Guess that's it then...

Well I've not posted in a day or two because we've really had a manic time in LA. The first night we were here we had a long drive here and just went to a nearby shopping area called Westwood as Jonny has said. The second night we also took another drive over to the cinema to see a recommended film called Australia and although it's perhaps a bit long it's very entertaining and well worth a watch. We also spent the day in Universal and generally enjoyed the rides and attractions there as well as getting a glimpse into what happens in a film studio and are a little bit wiser as to how they use the sets in films.

Today we have seen yet another film, Quantum of Solace, which is good and I think it's worth watching definitely if only because it seems to set up a third film to follow on from it. We had a little look around the Universal City (where we saw the film) and had a grand tour of LA courtesy of our Russian car driver called Boris; a man who has been in the USA for 30 years and apparently doesn't like it here. Go figure.

Mid afternoon we went to see Jay Leno's The Tonight Show (episode 3668) and really enjoyed being part of the audience and getting to be part of a live tv show experience. We even saw Tom Jones perform his new single, Come Alive, live!

Tomorrow we fly home, which just leaves us to pack tonight.

Overall it's been a fun time out here, with great experiences that will never leave me along the way. Hopefully we can break the tradition and actually get a flight on time in the USA tomorrow, out of the country. Route 66 has been a blast and although this might not be my very last entry, that's me signing out from the USA.

Stay classy United States of America!

City of Angels (just added three more, honest).

Hey all!

Very sorry for the delay in blogs recently, contrary to what Gary said just before we made it to Vegas this is not because 'what happens in vegas....' etc etc - this is because we had limited (in other words 'not free') internet access while we were there.

So, to follow on from Ste's blog - we had a slower day on our third day in Vegas, visiting some of the hotels on the strip, although really I should be replacing the word 'hotel' with 'city'!  Each hotel starts on the ground floor with a casino, then stretches into (sometimes literally) miles of shops in differing set ups, such as a Venice themed one, with gondola rides on a river THROUGH the hotel, another shaped inside and out as a medieval castle with Jousting going on while you eat, and then another with Circus acts happening above your head as you walk through the casino - the last one happened to be our hotel (the Circus Circus).  Above the shops you find the bedrooms.

It was worth seeing each hotel for the amazing decor etc, but each one was in essence the exact same - a massive casino filled with people, no doubt, on a ride to disappointment; and then a lot of expensive shops and restaurants.

We also saw the Beatles, well ok people pretending to be the Beatles, but they were very good - John Lennon was especially good and sounded just like him both singing and speaking (from what I have seen and heard from recordings obviously - no age jokes allowed)!

The next day we had a good trip (our final one of the 3400 mile journey) from Las Vegas to Los Angeles.  We arrived in good time to go out to the cinema to see 'Australia' - which is well recommended.

Today we were at Universal Studios which, although not as big as we had hoped, was very good. We took the 45 minute tour of the actual studios and lots of films such as Jaws, War of the Worlds, Back to the Future and TV shows such as Desperate Housewives, Hero's and CSI!  It was very revealing to see how some of the shows are put together.

We also were treated to shows about special effects (including large fire displays) and also we did some of the 'rides' which were all of high quality although limited in number!!

In the evening we went to a local celebrity hangout (although I was the only celebrity hanging out there while we were there) for a meal.  It was very good and it was followed by yet another trip to the cinema, this time to see 'Four Christmases', which was also very good.

Now, we are back at the hotel and we are tired!  Tomorrow is our very last full day here in the US of A and we are going on a Mercedes driven tour of LA followed by a taping of the 'Jay Leno' show (to which we got free tickets) - also Tom Jones is meant to be the guest on the show which could be good!!

On Thursday we catch the flight home and we are looking forward to seeing all you guys again.

Thanks again for the comments and for your prayers while we have been away.  Please continue to pray for our last few nights, I have to share a bed with Stephen for them and he has elbowed me twice in the night during our time away (once in the nose and once in the chest) so protection is needed (although the other night I woke up to find Gary using my back as a pillow - I genuinely do not know what is worse)!

God bless all and .......  stay classy, apparently.