the set of the coffee house, central perk, from the tv show friends! as jamie and i were both huge fans of the show growing up it was really exciting for us to be able to spend some time hanging out in the room filled with all the actual central perk props from the show! the warner brothers tour also took us into some sound stages for current television shows (the ellen show and pretty little liars), around the outdoor sets and into the museum where we saw some more awesome props for die-hard friends fans, including most notably a bottle of monkeyshine beer made with marcel's image on the front, chandler's 'best bud' gold bracelet from joey and, of course, rachel's 18-page (front and back!) letter to ross. we also saw some really special costumes from previous warner brother shows and films. yep, that's heath ledger's joker outfit right there.
in the afternoon we went to the griffith observatory which had some fantastic views of los angeles and of the hollywood sign.
the observatory is really interesting and while we were there we watched a short film which told us all about the building including its recent renovation in 2002. there is also a tribute to james dean on the grounds due to the building appearing in rebel without a cause. although the building has appeared in many films, rebel without a cause was the first to portray the building as an observatory.
on friday night we had tickets to watch the lakers (los angeles' most-celebrated basketball team) play the boston celtics at the staples arena. i'll now hand over to jamie for a guest review of the laker's game:
as we made our way in to the staples center along with approximately 18,950 other lakers fans (and maybe 48 celtics fans) we were given some cool freebies from sponsors, including a lakers towel to wave in support throughout the game, and a commemorative ticket with our faces printed on. we wanted the full, authentic experience of a big game, so before anything started we made our way straight to the pretzel stand where i had a pretzel dog (a hot dog sausage wrapped in warm pretzel, of course). the game tipped off and not many lakers fans had a lot of hope; the team had lost their last 4 matches. sure enough, boston took an early lead and got better from there. by the end of the third quarter the visitors were 11 points up. even the lakers girls (cheerleaders) and towel waving for the camera from the crowd couldn't cheer up most fans. however, in the fourth quarter, things changed dramatically. the crowd really took the noise up a gear, got behind the home team and the atmosphere was absolutely electric. suddenly the lakers defence rose to the occasion and started clawing back the points. i couldn't believe my eyes. at the final buzzer, the lakers had won the game 101-92 in the best turnaround i'd ever witnessed watching professional basketball. a really magical night.
on saturday we went to hollywood boulevard and to the walk of fame, the tlc chinese theatre and to the dolby theatre (the venue for the annual academy awards). we originally planned to do a tour of the dolby theatre but unfortunately as it's only one week until the oscars the theatre was closed and not open for tours so we had to settle for walking around the outside. we did go searching for our favourite stars on the walk of fame, and their hand and foot prints at the chinese theatre though!
on saturday afternoon we drove to santa monica beach where we enjoyed getting froyo (frozen yogurt!), walking down the pier and walking along the iconic boardwalk to venice beach. santa monica had a lovely laid back californian vibe with great stalls and shops along the promenade.
as we walked to venice beach we were amused by the various modes of transport people were using to get between the two beaches. we saw people of ALL ages on rollerskates, rollerblades, skateboards, bicycles, tandem bicycles, segways and joggers - many with prams and/or dogs in tow! jamie and i were certainly in the minority walking!
i really enjoyed los angeles and wish that i could have gone to LACMA and the getty centre. i really do wish we could have had an extra day or two there. but there we go! we had to get on to san francisco and spent yesterday (sunday) driving on route 101 from los angeles to san francisco. we stopped in the cute beach-side town of santa barbara for coffee before heading on to san luis obispo for lunch. whilst in the latter we thought we should see the one listed attraction on tripadvisor: bubblegum alley. this really is as described - an alley that people have been adding pieces of used bubblegum to over the years, eventually culminating in what you see below. jam felt obliged to contribute his own piece so he could forever be a part of this historic landmark. we also happened across an amazing candy and soda shop, specialising in bizarre and original flavours. we spent ages in there browsing through everything from bacon-flavoured chocolate to key lime pie soda. needless to say, jam was in heaven and eventually came out having purchased a red velvet cupcake cookie-dough flavoured soda and dr pepper flavoured jelly beans!
we arrived in san francisco around 8pm last night - luckily there was a really trendy bar next to where we are staying so we could get drinks and pizzas once we had got here. now we are busy planning and organising the rest of this week so that we can make the most of our days in san francisco.
No comments:
Post a Comment