LA last chapter – San Francisco!

Two days before we left LA, we went to Universal Studios which is one of the six major movie studios… However it is also an adventure/theme park in Hollywood.
I don’t even know where to start. When I heard my mum and dad talking about it, I thought “Oh lord, another must-do-because-you-are-a-tourist-thing” … and… I. was. blown. away. Seriously!

When we first got in (despite having some problems as my dad had accidentally ordered tickets for the 13th of July) without any trouble my mum was really excited about entering “The Horror House” …So we did and I didn’t even think it would be scary! But there I was: SCREAMING my heart out, trying to run my best around all the other people, so freaked out I thought I was going to die inside that little house! It was so real  and so incredibly scary! “Monsters/Werewolves/People with chainsaws (!) would hide behind walls and instantly jump out and touch you while shouting/making terrible noises…. I clung to my mum, half sobbing, half screaming with a hint of nervous laughter.
You would enter different rooms all the time, pushing people into different phobias. One room was completely filled with clowns just starring at you (not that scary.. for me at least) and another room would be like a freezer where you had to push dead bodies hanging from the ceiling away to continue on..and another would be a room with a big man with his chainsaw (that was on!) just cutting into “dead” humans with blood scattered everywhere. I can’t even describe to you how freaked out I was.
When we got out we were all sort of laughing, nervously trying to cover up for our embarrassing stunts inside the house. Except my dad of course. He’s ‘much too cool for that’…. 😛
Tivoli/Prater – go home!  Even the first thing we entered beat other theme parks by a trillion percentage.

Anyway, there were so many other adventures that we tried. Roller coasters, vertical raft clunges, 4-D movies (this is where you are sitting in a cinema and all of sudden the chairs are moving or water is sprayed out as someone in the movie sneezes!) but one of the things I was the most impressed with, was the Simpsons ride. We were lifted into an animated world in a VIRTUAL roller coaster! It was amazing! At one point I was sure we had done a 360, despite it being impossible! I can’t explain how surreal it was and how incredible it was made. That was definitely worth all the money in it self.

Furthermore, we went on a train that showed us the backstages of Universal Studios. So there we were, driving down Wisteria Lane – where “Desperate Housewives” is made!!!
Then all of sudden we were on the set of “War of the Worlds” a movie instructed by Steven Spielberg, (see the photos of the crashed airplane).
Also, not a lot of people know this, but I’m actually a complete sucker for “The Grinch” and there we were! In the middle of Whoville! With all the cute little houses and trees and candy canes.

We also saw Mr. Beans car! And how the car effects are often made in Fast and Furious with the fire and smoke and the tossing around with the cars…

As you can tell from the pictures (if you click them big) some of the details on the set were absolutely breathtaking. So much effort put into so many small details that makes a movie believable. Definitely an experience getting to see that in real life.

Oh and did I mention… we had front of the line passes? As we are a very impatient family, THAT was the reason the whole day was complete. Skipping ques that was said to take 60+ mins was incredible. It literally took us 1 min and 30 sek to skip a que that was said to last 75 mins… How lovely is that! I felt like such a VIP haha… 😀

We rounded the day off, by driving down Hollywood Boulevard, watching all the weird people, the limousines and the stars on the ground. We also saw the Hollywood sign, which means I can check that off my “How-to-be-a-true-tourist” list!

Next day was the 4th of July, which is the National Independence day in the US. People take it VERY seriously here, everyone was dressed in red/white/blue. We started the day of by going surfing again and… believe it or not: People actually brought the US flag to the beach just casually placing it in the sand next to them. I mean… seriously? What a different culture!!! I don’t even know if Denmark has a National day? (Okay, we probably do… but I for sure don’t know when!)
Anyway… back to the surfing part. This time both my dad AND MY MUM went surfing. My dad has tried somewhat similar before so he did quite well. My mum on the other hand hasn’t but she was amazing!
Now, how many people can say that their mum surfs??? It may not have looked the most elegant at all times (Sorry mum, I know you’re reading this), but the fact that she was able to “surf” to the beach twice was epic!

Now.. I am.. a very proud daughter 🙂

Though, one very odd and mysterious thing that happened was despite me only being in the sun for approximately 40-50 mins without any protection, this happened:

… Oops …

So for the people who weren’t sure about my status on Facebook… This is the ‘bow’ I have on my back…. – even naked. 😛
Nah, it’s really not that bad. I’m not even slightly red on my back anymore and I believe the camera did enhance the colours slightly. Haha… At least that’s what I hope 😛

Anyway, at night we all dressed up and before we went out for dinner we had Mojitos (with alcohol… Yes I broke the law! 😛 )
The dinner was okay, it was absolutely huuuge though… so despite me trying my absolutely best to finish my plate of pasta, I never actually made it to the bottom… It was as if whenever I took a bite, more pasta would just appear on my plate…
Oh but then we decided to have dessert later instead. 😀 .. and I’ll let you know ; It was amazing dessert. Just the way I liked it (because I made it myself 😛 )
The blurry photo of me sticking my tongue out, was because my dad wanted to figure out how to use the camera….No comments about that one 🙂

The next day we left to… SAN FRANCISCO.
We drove all the way up here, because we are all really tired of flying. There is just so much stress with the re-packing your bags, making sure you have no liquids, waking up early, checking in only to wait for hours, going through security…and so forth.
The good thing about driving there yourself means you decide when to leave, you don’t have to sit squeezed in between two strangers in a tiny seat and you decide when to take a break and get some fresh air… and it’s just so much more comfortable.

