Greeting from Anaheim!!
I've just come from watching the Disneyland fireworks and can finally do the update I've been meaning to do for days. So lets recap...
Saturday I took a walk down to Venice Beach. It's so beautiful and yet strangely decrepit. To give you an idea they have t-shirts with the slogan "Venice - where art meets crime". I don't know if you guys know this but they've made 'medical marijuana' legal here now, so everywhere you look are "green" pharmacies. It's crazy. Apparently all you need is a headache and a credit card and you can buy pot pretty much anywhere. Venice was especially prolific with such shops strangely enough :P
They just opened an awesome new skate park on Venice beach too(Sutherland shire council take note!!) and the official opening party was on Saturday so I got to watch all the kids doing tricks. Every local and their dog was there which was a nice change to the touristy stuff I'd been doing for the rest of the week. There were even grommets there where the bowl was 3 times their height, I'm guessing maybe 4 or 5 years old and they could skate better than they could talk. Saturday night was one of my roommates last nights so we went out to dinner for her and made ourselves sick on New York cheesecake. (We wanted something American and they don't make Los Angeles cheesecake as far as I know!)
Then Sunday it was Universal studios with a guy from England that I met at the hostel. Lots of awesome rides and a very cheesy but amusing back lot tour. Lots of photos to show also.
Then Monday I took the Amtrak to Anaheim and checked into my hotel. From one extreme to another, my hostel was a 6 ppl dorm with one big bathroom for the floor (go communal showers) and now I'm at the Sheraton Anaheim where I was one of 3 whole tables in the restaurant last night and I have 2 queen beds to myself. Alas it's only for 2 more nights before I head back to L.A to join up with my tour where its back to sharing pretty much everything.
But after I checked in I explored Downtown Disney which is basically a Disney owned shopping strip that connects the main parks to the Disney hotels. They have a Disney store which stretches most of the way down and they literally have everything. I'm pretty sure there isn't anything you can't find in this store, Disney baking dishes and cutlery, clothing, toys, food (including tea), jewellery, collectibles...it's insane! Then I went to Target to get a few supplies (shhh.. oreos count as supplies)
Target here is much funnier than home, they have a pharmacy and groceries section as well as everything we have.
Today was my first day in Disneyland and I have to say I had the most awesome time. You just can't help getting into the spirit of it even if a part of your mind is going "Oh my god, the chair legs are shaped like mickey mouse" (truly, I have photos)
There are 2 theme parks here, the original Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park which is newer and has more modern rides. But today I started with the original. There are 7 worlds and I slowly made my way around all of them without too mush trouble. The lines aren't too bad though you learn that a 10 minute wait means basically walking through all the elaborate waiting area. It's only when it gets to 30min that it actually requires waiting. But these rides are built for huge turnover and I'm told (and you can tell) that it's a relatively quiet time at the moment because at least half the designated queuing system is roped off and not needed. So I got to do the mad hatters tea party (the tea cup ride) as well as sleeping beauty's castle and the Pirates of the Caribbean ride (amongst many others).
There are many many photos to share but as I still haven't figured out why the mms part of this blog won't work it looks like they'll have to wait till I get home.
Tomorrow its off to the California Adventure Park and then on Wednesday I have one more day to do anything I missed or anything I liked.
*sigh* well I think that's all for now. Words don't really describe it but they'll have to do for now.
I can't wait to see pics of the wedding when I get back. I was thinking of you guys and your belly dancing escapades on Sunday.
After Disneyland I'm heading back to LA for 3 days before my tour and then it's pretty much non-stop till San Fransisco on the 17th, where I am for 3 days before heading back to LA once more for 2 days of non stop shopping :) before heading home. As such I'm not sure how much I'll be able to update this between now and home so possibly I'll have to resort to sms posts but either way stay tuned.
For the first time ever I really get the phrase 'wish you were here'
Miss you all, love you.
XX Ellie
No comments:
Post a Comment