arieljasmine
<font color=magenta>Who says these things pass you
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- Apr 12, 2004
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Laurs, Andy and bump do LA and Vegas, baby Day 6
Laurs 29
Andy 29
Bump 13 weeks
Wednesday 26 March 2008
We were up at 8 am and headed down for breakfast at 8.30 am. For breakfast this morning I had apple juice, tea, frosties, two slices of toast and a kiwi fruit. Andy had orange juice, coffee, cornflakes and two slices of toast.
After breakfast we headed out to Santa Monica Pier at 9.50 am. Unfortunately, it wasn't the best day for visiting the beach, it was rather windy and cold but we were mostly here to see the pier attractions anyway. We arrived at the pier at 10.30 am and paid the requisite $5 to park.
We had a walk around the pier and the beach. It was great to see a proper old fashioned wooden pier. Part of the pier has rides in an area called Paradise Pier - the usual fairground things - a roller coaster, bumper cars, a scrambler and so on. No rides for us though, don't think bump would have liked that.
We played pirates minigolf on the pier which was expensive at £10 for a tiny course but a good laugh all the same. We also rode the carousel which was a much more reasonable $1 each! The carousel is 80 years old, hence it is now housed indoors, and has appeared in several films including Titanic.
We were hungry by this time so we left the pier and drove round for a bit until we found a McDonalds at 1 pm (helped or hindered by the sat nav - I'm not quite sure which). I had a HiC orange and an angus mushroom and swiss burger with fries, and Andy had a diet coke and a ranch BLT crispy chicken sandwich with fries.
After lunch we set off to the Farmers Market at 1.40 pm. I had a little nap in the car and woke up whilst Andy was trying to find us a space in the car park. This is another place where you can get free parking with validation (two hours free, I think) but here you need to have your parking validated in a shop.
We went to Bath and Body Works where we got some cucumber and melon hand wash, foot scrub and some special hand wash for dry skin. We also visited Victorias Secret (of course) where I got some amber romance bubble bath and some VS sexy for men cologne to put away for Andy for his birthday. Our final shop was the Cosmetics apocathary where I bought some mammo mio stuff and a cherry cola buddha lip balm. We had a look round a few other shops and then left at 3.40 pm.
We wanted to get a photograph of the Ivy as we had missed the opportunity on the bus tour so we found a parking garage nearby as we couldn't work out how to pay for the on street parking - how much are you supposed to put in the meter? The garage we chose had a system where you noted which bay you were parked in and put that in at the machine before paying so you didn't have to go back to your car with the ticket like we do here.
We got our photo of the Ivy, it's a strangely unimpressive place to look at - though I'm sure it has impressive prices! We didn't spot any celebs.
We picked up a cherry 7 up at a garage and headed off in search of ice cream. We ended up in the Beverly Center which is an amazing mall but sadly we didn't have time to look round. The ice cream was expensive but really good, I had chocolate with oreo pieces and a wafer and Andy had mint chocolate chip with chocolate sprinkles and a wafer.
We left the car park at 5.10 pm and set off to drive to the Walt Disney Co studios. This wasn't the best time to set off as is evidenced by the fact that we didn't arrive there until 6.20 pm and it was traffic all the way. Still, it was cool to see, and we took pictures of the sign, seven dwarves statues and the mickey head railings before setting off again at 6.35 pm.
The traffic was still nightmare-ish and we were both getting hungry and fed up so we decided to stop off at Universal Citywalk for tea. We arrived at 7.10 pm and were disgusted that you still have to pay full price ($10) to park at that time of day. I am almost certain that Citywalk parking is free after 6 pm in Orlando. To be honest though, it was just great to get out of the car!
We choose Buca di Beppo for tea which is a family style Italian restaurant. Andy ordered a glass of Chardonnay and I had a pepsi whilst we perused the menu. As it's a family style restaurant, you choose a dish you both (or all) like and then you get the appropriate sized portion brought to your table with plates so you can serve yourself. We thought it was a really neat idea and it worked out pretty cheap. We chose the spaghetti meatballs in marinara sauce which came with a half pound meatball each! It was delicious and plentiful - we were nowhere near finishing it all.
We left Citywalk at 8.30 pm and went back to the hotel. We picked up a couple of fantas and a couple of packets of m & ms at the front desk and then went back to our room for showers. We spent the evening drinking Bud Light (Andy) and fanta (me) and playing Fluxx.
