Hollywood bvd 2

The other attraction of Hollywood bvd is the Chinese Theater. It does look like a traditional Chinese building but has nothing Chinese in its origins.  Beside its look the other interest for this movie theater are the footprints of stars.

Some footprints (or hand or shoe prints) are clearly more creative than others.

Hollywood bvd 1

As Evan was mentioning there is not much to visit in LA. However there is one must when you come to LA for the first time: Hollywood and its famous Hollywood boulevard.

Hollywood boulevard is just like any other street downtown, i.e. from far away you wouldn't see the difference.

It just happened to have the Walk of Fame on its pavement.

The Walk of Fame is a series stars on a section of the sidewalk of Hollywood Boulevard  (and also a bit on Vine Street). "The stars recognize an eclectic mix of actors, musicians, directors, producers, musical and theatrical groups, fictional characters, and others for their entertainment contributions." There are more than 2400 stars, which is a significant number, isn't it.

We walked the whole Hollywood bvd part checking out every single star on the ground. I quickly realized that I knew only a fraction of those famous people. Seems I have some serious entertainment industry knowledge gap.

There are 5 different categories of stars one can get (with in each category the stars I knew of):
1. Movie Camera - for contributions to the motion picture industry

2. Record - for contributions to the recording industry

3. Microphone - for contributions to the radio broadcast industry

4. Television - for contributions to the television broadcast industry

5. Theater Masks - for contributions to theater

Based on the above, you can clearly see what I know (and don't know) about the entertainment industry made in Hollywood.
Now, in case you wonder, here is how you can get a star on Hollywood bvd (thanks Google):

Criteria for Getting a Star on the Walk of Fame:
1. Have a record of professional achievement within the nominated field.
2. Have worked in the entertainment industry for a minimum of five years.
3. Have made contributions to the community, typically through charitable activities.
The recipient must also agree to attend the dedication ceremony. In addition, a sponsorship fee of $25,000 must be paid. Non-human and fictional characters are also eligible for stars on the Walk of Fame.

Process for Getting a Star on the Walk of Fame
Nominations for getting a star on the Walk of Fame are announced in the entertainment trades. The nominations must be submitted by May 31 to the Walk of Fame Committee, which is division of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. The committee receives a few hundred nominations a year and out of these typically chooses a couple dozen inductees. Once the Walk of Fame Committee has selected a nominee, the celebrity must be approved by the Board of Directors for the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, the Los Angeles City Board of Public Works and finally the Los Angeles City Council.

Anyone can nominate a celebrity so long as the celebrity agrees to the nomination - This mean you and I can nominate!

Celebrities can get more than one star on the walk of fame, for example singing cowboy Gene Autry has five stars on the Walk of Fame, one in each category (now who the hells is Gene Autry???).

As we walked the full series, we realized that some famous stars are not there (e.g. Brad Pitt or Clint Eastwood). Why is that? Either because nobody nominated them (hardly believable) or because they refused to pay the 25 000$ to get their name on a piece of pavement (would you?).

That's smart

While walking the streets in LA I discovered the below:

It's a parking meter, obviously, but one that you can pay with your credit card. No more looking for coins!
We've seen it in other places and I have to say I find this a great idea.
True in some countries in Europe you can use the electronic wallet function of your card, but you need to load it before. While here, no action before hand is needed :)

Germany - USA: 1-0

After another good breakfast with home-made banana-strawberry smoothies, it was time for Fussball (i.e. kicker or baby foot).
The competition between Ian and Isaac (then only Ian) vs. Wolfram was fierce. Quickly this turned into a replay of the world cup with in front of our eyes USA-Germany.

Some nasty faces were exchanged

There was even desperation at some point

But eventually Germany won

And granted us with a little victory dance

Memorable!

The sausage mystery

Back at my cousin's we made sausages and buns for dinner. Wolfram, as the man, was in charge of the BBQ. Janet switched on the gas BBQ for us and Wolfram cooked.

Somewhere, somehow, one of the sausages disappeared.

Wolfram claimed it fell down but we never found it.
Not that night, nor the day after.

It might have rolled down the few steps behind the BBQ (assuming that sausage was in jumping mode) and been eaten by a coyote overnight (well that's the best explanation Janet could come up with).

