mybigadventures.com

Happy Birthday Danica!

Today we went to ZSL Whipsnade, which has become something of an annual pilgramage to celebrate Dani's birthday. We had realy nice weather and all of the animals were out to play. I took lots of photos, so do have a look through and let us know what you think!

Woke up quite late today - the hotel room has Japanese-style shutters and curtains so is quite dark. Comfy and cosy though! Threw some clothes on and went down to the Starbucks beneath the hotel. Bought hot teas (I still find it weird to have to ask for ‘hot’ tea) and had a breakfast sandwich each - sausage, egg and cheese in an English style muffin. Just under $10. Sat at our leisure for a while, before going back up and showering.

Dithered about what to do today - we had planned to have a look around the local area today, but as we had a bit of a look last night, we thought we’d investigate Hollywood instead. Went down to use the Internet to look at the availability of tickets for the Warner Brothers tour. Managed to get two tickets for 4:30 PM today ($110, including admin costs, for two tickets). We sorted ourselves out with passports as ID, and then went to the car. It was costing $30 per day to use the hotel car park, so we thought we might also check out the parking competition later.

Drove towards Hollywood. For a short journey, it took a long time, and included a fraught journey on the I-101 towards Hollywood! Used the SatNav to find some parking - a little expensive at $10 flat rate (particularly because there was no ‘in and out’), but we didn’t know an alternative. But, it was super-handy for the Walk of Fame, so it’s all relative…

Wandered along the boulevard, checking out the stars on the Hall of Fame. Walk past Emma Thompson and Colin Firth, and had a picture taken with Johnny Depp and Russell Crowe! Had a look at the Chinese Theatre, which is very attractive, with lots of decorations and celebrity handprints in the cement at the front - including a Harry Potter ensemble! Walked as far as the stars went and then headed back, in search of the elusive Hollywood sign. We had already had a bit of a wander up Highland Avenue, as allegedy you can see the sign where Highland meets Hollywood Boulevard - but we couldn’t see it. However, on this corner there is a shopping centre-type place, so we thought you might be able to see it from there. I asked the security guard and, yes, it could be seen from here - three floors up - so we did find it! Looks just as you might expect - it was quite hazy in the heat - but I guess it feels like proper LA now we’ve seen the Hollywood sign! We took quite a few photos and admired it for a while.

Time was marching on a bit so we decided we ought to head off to catch our Warner Brothers tour. It was just as well we left in plenty of time - traffic was a little slow, but that was nothing compared to the complete lack of signs or anything helpful when we were approaching the place! We could see the logo and the film posters - but no entrance. Our SatNav seemed unable to locate either road required by the directions on the ticket confirmation! Very frustrating! Ended up asking a local, who set us on the right track. We made it with minutes to spare!

We passed through security, where we chatted with very friendly security staff and then we joined a short queue to actually pick up our tickets. With minutes before our tour began, the only two people serving seem to be dealing with issues and consequently we were standing there for a while. Luckily, this didn’t seem to be a big problem (the timing) and we got onto the tour and into the auditorium for the pre-tour film, in the nick of time.

The film was an introduction to the history of the company; neither of us realised there were four brothers originally, starting the company so that was a fun fact. They also shared loads of clips from films and shows that have been made, to tickle the taste buds, as it were! We then went off in smaller groups to do the golf-buggy-tour bit. Our tour guide was called Noah, and you had to love his enthusiasm! He was very good at his job. He drove us (a group of nine) around various sets and streets that are permanent fixtures - and also many ‘everyday’ parts of the site that are always left neutral to be dressed as required. There were several highlights: we went into a museum of artefacts from different shows/films and they had an array of Harry Potter stuff, including the Marauders Map, one of Arogog’s descendants, Hermione’s frozen body from ‘The Chamber of Secrets’, and a little Dobby. Also, they had costumes and props from ‘Hart of Dixie’, ‘The Big Bang Theory’, the new ‘Batman’, ‘Chuck’ and ‘The Hangover’ films to name but a few. We also went to see some cars being stored; the Ford Anglia from Harry Potter, several Batmobiles, and Clint Eastwood’s car from Gran Torino. At another point, we went to see the Central Perk set from ‘Friends’ - the original - and we sat on the sofa for a photo. The two final highlights of the day were seeing Leonard from ‘The Big Bang Theory’ and the filming of ‘Hart of Dixie’! So exciting! At least, we’re fairly certain it was Leonard, and, as for the filming, Noah told is it was filming for ‘The Mentalist’, but all the props were from the set of ‘Hart of Dixie’, and we are fans, so we know!

I’ve  just thought - we also went into a soundstage, set up for filming ‘Marley and Mike’ - a new sitcom and Noah explained how it all worked. A five-day schedule for sitcoms - reading, rehearsing, and then filming, with the networks being involved to veto the scripts. So, all in all, a fun afternoon session! We bought our souvenir photo, taken in front of a green screen; it seemed quite a bargain at only $5.40. We also bought a ‘Big Bang Theory’ T-shirt each, as a souvenir. He he! So cool!

It was getting on when we came out so we located a restaurant through the SatNav - ‘Bob’s Big Boys’. In true American style, we had vast portions - Ben had a Big Boy Special - a little like a big Mac - and I had what turned out to be a burger covered in chilli. Tasty, but there was a lot of it! I took some of mine home in a doggy bag!

We headed off, back to the hotel. Traffic was heavy on I-101, so it took longer than expected. Got back to Little Tokyo and started to look for alternative parking, but found nothing. One car park closed in 30 minutes and didn’t do overnight parking - given that it was already 11:30 PM, it was odd that they thought we wanted to park for only 30 minutes! At 11:30 PM?! Gave up and parked in the hotel car park instead.

We decided to take a short break in Durham this week between results days at school having last been about 9 years ago for a wedding. We managed to get a late deal on lastminute.com and have ended up staying at the same hotel, the Radisson Blu, just a short walk from the city centre. The weather was fine yesterday, a little cloudy and a light shower but fairly warm for wandering about. We visted the Cathedral which is undergoing some repair work on the main tower at the moment. It is pretty spectacular inside, but no photography allowed I'm afriad so you'll just have to visit it yourselves. Inside the cathedral there is a coffee shop where we stopped for some cake and tea and inside the cathedral shop there is a huge replica of the cathedral itself made out of Lego - its fabulous!

We also managed to get on a tour of the castle which is used as student accomodation during term time. In addition to staying in the main castle two students get to live in the gatehouse which looks pretty awesome. The tour was interesting taking in the ancient Norman Chapel and then a more modern tudor chapel before walking through a gallery and down the black stairs to the great hall. We realised when we arrived in the great hall, that this was the venue for Luke and Helen's wedding 9 years ago, it's a really nice venue with the bar in the undercroft below. 

Today we visited Beamish which is only about 20 minutes drive from where we're staying. I visited a long time ago, but Dani had never been. It was probably one of the busiest places we've visited this holiday, with quite a long queue to get in. The tickets were £19 each but last a year so hopefully we'll find a chance to revisit for free. For those who haven't been, Beamish is an open air museum representing life in Britain in the 1820s, 1900s and 1940s. It's a huge site with period buildings, vehicles and machinery.

The majority of the buildings have been deconstructed brick by brick to be transported from their original locations to there new home at Beamish. Amongst the very impressive exhibits is the 1900s town with a range of shops including a bakery, grocers, and bank and a masonic lodge. You can walk around the site or catch any of the period vehicles including trams and buses. Despite leaving at closing time we still hadn't made it all the way around and still have the train station and farm to see, maybe next time!