Laur's
Laurs 29
Andy 29
Bump 13 weeks
Wednesday 26 March 2008
We were up at 8 am and headed down for breakfast at 8.30 am. For breakfast this morning I had apple juice, tea, frosties, two slices of toast and a kiwi fruit. Andy had orange juice, coffee, cornflakes and two slices of toast.
After breakfast we headed out to Santa Monica Pier at 9.50 am. Unfortunately, it wasn't the best day for visiting the beach, it was rather windy and cold but we were mostly here to see the pier attractions anyway. We arrived at the pier at 10.30 am and paid the requisite $5 to park.
We had a walk around the pier and the beach. It was great to see a proper old fashioned wooden pier. Part of the pier has rides in an area called Paradise Pier - the usual fairground things - a roller coaster, bumper cars, a scrambler and so on. No rides for us though, don't think bump would have liked that.
We played pirates minigolf on the pier which was expensive at £10 for a tiny course but a good laugh all the same. We also rode the carousel which was a much more reasonable $1 each! The carousel is 80 years old, hence it is now housed indoors, and has appeared in several films including Titanic.
We were hungry by this time so we left the pier and drove round for a bit until we found a McDonalds at 1 pm (helped or hindered by the sat nav - I'm not quite sure which). I had a HiC orange and an angus mushroom and swiss burger with fries, and Andy had a diet coke and a ranch BLT crispy chicken sandwich with fries.
After lunch we set off to the Farmers Market at 1.40 pm. I had a little nap in the car and woke up whilst Andy was trying to find us a space in the car park. This is another place where you can get free parking with validation (two hours free, I think) but here you need to have your parking validated in a shop.
We went to Bath and Body Works where we got some cucumber and melon hand wash, foot scrub and some special hand wash for dry skin. We also visited Victorias Secret (of course) where I got some amber romance bubble bath and some VS sexy for men cologne to put away for Andy for his birthday. Our final shop was the Cosmetics apocathary where I bought some mammo mio stuff and a cherry cola buddha lip balm. We had a look round a few other shops and then left at 3.40 pm.
We wanted to get a photograph of the Ivy as we had missed the opportunity on the bus tour so we found a parking garage nearby as we couldn't work out how to pay for the on street parking - how much are you supposed to put in the meter? The garage we chose had a system where you noted which bay you were parked in and put that in at the machine before paying so you didn't have to go back to your car with the ticket like we do here.
We got our photo of the Ivy, it's a strangely unimpressive place to look at - though I'm sure it has impressive prices! We didn't spot any celebs.
We picked up a cherry 7 up at a garage and headed off in search of ice cream. We ended up in the Beverly Center which is an amazing mall but sadly we didn't have time to look round. The ice cream was expensive but really good, I had chocolate with oreo pieces and a wafer and Andy had mint chocolate chip with chocolate sprinkles and a wafer.
We left the car park at 5.10 pm and set off to drive to the Walt Disney Co studios. This wasn't the best time to set off as is evidenced by the fact that we didn't arrive there until 6.20 pm and it was traffic all the way. Still, it was cool to see, and we took pictures of the sign, seven dwarves statues and the mickey head railings before setting off again at 6.35 pm.
The traffic was still nightmare-ish and we were both getting hungry and fed up so we decided to stop off at Universal Citywalk for tea. We arrived at 7.10 pm and were disgusted that you still have to pay full price ($10) to park at that time of day. I am almost certain that Citywalk parking is free after 6 pm in Orlando. To be honest though, it was just great to get out of the car!
We choose Buca di Beppo for tea which is a family style Italian restaurant. Andy ordered a glass of Chardonnay and I had a pepsi whilst we perused the menu. As it's a family style restaurant, you choose a dish you both (or all) like and then you get the appropriate sized portion brought to your table with plates so you can serve yourself. We thought it was a really neat idea and it worked out pretty cheap. We chose the spaghetti meatballs in marinara sauce which came with a half pound meatball each! It was delicious and plentiful - we were nowhere near finishing it all.
We left Citywalk at 8.30 pm and went back to the hotel. We picked up a couple of fantas and a couple of packets of m & ms at the front desk and then went back to our room for showers. We spent the evening drinking Bud Light (Andy) and fanta (me) and playing Fluxx.
Laur's
your trip report as usual Laur's!