PS: those chicken sausages turned out pretty good, even with one missing :)

Universal Studios - The Attractions

Once we were done with the Studio Tour it was time to try the attractions of the park. The good thing about Universal Studios is that it is not too big (like Disneyland) so you can easily do everything in one day, without stress.
Jurassic Park takes you on a boat cruise within the dinosaur world. Lot's of water involved there which is really nice on a hot day. Note that the final part will get you soaked. Not wet, really soaked, but real good fun.

Of course one must meet the starts and why not have a chat with them.

In front of each attraction there was a description of what the attraction is about and several icons indicating who should avoid it. Because it's the US I guess, the list of icons can be quite impressive and not always self-explanatory (you can read the legend on the map provided). In Disneyland Paris there are clearly not so many of them.

As a consequence I stayed away from the high speed roller-coaster (I believe between my back and my high blood pressure, 2 of these icons are  for me).
Later in the day we watch one show: Waterworld, inspired from the movie. It was surprisingly good with some quite impressive stunts and an aircraft landing in the pool.

Tip for Waterworld: don't sit at any of the first 5 rows at the bottom, you'll be splashed for sure.

After this great day at Universal Studios, I cannot help thinking we're having crazy vacation. Yesterday we were in the Grand Canyon all alone and today we are in the crowd of the Studios.

Universal Studios - Studio Tour

We had 2 days to spend in LA. We started day 1 by having a nice breakfast with the family. Evan considers it as the most important meal of the day so he made oatmeal for everyone. I have to confess it's been a while since I had some oatmeal, and I wonder why. Maybe I'm just too lazy to prepare it (or maybe it tastes better when my mum prepares it ;) ).
Evan kindly provided us with a list of things to do in LA. According to him LA is a great place to live (especially in the Pasadena area) but does not have much to offer when it comes to visit it as a tourist.
Still we browsed through the list and decided to go to the Universal Studios, conveniently located 20min from my cousin's place.
Universal Studios are a theme park built around the real Universal Studios where many movies and series are shot.
Entrance ticket and parking are pretty expensive (like in Disneyland) so it's better be worth it. Once again, who knows whether I would have the chance to come back to LA one day...
We started by the absolutely unavoidable picture in front of the Universal Studios globe (you must have seen this one before).

Once we entered the park and found a map, we took a quick look at the duration of the queues for all the attractions. When we saw only 20min for the Studio tour, a must seen, we quickly walked to it, especially based on the description:
"Go behind-the-scenes on the legendary Studio Tour to explore where Hollywood movies are made. Experience the largest movie set street expansion in Hollywood history built with creative consultation from Steven Spielberg himself. Be immersed in the full backlot experience from the comfort of our new trams with built-in state-of-the-art HD monitors"
These are the trams they are talking about:

And the line was 40min and not 20 like announced. I guess there was an update on the board right after we passed it.
Here we go, in our tram, ready to go behind the scene.
This tour left me with mixed feelings. Reason is that you do not see much of what's behind the scene. Movies are shot in huge warehouse and that's basically all you can see. Except every now and then a glimpse inside when the door is open. Realistically I was not expecting George Clooney to be there and give me the tour, but a bit more than warehouses would have been nice.

You do get a chance to see the fake streets or building that have been and are used in many movies, customized whether the street is in New York, Paris or London.

Not to mention the Far West streets for Western movies or the traditional Latin America village (apparently used in the latest Indiana Jones).

Enough buildings, we've also seen some cars, some more famous than others.

The Studio Tour also offers some attraction (where something is actually happening). The latest one is King-Kong 360 3D, the world largest 3D experience. The tram goes through a tunnel made out of screens. Equipped with your 3D glasses it feels like you are in the jungle with the dinosaurs. Add a bit of shaking and water spray and you can feel King-Kong jumping on the tram.
Fast and the Furious attraction reveals to you how they created one of the scene:

Another attraction reveals how they create rain (just like in the shower) or a wave of water in the street of a village:

And a few more things:
- Wisteria lane (yep, the one from Desperate Housewives)

- the wreckage used in War of the Worlds (impressive)

- the most famous haunted house (not so scary in daylight)