Los Angeles 2012

We stopped over in Los Angeles on our way back to London and we only had a short four days in L.A so we decided we needed to see as much as we could without jamming too much in. We hired a car while we were there as we had been told that L.A is very spread out and we were glad did.

We arrived in the afternoon and decided to go for a spin in the car. We made our way through the Hollywood Hills where a number of the stars live. (As we had been travelling for a while I may have fallen asleep a couple of times, but from what I saw the view was fantastic!) One moment did wake me, when Paul decided to pull over and take a couple of snaps of the view, only for a snap to be taken of him. He headed into a park area that was monitored with no visitors allowed after a certain time, well unfortunately Paul didnt see that sign and his suprised picture is now with the park rangers! :)



Rodeo Drive - This is around the side. Unfortunately no shopping for us!

The next day we decided to do a bit of star searching. So our first stop was the Hollywood walk of fame! I didnt realise how many stars there were, we tried to see them all but they just kept going! We then made our way to Grauman's chinese theatre where it has been the home of Hollywood premieres since 1927 and outside the theatre are handprints and footprints of celebrities.. exciting (if thats what you are into) We also went inside the theatre to see costumes of some celebrities like Michael Jackson and to see the theatre itself. After fulfilling our celebrity fix we hopped back in the car and made our way up to the Hollywood sign and to fulfill one more celebrity fix by driving by some of their houses!

Hollywood walk of fame (going on forever!)

The Sign...

View from a shopping centre by Grauman's Chinese Theatre

The shopping centre/area

Me with one of the statues having a sip of water (thirsty work all this sightseeing)

Grauman's Chinese Theatre

The theatre all to ourselves!

Watching the moon rise...

The lovely architecture inside

His hands and feet look little! - Johnny Depp

Paul's favourite actor - Nicolas Cage

The cast from Harry Potter

Roy Rogers - as you can see he also placed his gun and a pair of horseshoes in with his prints

Today was our last full day in Los Angeles and it was such a nice day we decided to head outdoors! We wanted to see Venice Beach and Santa Monica so we hired some harleys (or you could call them bikes)  and biked along the beach. We had such a wicked day especially as the sun was shining and we topped it off with an ice cream at the end... what more could you want?!



View of Santa Monica

Paul pretending to be a gymnast - he was pretty good...

Mm milkshake :)

Bit out of order... our view of the Hollywood sign

Santa Monica Pier

It was a little bit chilly at night but such a beautiful night

Pretty - a ride at the pier

Well... what could make the day EVEN better? Disneyland of course! We were driving back to our hotel and heard on the radio that Disneyland was open 24 hours as it was a leap year. We weren't going to go to Disneyland as we didnt think we had enough time, but who needs sleep when you can go to Disneyland for the night?! So off we went to enjoy the wonders that Disneyland has to offer. We tried to do as many rides as we could, but believe it or not it was soooo busy there, we had to wait for an hour and a half for the Indiana Jones ride, ridiculous. But we had such a great time and managed to last until about 4am pretty good I think.

The pretty gardens :)

Tea cups!

Disneyland castle





Brooommmm Paul driving away

Its snowing!!

It was the weekend and snow had been predicted for Saturday. There was a definite chill in the air and when we came out of the pub, after having a nice dinner, it was snowing! It looks so pretty when it snows! Here are a few snaps...

Paul and I outside Cath and Roger's house

uh-oh Paul seems to be covered in snow

Looking down our street

Paul outside our block of flats

Down towards the garages at the back of our place

Garden out front



Xmas & New years Las Vegas 2011/2012!!!! Day eight

It was our last day in Vegas and after waking up late we had our last look around Vegas. Tonight we went to the show Tournament of Kings, which is a live action show recreating the times of jousting and Knights. You sit in an area where you represent a particular country and its king, we represented Ireland!! You eat while you are watching the show, and you have to eat with your fingers! We had chicken on the bone, potatoes and broccoli which all had to be eaten with your fingers, needless to say it was very messy!! It was a really good show, very interactive as you shout out for your king and really fun night!

