Shopping and other close encounters

Tuesday 11th March

Today was another glorious day in LA! For Spring, the weather is very summer-like. I think it got to 30 degrees celcius today, it sure felt like it!



Today was our "finding Nick's star" and shopping day. We did find Nick's star and I'm sad to say that is probably the closest I will ever get to him (sob sob). Down on Hollywood Boulevard, where the Kodak theatre is (where the Oscars are held), there are street performers that dress up like different characters. People have their photo's taken with them, and you give them a small gratuity. There are sometimes queues for the popular ones! We were heading down this morning looking for Nick's star and there was the Incredible Hulk and Flash! They spotted Ash and the proverbial tables turned! They came across and asked if they could have their photo taken with her! Out came their camera phones and the said photo's were taken! Then we came across Captain Jack Sparrow. He was determined to take Ash "clubbing" and begged us to be able to keep her. I think now I need to put Ash on a leash, but she was certainly enjoying the attention.



From Hollywood Boulevard we headed down to Sunset and Amoeba Records. Gav got himself a couple of vinyls and we also got some DVD's that we can't get back home, so that was great. We then decided to take a bus to get further down Sunset. OK, what an adventure! It was crowded, the driver was rude, people wouldn't move down the bus, and I laughed my ass off! It really was fun! We then deposited Gav in the "guitar district" and the rest of us headed further down to Sunset Strip. I must say it was quite a disappointment and we didn't spend long there. Nothing like I expected actually. We headed back to pick up Gav and there he was with his newly purchased Sitar! It was the only thing he really wanted over here so it was great that he got it.



From there we headed down to Melrose. That was much better, some really great shops! We did purchase boots which are really very cool, and very hard to fit into our already stuffed suitcases! We were a bit over shopping by that stage so we decided to wait for a bus to take us back to Hollywood Boulevard. After a 40 minute wait an extremely overcrowed bus pulled up and we just managed to get on. The LA public transport system is far worse than Melbourne's, I intend to stop complaining when I get back home!

A dip in the hotel pool was welcome relief to tired feet. Wizzy did some great bombs which cleared the pool of the other guests, so we had it all to ourselves!

We then headed back to Hollywood Boulevard for dinner and to see the lights of the town. Another highlight here! We were sitting in Johnny Rockets having dinner when Wizzy spotted Seth Green! Ash and Missy went out looking for him, and there he was buying ice-cream! They ran up to him and he was incredibly sweet to them. He gave them autographs, had photos taken with them, introduced himself and his lady-friend to Gav, and said that he thought very highly of Australi! Well Seth, these Aussies also think very highly of you too!



Well, that was our last night in LA. We will miss it as it is quite an amazing place. We're off to New York in the morning, the transfer bus is picking us up at 5am so it's going to be another long day!