Los Angeles here we are!

Well, finally made it. Picked up the car at Alamo Car Rental. Ended up choosing an Impala 6cyl. I decided to brave the traffic and drive. First we decided to drive out to Santa Monica Pier to grab a coffee. I did pretty well, only tried to kill us once by turning down the wrong side of the road!!!

Got to the pier and it was like, deserted - the attractions on the pier didn't open till eleven am and it was only nine. We walked around for a bit then decided to go to Hollywood Boulevard to check out the walk of fame. After walking up and down and trying to find a decend place to stop for something to eat and a coffee. Found a small diner and had a fantastic large latte!! The toasted ham and cheese sandwich was something I would soon be happy to forget as it was very very salty. Decided to leave the salt encrusted large gherkin that came with the sandwich as well!!. Did the souvenier scan and saw the freeks dressed up as characters working for tips to have your photo taken with them.

Landed and off and shopping...

We then wandered over to the hotel to see if we could check in. No Go. Drove over to the Beverly Center (like a big Myer Centre) and walked around there. Bought a really really bad coffee (blerk1). Decided then that because it was 4pm, that we would go straight to Universal City to have an early dinner and get back to the hotel for an early night.

Walked around CityWalk at Universal City checking out the shops until it started to rain. Talk about people! Of course then everything was packed for dinner so ended up at a place selling pizza by the slice. Was quite nice bbq chicken pizza. Braved the traffic and rain and headed back to the hotel.

Our room is very small - but at least the beds are comfortable. Not as nice as I thought a Crowne Plaza would be. Anyway, that's the end of day one....