 

View from our seat and our bowls for our soup

 

Cheers!

Time to say goodbye - our lovely hotel

View from the other side and Ashlea relaxing

Xmas & New years Las Vegas 2011/2012!!!! Day seven

Today we decided to head further down the strip towards Circus Circus. We made our way past the Venetian and had a look inside. It was very fancy in there, unfortunately well out of our price range! We went to Circus Circus which is quite an old hotel however it has a theme park so Lauren and I decided to go on the rollercoaster which is inside the hotel. 

The Venetian Hotel - as you can see the theme is Venice so they had canals on the outside and inside the hotel

Want to go for a ride?

Another lovely day in Vegas - outside the Venetian

Inside the hotel they had this lovely display

Paul with some ladies!

Theme park inside Circus Circus - this is the rollercoaster Lauren and I went on

Another view of the theme park

Treasure Island - they have a display on the boat however we didnt get to see it



We went back to our hotel and beautified ourselves for the New Years celebrations. We weren't sure whether we wanted to go to a club as celebrities were hosting events but the tickets were getting expensive, so we decided to join the street party! It was packed on the street but most people were well behaved and it was a good atmosphere, we found a spot that wasn't as packed and watched Stevie Wonder's concert from a big screen and obviously the fireworks when it struck midnight. Such an awesome experience being in Las Vegas for New Years! Brilliant way to ring in 2012.

Beginning of the night having a drink or two on the street

Its midnight! Happy New Years

 

More fireworks!

Paul and I with the fireworks behind us

Video of the New Year celebrations

Xmas & New years Las Vegas 2011/2012!!!! Day six

Today we made our way down to Downtown Las Vegas where the older hotels are and where the Chapels are. This part of Las Vegas is quite different from the Strip, things look run down and the casinos are quite rugged.

Heading Downtown

Main square where the older casinos are

Cowboy

Inside one of the casinos where Lauren is having a little gamble

I decided to play big, REAL big

The famous little white wedding chapel

Stratosphere - on top of this tower are rides, needless to say we did not do them because we are not crazy

This car was high rolling

The Trump hotel

Xmas & New years Las Vegas 2011/2012!!!! Day five

Lauren and David went off snowboarding today which left Paul and I alone to explore the Strip and do a few things Lauren and David had already done. The first thing we wanted to see was the Bodies Exhibition at the Luxor Hotel. This is an extremely interesting exhibition and is described on their website as follows;

Our Exhibitions have over 200 actual human bodies and specimens meticulously dissected and respectfully displayed, offering an unprecedented and wholly unique view into the amazing body.
Specimens in the Exhibition are prepared through a revolutionary process called polymer preservation, in which human tissue is permanently preserved using liquid silicone rubber. This process creates a specimen that will not decay, offering thousands of unique teaching possibilities for educators at all levels. Preparation time varies: a small organ may take only a week, while a full-body specimen may take up to a year to prepare. After quality preservation, specimens can last for decades.

Bascially there are a large number of bodies that have been dissected and you get to see how the different parts of a human body work/look. Very creepy but so interesting at the same time. After the exhibition we went to the MGM to look at the lions. The lions go into this enclosure every few hours and play in there. Unfortunately when we saw them they were just sleeping!

Inside the Luxor hotel - the groves in the roof that you can see are the different levels of the hotel and are where the rooms are

Little cub playing

Cuddle time!

Outside the MGM

Tonight we had booked to see Holly Madison who is in a show called the Peep Show. I think this is the night Paul looked forward to the most! Holly Madison is one of the girls who use to be Hugh Hefner's girlfriend and they starred in a reality show called the Girls of the Playboy Mansion. After the show we met up with Lauren and David and went to a club called Koi where we were entitled to free drinks until the early hours of the morning, an offer we definitely took up!

Paul looking rather happy!