusual feeling being in such a spacious room, after living for 82 nights in a tiny inside cabin, particularly a room as big as these were. Donna had a real treat , a long hot bath !!!!!!

The end of another great day !!!!!!