Universal Studios - Take 1

Day Two: 
After a night of little sleep... we shall draw a discreet veil across the snoring and sleep talking... and blame it all on jet lag, we planned on rising about 7 a.m. so we could get an early start at Universal Studios.  But, as is often the way with even the best laid plans... my alarm went off at 6:30.  ooops!


So after our complimentary breakfast buffet in the Club Room we set off across the carpark and took the glass lift up the cliff face to the Sierra Ballroom's piazza (I think the ballroom is attached to the Hilton), then across a footbridge over the freeway to the gates.  Inside we took the Back Lots Tour... fascinating stuff... past the sets, with snippets of movies being shown on the screens in each carriage to show when the sets were used - and such info as Leave it to Beaver's house is currently being re-used as part of Wisteria Lane in Desperate Housewives (the same house used across such a wide range of years). 


It was fascinating seeing New York and Europe and totally imaginary lands all portrayed, higgledy-piggledy, cheek and jowl with each other in such a small area.  When they build the streets they always have a curve in them, which makes the street look like it continues, but in reality there is a bit of a bend and then that New York back street becomes a turn of the last century country town's main road.  For eg, there are 6 'Main Streets' from western towns, each with it's Sheriff's office and tavern, the other shops just have their signs changed and hey-presto a new town... ditto with Europe:  there is ONE set, change the language of the street signs and/or the types of stalls and the clothes, and suddenly the steps of the temple in Jerusalem becomes a Roman forum... utterly fascinating stuff!


The girls all went off on a ride, while I went to a show that showed how animals are trained for the movies, it showed another one of the tricks, with a huge fan, a cute little blue and orange parrot (like the one in Pauley) flying in the one spot against the breeze...the camera shoots across the bird toward a green screen.  At the same time on the big screen the shot of the bird is shown, but the editors edit in backgrounds of fields, sea and desert, ending with space and the bird looking back at earth as he flies off to another galaxy. Funny that seeing how it is done doesn't destroy the magic!


After about 5 and a half hours walking and checking out shows and rides, I decided I'd had enough and while the other 3 girls continued  on with more rides (Waterworld, Jurassic Park and the House of Horrors) I walked back to the hotel for a nap [showing my age no doubt].  For lunch I had two "world famous" Californian (or American?) specialties:  the Cinnabon (yummy but such a sugar overload!!) and a pulled pork sandwich.


I woke up when the girls got back and they too had a short lie down before we went back up to the Club Room for hors'douvres and then took a walk back up to the Universal lot.  Outside the gates there are a heap of shops, restaurants and hotels, so we did some souvenir shopping getting back to the hotel about 10 ish. It's all fascinating... massive caramel apples that would feed a small family, and what seems like hundreds of flavours of chocolates, fudges, and sweets.  There is a shop called Sugar, that has a statue of Marilyn Monroe made out of white jellybeans! amazing!


Then we returned to the hotel, checked emails and results from last semester (I've passed all my subjects... whew! as have the other girls on all the results they've received thus far), and now that this blog is done, I'm off to bed... after 11 pm and really tired, so I should sleep tonight...  more sightseeing in the morning...


Hasta la vista, Baby (as they say in the movies)
Tracey