GO LA!

OK, so because I'm slack and have not updated for a while, rather than condensing stuff into one post, I'm going to split it up into a few.

So this is the first! During the week of September 3-9

OK, so on my last blog post I talked about getting a GO LA card. This allowed me to visit a lot of different places for a flat rate of 100 something dollars and that's it, I got a 3 day pass, so here's the stuff I did:

Day One: Today was the day of Universal Studios! The first thing I did was head for the tours, which was very tongue in cheek, but still enjoyable enough. The Studios have a huge mall attached to it, but the tours are inside a bit of a theme park. A lot of the rides were very fun, from the Jurrasic Park ride where I would have been soaked if it weren't for a poncho, the fast (but seriously, too short!) Rollercoaster themed to "The Mummy Returns", The Terminator 3D... It was pretty expensive food wise but overall it was fun. The Waterworld show which was going to be closed due to the heatwave that had been plaguing LA, was opened because it was only around 27 degrees C. Lucky choice for a day! With it being a weekday, there also weren't many lines. I even managed to be one of the volunteers in their special effects demonstrations- I got to battle a giant cat paw, have dinner with the Klumps (From the Nutty Professor) and lug 'heavy' polystyrene bricks (The Mummy). So it was a lot of fun.

Day Two: Today was my "Downtown LA Day". I got up relatively early in the morning to catch the Subway out to Downtown LA... There were some problems with the trains, but luckily I made it in time for my Historical Tour of the area. It was a little different to what I was expecting from the booklet (which talked about movies that had filmed in the area...), and the guide talked mostly about the architecture and artwork on buildings that we walked around to see, but it was still pretty interesting.

After that, I headed up the road to the Walt Disney Music Centre. The place looks like metal sails and in the sunlight can be quite blinding! They're apparently trying to dull the metal because it is causing problems for drivers. The 'self guided' tour had a little remote which played narration for your tour, as done by John Lithgow (who is apparently rumoured to be cast in an upcoming film version of "The Smurfs"). It's relatively new, but REALLY pretty. Especially the rooftop garden.

I went to MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) afterwards which was... Well I expected it to be a little bigger. Apparently in the off season they have closed much of the place up, and so there wasn't much to look at. What was there was... OK. I hadn't heard of any of the artists featured.

I still had some time left, and so decided to go to the Gene Autry Western Museum and look at some Cowboy stuff. This is where another of my 'adventures' began. The GO LA guidebook said to catch a number 96 bus... It didn't say which way, and of course, not being familiar with the area, I had no idea. I asked a woman on one side of the road if I was on the right side to go to the place (I had a map in my guidebook, which I showed her). She pointed me to the bus stop on the other side of the road. So I waited there for a bus, and asked the bus driver if this was indeed, the right bus. I used my map again. He said "Yes, sure"... Though when he started driving, he was driving in a direction that went suspiciously away from the streets listed on my maps, and more into Downtown LA than into the San Fernando Valley. I asked him again if this was right, and he waved me off and said he'd get me there.

Then we arrived at the bus depot, and, apparently... The bus I needed to catch was on the other side of the road. I had to wait 10 minutes in the empty bus at the depot while he took a break and all the other bus drivers were milling around their buses. It was the most odd experience ever.

But finally the bus was on its way again, this time in the direction I wanted to go, and I soon arrived at the Gene Autry Western Museum. Which was awesome, and while it was all well and good to have Native American representation... I thought they had a little too much considering there was a Gene Autry Native American Museum nearby. It was still cool though, lots of costumes and... Stuff.

Then I went home and slept.

Day Three: The last day of my GO LA card, this was "Hollywood Day". If I had thought I'd heard enough about the Hollywood sign and how people get stars on the stree before, I was in for a treat... I went on three tours and every single one of them managed to talk about the Hollywood sign and the stars in the Walk of Fame. I don't think there's anything I don't know about them any more. I even know that Robert Redford, Mel Gibson, Jane Fonda and Clint Eastwood all don't have stars, even though Ricky Martin got his on the 16th of October and The Munchkins from "The Wizard of Oz" will be getting one on November 20th.

So I had three tours, one walking, one on a bus (to see Stars' homes) and one on a rather scary trolley ride that for some reason went out on the freeway despite the fact that none of us in the outside area had seatbelts (a general Hollywood tour). Seeing as I was all toured out, I went back to Universal Studios, went on the Mummy Roller coaster and then on the Jurrasic Park ride... Forgetting a poncho. So a little damp, I walked home and yet again collapsed for need of rest!

Overall, I'm glad that I got that card. There was a lot more I could have done if I had the means of travel and such, so if anyone comes over here... I recommend getting one.