hollywood – Malavika

First of all, I would like to say what an honor it is to be Freshly Pressed AGAIN, for the second time! I didn’t think lightning could strike twice. Hallelujah!

As an introduction – below are are a selection of photographs from my recent trip to LA/Vegas and San Diego. Not that I need much of an excuse to take photographs anyway. If you like what you see, check out these links to my photographs from Laguna Beach, San diego and the beautiful flowers there, and universal studios. Watch this space for my Vegas (I ♥ Vegas) and Grand Canyon explored series coming up soon.

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The mexican city – in downtown LA.

Inside the oldest house in LA!

The restaurant from Rush Hour! I loved that movie.

Hollywood starwalk.

At Grauman’s chinese theatre

The Rockwalk at Sunset Boulevard.

Eeek, so exciting! My claim to fame.

Inside LA ink. They asked me not to use my flash inside the store. I am such a rebel with my flash photography!

Venice Beach. My favourite place in LA!

Found some local bboys.

Befriended the local bboys 😛

An amazing little art store. I love this artist’s work so much, and I would love to collect a few pieces to display in my home one day.

Our in-the-car photoshoot while we waited for everyone to hurry on up! Devaki was practicing crossing her eyes.

One of the things I enjoyed the most in LA, was our trip to the universal studios. It was a great day out for the whole family. I went on all the rides, got totally SICK of the “special effects rides” because they all made me want to puke, and met the character celebrities like Shrek! The studio tours were incredibly fascinating and entertaining, giving us a real glimpse of what happens behind the camera and the kind of work that goes into creating the future of the cinematic experience. The 4d King Kong experience in the largest 4d studio was phenomenal and by the end of the day, I had just about enough of special effects.

It was a great day out! 🙂 One of the most enjoyable during our time in LA.

This is where stayed. We stayed in suites in Anaheim 🙂

And every morning, Devaki and I indulged in a little narcissism.

Ishaan drinking coke from the can with gold lettering like a total champion.

As we entered the Universal Studios.

Here I am looking a little bedazzled, but enjoying my Johnny Rocket’s Mocha Fudge milkshake. Johnny Rocket’s have the best milkshakes! And Krispy Kreme have the best donuts in the world. Krispy Kreme donuts are my kryptonite.

Universal Studios!

Group shot! The kids were so excited to meet shrek, but probably not as excited as me 😛

But Shrek was mean! He kept doing this everytime they took a picture.

We went on the universal studio hollywood studios tour. It was so worth it! We got to see all the live movie sets and studios and it was very, very cool. We all payed double the ticket price (regular admission: 70$, fast pass: 140$) to get fast pass tickets. This was a very worthwhile investment to really enjoy the park. We had to wait for a max for 20 minutes for a ride, show or attraction (and even this was rare) and because of this, we were able to really enjoy all the attractions. It was crazy hot that day, and I can’t imagine having to wait in the lines that had around 3 hour wait times to go on a ride that lasted about 2 minutes. I think part of the reason we enjoyed the rides, tours, and shows so much was because of the short waiting time. If we had to wait the full 3 hours, I think we would have found it a really big disappointment. So, moral of the story – GET THE FAST PASS. IT’S WORTH IT.

Part of the movie sets – mediteranian-esque homes.

On the set of Desperate Housewives! Marie and Michelle : Be jealous.

The set from the movie War of the worlds.

This is a real airplane they wrecked for the movie. It is so impressive to hear all the set-making and special-effect procedures that happens during the pre-production of a movie. They go into so much detail to make it as real of an experience as possible.

As you can imagine, it was incredibly hot. The park had numerous “cool zones” around the grounds, where was a giant fan spraying cool water vapor into the crowds. It was a welcomed break.

The streets of the park were themed. This one was a french themed street!