LA 25-27 Oct

Sun 25 An early morning walk on the beach revealed that Fort Robayo had withstood a high tide overnight. The great walls were a bit damaged but the castle itself was absolutely fine! I rang John Watson (a first cousin once removed, for those of you who don't know, who has worked in Hollywood for years writing screen plays and producing films, one which you would know was Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves, with Kevin Costner and is now also a Professor teaching cinematics at a University here) but spoke to his wife Mindy, as John and their son Sean were watching the Liverpool v Man United match on Sky, and there was lots of shouting going on in the background. We arranged that they would come and pick us up at the beach so that we could spend some time together and by 11am we were driving back to theirs. Celso gleefully accepted their offer to watch a rerun of the football match and I made full use of their Internet connection to get the blog up to date and write a few emails. Tristan was kept busy with Lucky, the Watson's parrot and Magic, their old retriever. We went out to lunch at a 1950's style joint with booths, old fashioned decor etc and chatted about what both we and they were up to. Then John took us to a supermarket to get some shopping and showed us on the map a route through Beverley Hills and Hollywood that we could do one day if we rent a car. We got back to our camping spot by the beach around 5pm feeling stuffed with food, armed with information and feeling more prepared for our visit. A further check on Fort Robayo revealed more damage by the afternoon high tide, but nothing serious and we spent a good hour refortifying in order that she withstand yet another night.
Mon 26th
Fort Robayo withstood another night with out any damage at all! We took a taxi to the North of the city to Universal studios. It only took half an hour because we whizzed along in car pool lanes and were unaffected by the rush hour traffic. But the journey was VERY expensive! We were in the park just before opening at 10am, we were invited to be extras in a movie about a theme park that was just opening and asked to stampede in! Our first stop was SHREK 4D in which the ghost of Lord Farquad tried to kill Fiona so that she could be his ghost bride, but of course, Shrek, Donkey and Dragon came to the rescue, and then all the other fairytale creatures were there for a big party at the end. Next on the studio tour that took us around the lot and showed us many of the studios and sets from Universal Studio Films; Jaws tried to get us;
we were nearly swept away by a flood that flowed through a Mexican village; we got blown up as we crossed a bridge and then the bridge collapsed beneath us; we watched dancing cars; we got caught in an earthquake in an underground station; wandered through the plane crash set from War of the Worlds;

and witnessed horrors at Bate's motel.


Our driver explained how one tiny lake was used to represent rivers, lakes and even seas by changing the camera angles and by clever planting around the edges, how one set had been used to represent many different European cities by just changing the shop signs, street signs and the paint colours on the buildings. At one stage we had to all be silent as we passed an active set where a new US TV show was being shot, but I can't remember the names of any of the actors because I knew none of them!! Our tour over we decided to go and see the Backdraft exhibit, this is another film that my cousin John Watson was involved with, it is about fires and firemen and we were shown some of the set and how the fire and explosives were done. Celso took a film of one part which you can see; the jolting near the end is where the floor that we were standing on gave way... it gave me a huge shock, and the heat from all the fires and explosions was really scary. (The video is too large to post so if anyone wants to see it you will have to email me and I will send it to you)
We went to look at some of the costumes and props from some of the films, the detail on some of the costumes is exquisite, such as the emperors battledress from the film Gladiator. Next into the special effects exhibit which showed how people can be put into a film by using the 'green screens', a volunteer was put into the film 'The Nutty Professor' as one of the characters at the table, and whilst she did what she was told in front of the green screen we watched her above in the real film interacting with the other characters, it was incredible! Then we saw some animatronics and some more tricks of the trade, e.g. how a persons hand can be chopped off using a special knife and some fake blood.... but it looked so real! Finally we were shown how sound effects can be added to films. Several volunteers were given jobs to do such as banging a drum, saying words or making noises, ringing bells etc when their lights came on.. and then we watched back the film with the sounds in... fantastic and very funny. Then to Water World, a stunt show based on the film with Kevin Costner where the world is covered in water and they are looking for some dry land. There were stunts on jet skis, a plane that landed in the pool, lots of shooting, diving from heights (or falling gracefully / or not) and other special effects and of course we all got wet. Next lunch and a wander through the shops, then to KrustyLand; a virtual rollercoaster ride with the Simpsons, the best virtual ride I've ever been on because, I think, the screen was so huge that you couldn't see the edges and you really felt a part of the film.... I got really sweaty palms and a few frights as we appeared to fall from real heights. Finally we went to see all the animals that are trained to be in films; a small parakeet stole a dollar from me, but kindly returned it; dogs played dead; a pig kept on running on and off the stage with messages such as 'support wildlife, don't eat bacon'; and cats, pigeons and dogs all kept chasing each other round the stage. We were shown how the 'green screen' filming works with animals too, a parrot was set flying into a wind machine with a green screen behind and we watched the parrot flying through a jungle scene on the screen just behind. One dog was controlled by a trainer that stood behind him though he appeared to be responding to a child volunteer that was seated in a chair in front of him, and an orangutan wrapped in a bath towel came out to retrieve a bra that a dog had brought on to the stage. We managed to find a much cheaper way to return to the van $1.25 each for the cost of a Metro Ticket, we couldn't believe it could be that cheap... and we were right... we found out on the third leg of our journey that in fact we should have paid $1.25 each for each leg and were made to get off the train to buy another ticket... but never mind we eventually got to the airport (which is very close to where we are staying at Dockweiller Beach) and have booked a rental car for tomorrow to go for an explore... Muscle Beach, Beverley Hills, Hollywood etc. We got back to the van after an 11 hour day exploring and had a nice cup of tea.... how English are we?
Tues 27
At 7:45am Celso and I were waiting for our pick up to get the hire car, and by 8:45 we were back at the van in a little blue Chevy. We ate breakfast and then set out on a trip around the city. First stop was Venice Beach, we were tryin gto find the famous Muscle Beach but couldn't find it!! instead we found a skate park with young guys doing leaps and turns on their skateboards, loads of tatoo parlours, a grafitti park, buskers and loads of multi-earring, nose ring, eyebrow ring folk hanging out. Next up to Wilshire, Sunset and Hollywood Boulevards with the posh shops, classy boutiques, hand and footprints in the pavement and the walk of the stars. We hung around for about an hour looking at loads of people dressed up in costumes; spider man; Darth Vader and the like. We then followed a tour bus up through Beverley Hills roads to Mulholland Drive, a road that runs along the length of the top of the Beverley Hills, looking at the big houses and the view across the smog laden city. We made a stop at a big shopping mall before returning the car and getting a lift back to our campsite at Dockweiller Beach. The wind was getting up and the night approaching but we managed to go and take a quick look at Fort Robayo before returning to the van, still standing but with a very battered front wall and as we watched the waves managed to breach the inner moat and splash up the castle... I doubt she will last another night! Laundry done and supper eaten we are now sitting in the van as she rocks in the wind. I hope we don't blow away in the night, perhaps we will just get seasick!