Our trip up here was good, despite making a small stop at “Jack in the box”. I will advise ANYONE that EVER considers to go in there to NOT. Think nasty… now I’ll let you know it’s nastier! It was so gross that despite being really hungry I couldn’t even eat the tiny fajita I had ordered. It was simply dripping with fat and it tasted like pure butter mixed with oil…. the lettuce was completely drenched with fat and the chicken (what chicken? I don’t think I could even taste the chicken because it was fried in so much fat!) was horrible.
Anyway… As we were all making our way to the table at Jack in the Box, we decided to go for the high tables/chairs. As I saw down, I saw Mette reaching out for another chair and quickly told her that we already had 5 chairs, as I could count 4 inclusive my own and my mum was already sitting down.
Or so I thought…. Turns out I had mistaken the height of my mum, thinking that she must be sitting on a chair already because she looked so short…… Ouch ….. There she was, standing up, with a face that read both confusion and laughter.
Sorry again!
We all made it out of there though, Thomas with one liter of diet coke which meant he had to pee the rest of the way.
(Notice the size difference from the normal bottle to  his cup!)

While driving there, we also made a short stop at a beach. It was so beautiful and we took some great photos.

🙂

We kept on driving until dinner-time, where we decided to make a stop at a Chinese restaurant.
As we walked, we were greeted by a small,very confused-looking old man.
He seemed very interested in getting us seated (we were the only people in the restaurant besides two others) and rushed to our table with some tea.
We decided to order a family menu to make it simple and give us a variety of choices. The menu included a “won tan soup”, which I have no idea what is.
He accepts our choice with a smile, but as my mum asks whether we can have a lemon fish instead of the opted fish in the menu he answers: “no fischh, no fischh” … We all look confused and wait for something more to come, but it doesn’t. As my mother asks again, he answers “H’orkay I go ask yesh”.
After a while he comes back and asks whether we would like the “sweet and spicy soup” instead of the other soup that was originally in the menu, and we all agree that it doesn’t really matter. As he begins to walk off (while still talking) he gives us the explanation: “gud gud, izz because iz a little moar eazy” …
We all sat in silence until that sunk in. Did he just ask whether we were okay with getting another soup – because it was easier to make? We all started laughing, because the honesty of his comment was just so brutal and hilarious. That is definitely the first time I’ve heard that one in a restaurant!!!

As we walked out of the restaurant we were all given fortune cookies. As my mum, sister, brother and I were all reading our sayings out loud, we heard a loud yelp a few steps ahead where dad was walking. He had eaten the whole cookie, not even noticing what it actually was until he tasted the paper.
So typical him 😛
Mine said that I would have “Good luck in personal affairs” and mum’s said something about “a new pair of shoes will turn your world around”. Now all she wants is a new pair of shoes…. haha….

We made it to San Francisco and we are staying at a great hotel with a wonderful view upon the city.
Today we went on a sightseeing bus, to get to know the city a little better…
Which of course sounds wonderful, except I have never been good with people telling me about the typical weather in all sorts of situations… so it didn’t take long for me to snooze away on the upper level of the bus. Speaking of the weather, it’s a lot colder here than it was in both St. Louis and Los Angeles… around 16-18 degrees so I had to wear my jacket today for the first time during daytime.
We made a stop at the “pier 39″, where we went and ate at Hard Rock Café.
The waitress was absolutely hilarious. She had short blue hair on one side of the head and long brown hair on the other side. As she was telling us about her ‘favourite items on the menu” she was dancing, moving around, telling my dad that she “knew he would like a beer” and that “he was the only one not getting meat for his lunch”.
The food was great though and so were the smoothies. We got to keep the glasses as a souvenir 🙂

As we got back on the bus and back to the hotel, both Mette and I were hooked on finding a bookstore, as we are both almost done with the books we brought along from Denmark. So after first walking to a bookstore recommended by the desk in the Hotel, only to find out it was closed for good, we made it back and found another -great- bookstore.
It had ALL the books I have been wanting to read but that they don’t sell in Denmark.
I got this book:

Which is the 3rd book in a series, where I was sent the first book by my mum’s wonderful friend from Australia. I was so happy when I found it I almost cried… (okay, I don’t want to sound like a lunatic, but I was really excited about it!)
I also got this book:

Which I am SUPER excited about reading. 🙂

The others went to a restaurant tonight, but I’ve been plagued with another headache combined with a constant shakiness so I stayed at home… I wasn’t too keen on sitting in a crowded restaurant with loud music.
So I decided to go to Walgreens instead just to pick up some sort of food that would compensate for the lack of dinner. As I walk into the store I ask the clerk when they are closing, just to make sure I’m not one of the customers that walk in on last minute and hold the whole staff behind on their schedule as they are about to close. The lady said that they wouldn’t close till about another hour and I thought to myself “that’s great, it wont take me longer than 10… maximum 15 mins and I’ll be out again”.
However..
That’s not what happened. All of sudden I heard “last customers please go to the cashier”…
Turns out, I was so excited about all the products they sell in the LOCAL supermarket I had walked up and down the aisles for an hour, just browsing and looking at all the interesting stuff…

I.. am… despite my previous prejudices, beginning to really… REALLY.. like the US. Even the small things, like their products in the supermarkets….
We’re off to begin our road trip to Denver. Hopefully I’ll have internet connection somewhere on the way there. It’s 2000 km such a of all.
On a completely different note, CONGRATULATIONS to my dad. The big deal they have been working on for what seems like YEARS now is finally official. You can read it in the newspapers today, it’s on the front page and on page 22/23 in Fyens Stiftstidende. I am so proud of what he has accomplished and I hope everything continues in the right direction.
Here’s a small extract from the newspaper:

If you made it through this huge essay of a post, congrats! I hope you are all doing well!

Lots of love
Anna
xx

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