The first thing I did when I got to the airport was look to buy tickets to Mexico City and New Orleans. In the end I bought tickets to Mexico City and decided not to go to New Orleans because of the cost. Later on in the week I then decided that I should go to New Orleans and bought some tickets and accommodation. I spent all of my second day in Los Angeles in the airport trying to buy tickets.
After I had got there and searched for tickets, I then focused my attention on getting to the Academy Awards Ceremony which was being carried out at the Kodak Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. After I had got to my hotel and sorted myself out, I caught the subway down to Hollywood/Vine and walked up to the barriers stopping people from getting any where near the stars. That is as far as I got. I could see the Kodak Theatre in the distance with the big golden statues outside but I got no where near any one famous.
On Tuesday I went to Universal Studios to have a look around and see what it was all about. The studios is split into 2 sections the city walk and the theme park. The city walk is where all the shops and restaurants are and the theme park has rides and the studio tour. I went around the shops first and what caught my eye was a restaurant based from the film Forest Gump when his friend Bubba wants to own a shrimp company. This shop is called Bubba Gump's Shrimp Corporation. After looking around the shops I went into the theme park which is excellent. The first thing I went on was the studio tour and they took you around the sets of some famous films such as Jaws and Psycho, then took you to some more recent programmes set such as Desperate Housewives. Indiana Jones is coming out soon and some of the scenes will be done in Universal Studios. They also took you into certain studios and then set off a seen where the roof caves in and big lorries come through. You went through a part about Jurassic Park and got quite wet. All in all a great day out and well worth a look if you are in the area.
For the next three days I was in Mexico and decided when I get back I must look around Hollywood Boulevard and take a look at some of the names in the walk of fame. I got the metro to Hollywood/Highland which is right next to the Kodak Theatre. For an hour or so I just walked up and down Hollywood Boulevard trying to recognise some names. The first name that I knew was the singer Kenny Rogers. Outside the Kodak theatre seemed to be the most recent names such as Forest Whitaker who won Best Actor 2007 for The Last King Of Scotland. After that I decided to try and find where I could view the famous Hollywood sign on the hill. They directed me to the mall at the side of the Kodak Theatre and told me to go on the walkway on the 4th floor and I should be able to see it. I was very disappointed when I got up there as the mist had come down and you could see nothing of the sign so I decided to go to the cinema and see a movie and then go back and see if there were any improvement. I went to the Chinese Theatre and watched Michael Clayton. After that I went back and was pleased to find that I could actually see the sign even though there was mist around it. After that I took the metro back to my hotel.
The next day I went to New Orleans for a night just to get a taste of what it was like there. I got there about 7pm and decided to go straight out onto Bourbon Street to see what it was like and it was buzzing. Bars every where, loud music and bands playing, some bars had a jazz band and they were playing some low key music. Something for everybody could be found. I went into several bars, listened to different types of music and had a really good time. After a couple of hours I felt tired and went to bed. The next morning I got up at 6:30am for my breakfast and to go for a walk in the day light whilst I was still there. I went to the Cafe du Monde which is supposed to do the best coffee and beignet in New Orleans so I went and it was lovely. I also went on the street car along the Mississippi River, the longest river in USA. I walked around Jackson Square and down Bourbon and Canal Street before checking out and heading for the airport. New Orleans has some very nice people and a very lively night life and I really enjoyed being there and seeing people have a good time. I would definitely advice people to come through this city or stay there for this is a really nice city and a great place to go out and have a good time. I didn't see any trouble just people having some fun.
I go back to Europe and spend next week in Madrid before heading back to my home. Still a lot to do and I plan to go to Tallinn,Estonia and Copenhagen, Denmark and Lisbon, Portugal all next week if I can book everything.
Take care.
Robert
